To Be A Hero
by Pikaboo73
Summary: Izuku's only wish was to become a hero, and with the help of his idol, All Might, he's coming closer to that dream. But someone else is joining him on that adventure, someone by the name of Enso Ureshi. He's not joining Izuku to become a hero, instead, he wishes to help Izuku become strong enough to face a threat coming to his world. (Romance,Harem, better than the summary sounds.)
1. A New Night, For A New Beginning

Hello to anyone deciding to read this fanfiction! I would first like to say that this will be my first ever fanfiction that I have ever wrote so there might be some problems with it, but My Hero Academia has been one of my favorite anime to watch and manga to read and soon I felt like I just had to make a fanfic on it. If there are problems or questions that I can answer about my fanfiction then let me know! Also I plan to try to update these chapters as much as I can, but with school work and finals I might not update quick as first, but I do plan to upload more. I do not own any parts of My Hero Academia. Hope you enjoy!

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Stars.

They sparkled brightly in the night sky over Musutafu, giving the people of the city a beautiful sight to look up too after a hard day of work. Despite being so late, heroes can be faintly heard as they tried to handle different situations that have been occurring throughout the whole city. It was a time where heroes worked the best they could in order to provide a safe and stable environment for citizens. Saving people from villains, natural disasters, and all other types of dangers was what they did, all while making a living out of it. It's been this way ever since society adapted to living with the sudden appearance of quirks in the world. New laws, new careers, and new people were created from the evolution of quirks, but of course, there were those that abused their new forms for selfish actions that heroes had to stop. Villains performing destructive deeds, heroes coming to stop them while saving civilians, this was the stable pattern the world had to live on.

However, little did anyone know that their world would be changed forever, for better, or for worse.

A flash of white ignited the dark sky like lightning, several people on the city streets cried out in shock and some even crouched down out of panic, the few heroes on the scene looked up into the sky but found no sight out anything else out of the ordinary.

After nearly a minute of inactivity, the simple-minded people of the city shrugged the sudden white flash as nothing more than a hero using a quirk. No one was worried about that flash, as nothing had come afterword for them to be worried about.

But no one had any clue, that as the white flash occurred, a white portal had also emerged over the top of a rather large building, completely out of sight from the people before. The portal surfaced seven feet over the top of the building, making small eerie noises as it appeared. These noises went on for a few seconds before the portal expanded larger and a human being fell out of it, landing onto the roof of the building in a crouching position.

The person stood up straight on his feet and the moonlight shined down on him to reveal his full appearance. He looked to be at a rather young age, with his face containing no wrinkles and having a height of about 5 feet 7 inches. He wore a dark black business suit with golden buttons on it and a white-collar shirt underneath it. He had black wingtip shoes and black socks to go along with it. But what really stood out about this person were the cold, emotionless red eyes that shined in the night along with the long, flowing black hair that went down to his shoulders. His pale skin reflected the bright moonlight as he brushed himself off while keeping a note of the state of his body after his travel. Seeing nothing was wrong, he looked around at the area he was at and discovered that he was within a city, indicated by the tall buildings ahead and the vehicles driving down the streets below.

He straightened out a blood-red tie on his collar before then lifting his right arm up and pulling his sleeve down to reveal an advanced looking watch on his wrist. The watch didn't appear to have any buttons on it, but instead, had a screen with different options on it. He pressed one of the options and the watch projected a holographic blue map in front of him of the city he was in. Along with his current location being indicated by a circular red dot, someone else's location was also being indicated by a beeping green square in the corner of the map. He waved a hand and zoomed out the map more and more until he saw exactly where the beeping green square was. He estimated the distance from his current location to the destination in mind, before then minimizing the map and preparing to leave.

He lowered his arms and marched towards the edge of the building with the intent of jumping, but he didn't make it far before he heard someone land behind him a few yards away.

"Stop right there!"

He stopped in place.

"A flash of light, a white portal, and then a person all suddenly appearing under the same area? It's somewhat too much to be a coincidence don't you think?" the voice behind him asked in a heroic manner.

The red-eyed person turned his head back and gazed at the newcomer from the corner of his eye. It was a man behind him, but his eyebrow raised upon seeing something particularly strange about the man that arrived. His arms, head, belt, shoes, and even knee pads appeared to all be made out of wood. Not only this, but a few wooden branches were slowly sprouting out of the man's right arm, looking as if they can sprout out even more at any moment.

Although the teen felt curious about the wooden man, he wasn't intimidated by him.

"Who… are you?" he finally spoke. His voice was soft, yet there was no detection of any emotion in it as he fully turned his body to face the wooden man.

The hero felt a small sting to his pride, _"He doesn't know me at all? I know it may be too much to ask, but I'm sure that my career as a hero would have made me well known by now…"_ He thought to himself in some depression.

But then the wooden hero got a full, detailed look at the person in front of him, eyes widening by how he looked.

_"Wait a minute, he's just a kid? He looks rather young, almost as if he should still be in high school, what's he doing up here?"_

Seeing that the person resembled a teen, Kamui partially retracted the wood on his arm, but not entirely as he was still cautious. _"He looks very young, but even if he is just a kid, I can't just ignore the fact that he managed to appear on this building without setting off any alarms. And that white flash and circle indicate that he might've used his quirk to get up here..."_ He held his other hand over his chest and introduce himself.

"I am Kamui woods, professional hero, and perhaps I was just mistaken about you earlier so let me ask you: Were you, or were you not the one who caused that flash of light and white circle to appear in the sky?"

The teen was silent for a moment before responding, "Yes, that was me, but what of it?" He looked around the roof and examined the state of it, "I don't appear to have caused any damage."

Kamui squinted his eyes out of suspicion towards the teen, _"He doesn't seem to realize the panic he's caused by that flash. By the looks of it, he doesn't even know where he is right now. I may have to bring him in just to talk, but I have to be cautious though, he looks rather odd, for all I know he could be a villain acting naive."_

Kamui sighed and retracted the rest of his wood back into his arm, "Listen kid, I don't know if you know, but this is a private building that isn't supposed to be accessible to just anyone. Yet, you're here right now without even setting off a single alarm and avoiding the sight of anyone that could see you come up here."

"If no one saw me appear here, then how did you see me?" The teen asked, his cold emotionless gaze staring at the hero.

"I just happened to be traveling back by building before I saw a random white circle appear above here. If that wasn't strange enough, I saw someone come out of the circle."

"Is that really a problem?" the teen asked, tilting his head to the side.

"It's not a common thing you know. So I'm afraid you'll have to come with me just so we can get things sorted out." Kamui said as he began taking steps towards the figure.

The teen simply turned his back to Kamui and looked down at his watch. "Sorry, but I'm not wasting my time with you. I have to be somewhere."

Hearing this, Kamui narrowed his eyes as he got closer, "It wasn't a request kid, you're coming with me." He raised his right arm and stuck it out in preparation for capturing the person if he did resist, getting ready to sprout branches from them.

However, right as he was getting near, the teen spun his head back to Kamui and his eyes flashed in an intimidating blood red. Kamui froze and his eyes widened from the look the person had in those eyes. That cold expression, it was the threatening look of someone who could kill in a single moment. Kamui felt his soul being stared upon, he felt it threatened. His whole body felt cold and he saw his life flash before his eyes.

_"He's dangerous!"_ Kamui didn't hesitate after that chill and thrust his right arm forward, expanding as much wood from it as he could in an attempt to surround and bind the teen.

As the wooden branches neared him, the teen closed his eyes and simply let out a disappointed sigh, "How predictable."

In an instant he vanished from Kamui's eyes, leaving only a kick of dust behind as Kamui's branches passed through, missing him entirely.

Kamui's eyes widened in shock, "What the-!?"

He didn't finish as he heard a whoosh behind him. From the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow behind him with two red eyes glowing coldly.

"Too slow." the teen whispered in a menacing tone.

_"He teleported!? Is that his quirk!?"_ Kamui leaped away from him and gave more space between himself and his target as he landed farther away. "I won't let you escape!" he shouted as this time, he pointed both of his arms out and expanded out more wooden branches than before everywhere in front of him, giving no sign for the teen to be able to escape.

_"He can't escape this!"_ Kamui thought confidentially as the wood completely covered any sight of the person.

The teen watched as the barraged of wood nearly enveloped him in a wave of the sort, but he simply opened his palm and something formed in it. "How boring."

In a split second, several sharp slashes were heard, echoing in the silent night. They occurred so fast that each slice was like a blinding white flash to Kamui's eyes.

_"Huh? Wh-What… just happened?"_ Kamui had to blink several times for his mind to process what happened. He saw wood flying past him in all directions and looked ahead only to discover that the wood he emitted had been sliced apart nearly all the way up to his arms.

Ahead of him was a menacing red aura and matching red eyes of the boy he had just attempted to capture. He looked as if he hadn't moved throughout the entire attack, yet in his hand was something new, a small dagger that Kamui hadn't seen there before.

_"I-Impossible! In such a margin of time, he completely cut through my attack without even moving!? He-"_

Kamui's thoughts were halted when he felt a cold blade press against his throat, making him completely freeze. He blinked as his eyes looked down to find the person standing right in front of him with his dagger pressing up against his neck threateningly. Kamui didn't move at all, he feared that if he moved now, then his hero career would halt, permanently.

"Just… Just who _are_ you?" Kamui somehow managed to utter out, keeping his gaze onto the teens red eyes.

He narrowed his eyes, "Who am I?" he repeated. "I'm someone simply trying to figure what was is that he's lost. And right now, I don't need any 'heroes' intervening with that."

Still holding his blade against Kamui's neck, he raised his other hand and waved it, causing his eyes and aura to turn blue this time.

"What's he doing now?!" Kamui wondered, completely petrified.

Kamui then felt the blade get removed from his neck, yet his whole body also became surrounded in a blue aura that stiffened his body.

"Wh-What is this? I can't move!" he uttered as his body failed to move anywhere. His eyes manage to move around in their sockets so he looked down the best he could and found himself floating above the ground with the same blue aura the teen currently had as he raised his hand.

"If you're worried, let me reassure you by saying that you won't be hurt, but I'm going to send you somewhere where you don't follow me." he positioned his hand into a finger flicking position and aimed Kamui towards the ocean.

Kamui noticed this and panicked, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a moment! Maybe we can talk this out-?!"

"Have a safe flight." the person interrupted before flicking his finger. Kamui was then sent flying off the building and soaring through the air.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOAAA!" Kaui yelled as the aura around him disappeared and he now flailed his arms in the air.

The teen watched as Kamui flew all the way to the beach, and 'safely' splashed into the water.

_"He'll be fine… maybe."_

Turning in the opposite direction, he jumped high off the building and caused many alarms to finally erupt behind him from getting into range on the outside. He ignored them and landed onto another building farther away, then setting a running pace.

He jumped across another rooftop and noticed a long clothesline connecting two building's roofs. He jumped and performed a front flip before lightly landing onto the clothesline, then using the rope to run across to the farther building with light steps.

He continued to travel from building to building while occasionally glancing down at his watch to see what direction he had to go. Soon he got out of the city and ended up at a high school of the sort with a gate that had a logo combining a U and an A. There weren't many other rooftops, so he hid among the shadows and carefully avoided any encounters with civilians passing by.

He finally arrived in a neighborhood where he jumped up and easily pulled himself up to the top of a utility pole. He stood up and looked ahead in the distance of the direction that he intended to go, planning a route to take in his head. He jumped off the top of the utility pole and landed onto a rooftop, then proceeding to jump from rooftop to rooftop towards his destination. Along the way, he passed by a skeleton looking a blonde man who was walking with groceries in hand and then landing atop of a household where he heard an angry teen shouting with some forms of explosions occurring.

_"What is with this area? Perhaps I should look into more of these people to discover exactly what type of world I got myself into."_

In his traveling, he occasionally stopped by a house that still had their lights on and peek inside out of curiosity. Nearly every house he witnessed had people demonstrating a special power of the sort. A frog looking girl using her tongue to grab her sibling running, a purple-haired girl using an earphone jack to insert to her computer and listen, and there was even a brown-haired girl who was making some clothes float in her room as she organized them. Every power he saw was different in some way from the others, no two were the same.

"_This place isn't like the others…"_ he thought as he hopped to another roof and continued making his way to his target.

He looked down at the map and saw that he wasn't that far away from his destination. He landed on a tiled roof and glanced at the area ahead to see where would be the most likely place for his target to be. He saw an apartment complex and discovered that currently there was light coming from only one window, so he pressed something on his watch and scanned the entire building in order to find the exact location of his target. His watch beeped and gave him results. Conveniently his target was within the one room of the apartment complex that had lights on.

He leaped in the air once more and ran along another roof before jumping to an upper floor of the residence. He landed with his hands grabbing the railing and threw himself over it, quietly landing on the balcony next to the lit room and placing his back against the wall next to the window to keep hidden. He carefully peeked inside and saw a boy inside. He slightly lifted his arm up and allowed his watch to scan the room and sure enough, that person was who he was looking for.

"Hm, such a plain-looking individual is the one I'm after? How disappointing..." He muttered to himself. He looked around the room and noticed plenty of merchandise of a certain blonde and muscular hero. "It seems that someone has an obsession…"

He stared at the boy from the window and focused his eyesight more onto the notebook that the boy happily wrote in while muttering a storm away. After a few minutes of writing, the boy closed the notebook, and as he did, the mysterious person caught a name on the cover. He then turned his head away from the window and looked up into the starry sky.

"Let us see if you're worth to let live…" the lights of the room next to him then shut off, leaving the nearest light source to be the teen's own red eyes.

"Izuku… Midoriya."

* * *

He watched him throughout the entire day. Ever since Izuku had woken up, the individual was on him like a hawk on its prey. He watched him get up in the morning and do his usual morning routines, even catching a glimpse of who seemed to be his mother wishing him off to school. He saw no other person within the home, making him think that his father was deceased or had left for a reason. Afterword, Izuku went to school without even noticing someone following him from the shadows, his stalker observed that Izuku looked rather nervous for simply going into his middle school, but as Izuku's class began and the person watched it commence from a tree, he soon knew exactly why.

The class was going over their career papers and everyone had chosen the same thing, to be a hero. However, when he heard the teacher mention that Izuku had also chosen to be a hero, his entire class laughed at him and a blonde boy with red eyes, who heard was called Bakugo, even exploded Izuku's desk with a unique power from his hands. They all laughed at him, spoke negatively of him, and that was when he heard something interesting:

His target, Izuku, was quirkless.

_"Quirkless?..."_ he wondered as he watched Izuku get intimidated by the blonde boy. _"What does that mean here?"_ He continued to watch the class all the way up to the school ending that day. Izuku was one of the last people sitting at his desk. However, just when he had nearly finished packing up, Bakugo once again tormented him, this time by exploding Izuku's notebook and flinging it out of the window with a look of enjoyment.

_"Hm, it seems that he's a source of bullying… Could it be because he's 'quirkless' that people are deciding to pick on him? So this is their form of discrimination here, how foolish."_

There was then one line from Bakugo he picked up.

"If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it. Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!"

He squinted his eyes, _"He just encouraged a suicide…"_

He continued watching Izuku as he went outside and picked up his notebook with tears in his eyes.

_"Such pain for someone who's just in middle school to be facing… It appears that due to lacking one thing that everyone else has, he's treated as worthless. If this keeps going on-"_

He watched as Izuku gripped his notebook in anger, tears waterfalling from his eyes.

"-then he actually may end up becoming dangerous. After all, many of those who've suffered can always find a way to turn it around and show everyone else what they can really do. But will it be for the good, or for the bad?"

Izuku ran off with his notebook in hand, heading towards the school gate exit in frustration. The person got up from his spot in a tree and climbed it to the top, then leaping onto the school building. He examined the path Izuku was taking and noticed Bakugo walking in the direction of the city that he had just been at the previous night.

_"That person, Katsuki Bakugo… He's a source of stress and pain towards Izuku Midoriya. He even calls him by a nickname, 'Deku'."_ A dagger formed within his palm. _"Perhaps if I removed such an evil person from the equation, then it would make this world and Izuku's mental state better."_

However, just as he was about to launch toward Bakugo, he noticed that Izuku was getting rather far since he was running. _"I'll have to take care of this 'Bakugo' later."_ He then jumped off the school building and continued to follow Izuku in secret.

He followed him to a tunnel where Izuku halted his walking at the entrance of it. At that point, he looked less angry and more depressed, looking down at the ground and tightly gripping the notebook in his hand. Izuku seemed to have had a pep talk for himself, because the next moment, the boy held his head high and grit his teeth in a determined matter, then cheerfully marching into the tunnel.

_"Even though his confidence was just put down just a while ago, he can still find the ability to encourage himself to keep going? How long can he keep that up though?"_

He jumped beside the tunnel and place his back against the side of the entrance to keep himself hidden. He peeked his head and watched Izuku walk through the short tunnel with a weird laugh before something came through the holes of the sewer plate. He squinted his eyes as a sludge-like substance with evil eyes came out and grabbed Izuku, pulling him into its body.

He sighed, _"I guess he'll have to get himself out of the situation by using whatever special power he has."_ But as he watched, Izuku struggled and struggled to get out of the slime with only his hands. There was no fire, no transformation, no sign of any type of change to him.

_"Is he not going to use his power?"_

He kept watching as the sludge villain covered Izuku in his body and had begun to shove slime in his mouth, suffocating the poor boy.

_"What is he waiting for?"_ he wondered out of curiosity.

There was a point where the teen caught sight of Izuku's tear-filled eyes and saw that he was beginning to lose consciousness. That was when his eyes widened in a final realization, _"Could it be, that he doesn't have power at all?"_

He saw Izuku's arms go limp.

"Tsk!" he formed a dagger in his hand was just to leap into action until-

CLANK!

He stopped as the sewer lid completely blasted up and startled the sludge villain, making him turn around with his eyes widened. Within the opening of the sewer, a tall and muscular man with blonde hair came out smiling with his eyes shadowed.

**"It's all right now, young man. Why?"** he stomped his foot against the ground, creating a small shockwave.

The teen's eyes widened in realization, _"That person… that's the same man on all that merchandise Midoriya has within his room. If I recall… 'All Might' was his name."_

**"Because I am here!"** All Might proudly yelled, holding a proud stance.

The sludge villain's eyes became blood red, **"ALL MIGHT!"** he shot slime-like arms over towards him and attempted to slam into him, but All Might easily avoided the villain's efforts and pulled his own arm back.

**"Texas Smash!"** He punched the air in front of him and created a powerful shockwave shooting towards the sludge villain. Due to the villain's fluid-like body, he felt himself getting split apart.

**"Wind pressure!?"** Were his last thoughts before his slime body shot against the walls and rendered him unconscious.

The teen felt the powerful winds all the way from the start of the tunnel, his hair blowing back and he even used an arm to cover his eyes. _"Such raw power… I wonder if his abnormal strength is his 'quirk'?"_

The aftermath of the fight wasn't much to watch. All Might woke up Izuku and apologized for getting him mixed up with the villain, while Izuku frantically fanboyed to see his number one hero right there in front of him. However, as All Might tried to leave, Izuku caught hold of his leg and blast off into the air with a shockwave he left behind.

_"What is that idiot thinking?"_ He slightly fixed his long hair that was messed up from the shockwaves All Might caused. He then ran and jump onto a few buildings to follow the duo. He was careful not to jump too high or risk being noticed by the hero while in the air, but he made sure to keep sight of them and keep up. He hopped along a shorter assortment of buildings while following All Might all the way up to the point where they stopped.

Instead of also jumping atop of the same building the two stopped at, the person went into an alleyway on the side the building and looked up at the top. He saw a fire escape and easily climbed up it without making any noise, but the fire escape didn't reach all the way to the top of the roof. Once at the highest it could go, he jumped slightly upward and held onto the very edges of the roof and listened closely.

"Even if I don't have a quirk, can I become a hero?" he heard Izuku asked anxiously.

He raised an eyebrow as he listened.

"Can even someone without a quirk be like you?" Izuku's voice sounded shaky.

Out of curiosity, he pulled himself up so that his head barely peeked over the edge of the building and saw Izuku standing straight with his eyes closed while All Might coughed blood in his hand while steaming up.

_"What's with him? A condition?"_

After a few more moments passed the teen's eyes widened to discover All Might turn into a skinny man. _"He's the same skeletal man that I saw last night while traveling."_

Obviously, Izuku freaked out when he saw this form of his hero, but All Might showed him an injury he got five years ago, one that caused him problems for his hero career and that only let him work up to three hours a day as a hero. His injury had been caused by a villain, but he said that he didn't wish to make the battle public so that he could continue saving people with a smile without worrying everyone.

He then heard All Might sigh, "Pros are always risking their lives. I'm sorry… but I cannot simply say 'you can become a hero even without power', it's not that easy."

Izuku looked mortified, he tilted his head and looked down at the ground with widened eyes. "I-I see…" was all he could say.

He focused his eyes on Izuku's heartbroken expression, _"Even the hero he looked up to for his entire life told him that he can't be a hero."_

"If you want to help others, then you could also become a police officer. They're often teased because they get villains delivered to their doorstep, but that is also a fine occupation." All Might walked towards the stairs of the building, but before going down he said one last thing, "It's not bad to dream, but also have to consider what's realistic young man."

After All Might disappeared, the person turned his head and looked to a weak-minded Izuku now, "Now what will _you_ do now Izuku Midoriya?"

Izuku dropped his notebook on the ground and fell to his knees. A small, sad laugh was heard, "Y-Yeah… Even… even a pro hero said so… S-Someone quirkless… can't be a hero…"

_"How pitiful…"_

It didn't take long for Izuku to finally get up and sadly go down the stairs. After he left, the person finally pulled himself atop of the building and thought about everything he's seen so far.

"So… Izuku Midoriya, a young boy whose only wish in life is to become a hero, has had his dreams shattered. Due to being quirkless, his dream seemed more like a fantasy in the eyes of everyone he has ever met. Bullied and discriminated by anyone around him, no sign of any friends whatsoever, and being told repeatedly that he couldn't fulfill his dream has had given a beating on his self-confidence. But now the question I'm wondering about him is-" He down over the edge of the building at Izuku walking with his down in depression.

"-What path will you take now, Izuku Midoriya? Let's find out."

* * *

Izuku Midoriya walked down the city sidewalk looking into his burnt notebook in depression. So many things that people had said before went through his mind once more, especially after his encounter with All Might.

_"He still can't face reality, even though he's already in his third in junior high!"_

_"It's time for you to think seriously about your future!"_

_"You have to consider what's realistic."_

He closed his notebook and let out a sad sigh.

_"Even a pro hero said it…"_ He felt water blurring his vision and he wiped his eyes, _"Don't cry! You knew, didn't you?!"_ The world darkened around his mind. _"You knew! That's why you were trying so desperately! You were averting your eyes, not looking at reality!"_

His idol, no, his hero, had told him that he couldn't become a hero without a quirk, crushing a part of Izuku's spirit that he had been trying to keep together for so long.

He sighed, _"Can I really not be a hero?"_

This question echoed through Izuku's mind as he passed by a small, dark alleyway. But just as he nearly passed it, a hand reached out from the darkness and covered Izuku's mouth with another hand grabbing his arm.

"Mmph!?" Izuku's eyes widened and he didn't even get a chance to scream as he was suddenly pulled into the alleyway and was slammed by the front against the wall. A hand pinned his arm behind his back and Izuku felt a cold blade of the sort get placed on the back of his neck, making his blood turn cold. The only thing he could see in the corner of his eye was some long black hair. He was too afraid to even try looking back more with a blade behind his neck.

"You scream, you die." A cold voice threatened behind him.

Izuku went pale and didn't even attempt to struggle out of fear. He simply managed to perform the smallest of nods and complied.

"Good. You may not have noticed, but I've been watching you for a while" the voice said behind him.

Izuku blinked in shock, _"W-Watching me? Why me? Wait, if he's been watching me for so long, then does that mean-!?"_

The person interrupted his thoughts, "Such a secret, but important conversation to conveniently come upon, I'm sure that many people wouldn't like to know that such a hero has been keeping secrets like that from them."

Izuku felt his stomach drop, _"H-He knows… He heard everything. Did I just… release All Might's secret to the world?" _Izuku felt horrified, disappointed, ashamed, so many bad feelings of guilt just plagued his mind at that thought.

"Now I don't get exactly what's going on, but currently I don't have anything against that hero. Rather, I have business with you instead."

_"Wha-Me!?"_

"All I wish for you to do is to answer one question I have. Answer it truthfully and you'll be alright, after all-" Izuku felt the blade pressed up more behind his neck, "-depending on your answer, you may not end up unharmed. Understand?"

Izuku felt absolutely terrified, he was basically shivering down to his spine and sweat frantically went down the side of his head. _"Wh-What did I do? What does he wanna ask me? Wh-Why is my luck so bad today?"_

_"I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth, just answer my question and everything will be fine, alright?"_

Izuku slowly nodded his head once more in confirmation.

He removed his hand from Izuku's mouth and move closer to his ear, "Your lifelong dream is to become a hero, you've studied them, admired them, desired to become one of them. Yet, every person you've met discriminated you and told you that it was impossible for you to become one due to being 'quirkless'. Yet, you've been holding on to that dream for so long with hopes of somehow being able to become one. A boy without power trying to become a hero, it wasn't until your life long hero, All Might finally told you, that you've finally realized that your dream wasn't achievable."

Hearing all of this once more, Izuku had gone from being scared to partially depressed. _"I know that... But where is he going with this?"_

"So now that you've realized how futile it is to become a hero, let me ask you, Izuku Midoriya-" His eyes glared in a serious matter, "-what path will you be taking now?"

Izuku repeated that question in his mind, _"What… path will I be taking?" _His mind shot back to his entire childhood, remembering just how much he wished to become a hero growing up. He felt tears beginning to form in his eyes as he thought back to first learning that he was quirkless. He remembered on that same night when he asked his mom if he could become a hero, she only apologized again and again and again, giving no hope to the boy whatsoever. He clenched his hand and thought about Bakugo and all of his classmates bringing Izuku's dream down several times.

He felt angry, he wanted to do something, to say something, but he knew that whatever he said wouldn't matter. All Might saying he couldn't become a hero, he had felt a part of his spirit break at that moment, he was heartbroken, betrayed, miserable, but despite all of this…

He still knew what he wanted to do.

There were drops of water falling onto the floor, "I-I-I still want to become a hero, no matter what." His voice was cracking as he sobbed, "A-All I want is to be able to do is save people with a smile, I don't want to give up on that dream. It's all I ever wanted." Izuku said truthfully.

The person stared in wonder at the boy. Despite being treated so terribly and even though his dream seemed like a fantasy, Izuku still had the will to go on with it.

He sighed, "I see… You really are an idiot."

Izuku sniffled.

"Yet… it's admirable."

Izuku perked his head up, he felt the hand on his arm let go and the blade on his neck get removed. He immediately turned around at an attempt to get a view of his attacker but to his surprise, there was no longer anyone right there.

"Wh-Who was that?! They already left!?" Izuku muttered as his eyes frantically looked around for any indication of his assaulter. Having discovered that there was no one around, he sighed in relief. _"Guess he's gone… I don't think I should bother reporting this to police, they won't have any leads to go on."_ he thought as he readjusted his backpack and wiped his eyes of the remaining tears. He left the alleyway with his head down once again.

_"Who was that guy? Why was he spying on me for so long? Is he still_-"

Izuku didn't get to finish the thought as a sudden explosion occurred in the distance and shook the ground. Izuku's eyes shot up and he saw smoke ahead in the city.

_"That explosion…"_ Izuku ran in the direction of the smoke and came upon a crowd of people attempting to look into an alleyway, from which was the source of the big clouds of smoke. Izuku noticed several different heroes on the scene, from the wood hero Kamui Woods wrapping up civilians to save, to Backdraft the firefighter hero who was attempting to put out the fires caused by the explosions.

"They seem to be struggling…" Izuku worried. He peeked through some civilians to get a better look but his eyes widened in horror to recognize the sludge villain as the one that he had encountered earlier that day. _"Wha-What is he doing here?! Didn't All Might capture him?!"_ Izuku placed both hands over his mouth, a new terrible thought coming to mind. _"D-Did he escape… because of me?"_

As he worried, little did he know that the number one hero himself, All Might, was only a few feet away from him but in his skeletal form due to spending too much time in his hero form. He didn't notice Izuku near him either since he could only stare in similar despair and anger at the sludge villain causing destruction in the alley.

_"Damn it! Why am I so pathetic!? I can't even save one boy!"_ Toshinori, thought to himself as he punched the wall next to him out of anger, not even making much of a dent in his skeletal form.

As this was all happening, someone was examining the situation all the way from the top of one of the buildings connecting the alleyway. The sun gleamed over him, making him a silhouette with two glowing red eyes watching the entire scene below.

_"Hm, it appears that the villain somehow managed to escape the confinement of All Might. So much for a professional hero..."_

He then looked down at Izuku once more, "Although you say that you desire to be a hero, what could you do? How far are you willing to go to prove it?" he muttered.

Izuku stared at the devastating sight in front of him, wondering what would happen and if the heroes didn't stop the villain.

But then the villain turned his body and Izuku's heart dropped.

He saw his lifetime bully, Katsuki Bakugo, being held captive within the sludge villain's body with water in his eyes from suffocating.

_"Kacchan!?"_ Izuku screamed in his head in horror.

He then heard Death Arms yell out to someone "Hey kid stop! It's too dangerous!"

Izuku wondered who Death Arms was calling out to before realizing that he was currently running toward the sludge villain as if his legs had minds of their own.

_"What the hell am I doing?!"_ He screamed in his head as he ran up to the villain.

The teen watching from the roof and squinted his eyes at the sight of Izuku running despite not having any powers.

In the crowd stood Toshinori, surprised, speechless, and stunned from what he saw. Out of anyone that could've run towards such a dangerous scene, the quirkless boy that he encountered earlier was the one to do it.

Izuku, on the other hand, was completely freaking out, _"Crap, crap, crap! I ran in here, but what do I do!? I'll just get killed! Think Izuku, think!"_ His mind flipped towards three sections of the notebook in his mind, _"I gotta obscure his sight!"_ He gripped onto a strap of his backpack and flung it upward towards the villain's eyes.

The sludge villain saw Izuku running towards him and felt fueled with anger, **"YOU!"** the sludge villain screeched. However, before he could react and go for Izuku, he got hit in the eye by some of Izuku's school materials flying from his open backpack.

**"AARRGH!"** the sludge villain yelled as he closed his eyes and winced from the sudden pain.

Toshinori could only watch in terror, _"This kid is gonna get himself killed! He… He…"_ his eyes then widen as he recalled his own experiences before becoming a hero.

He remembered the stories of the best heroes and compared the similarities to what Izuku was currently doing. Remembering what it meant to be a hero once more, Toshinori felt himself getting more determined than ever and began buffing back into his muscular form, luckily, everyone was too focused on Izuku running to the villain than to notice him.

**_"I can't sit here and watch!"_**

In the meantime, Izuku leaped to the sludge villain and went right to attempting to free Bakugo by scooping up chunks of sludge and throwing them aside, sadly not succeeding. During that time, Bakugo managed to free his mouth from the sludge and glared at Izuku with rage in his eyes.

"DEKU!? What the hell!? Why are you fucking here?!" He yelled at him.

Izuku had tears in his eyes as he looked at Bakugo with a sad smile, "Well, you just looked like you were asking for help!" he said in a cracking voice.

The person above had a realization, _"So he's one of those types of people. The kind who would be willing to endanger his own life for the sake of even one other person. A true hero."_

**_"Pathetic… Pathetic!"_** Toshinori shouted to himself, turning back into All Might.

By this point, the villain had recovered from the pain in his eyes and looked down at Izuku with blood-red eyes, his pupils shrinking in pure anger.

**"YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"** Yelled out the villain as a large, sludge hand came out and overshadowed Izuku and Bakugo, mere seconds from overtaking them entirely.

The teen on the roof stood up and nearly jumped down to stop the attack.

However, from the corner of his eyes the blonde muscular man that he had seen before jump towards Izuku at vanishing speeds, actually surprising him a bit.

_"He's fast…"_

The villain's hand collided with something, causing another explosion to occur, many of the crowd gasped in shock, thinking the worst had happened.

Izuku shielded his eyes from the smoke, but when he opened them, he was shocked to see his hero, All Might, right in front of him with his hand in the sludge and protecting both him and Bakugo.

**"I really am pathetic… Even though I admonished you, I wasn't putting what I said into practice!" **He raised his fist back and forcefully pulled off the slime that was on him. **_"I've found him Nana! I've finally found him!"_**

**"ALL MIGHT!"** the sludge villain shouted in rage as he prepared for another attack to swallow All Might whole.

But All Might had already begun moving his fist forward as his eyes shined an inspired blue, **"DETROIIIIIT SMAAAAAAASH!"**

The moment his punch connected to the sludge villain, a giant shockwave blew the entire villain away, his slime body spreading all over the alleyway. Intense winds put out all the fires in the area while also nearly blowing back many civilians if it wasn't for Mount Lady using her arms to protect them.

The smoke cleared, revealing All Might standing proudly in a now fire-free area. After a moment for people to process exactly what had happened, they erupted with cheers for him for his heroic act.

**"I found my next successor."** All Might thought proudly.

The red-eyed person kept watching as the heroes began to clean up the area after what had happened. He recognized the same wood hero that he encountered the previous night, but also took into account the many other heroes around. _"Interesting… So everyone has a special power that is called a 'quirk', which has allowed for a new career choice of 'hero' to develop in this society, yet-"_ his gaze turned over to Izuku now, who was currently getting scolded by the pro heroes, _"-you don't have one. Why is that?"_

He watched as Izuku bowed apologetically in front of the heroes and then ran off in the direction of his house.

"Izuku Midoriya, you are definitely worth to let live for the sake of others. It will be difficult for me to make you into something greater, but I will try to make it so that you can succeed in your dream while also helping me achieve my own goal..." He spoke out.

The sky was beginning to glow orange as the sun was setting, people moved along the street away and away from the crime scene. The person noticed Bakugo look around to discover that Izuku had left and shrugged off the heroes as he ran after the boy with an enraged look on his face.

_"Could he really be angry at Midoriya for trying to save him? How vexing…"_

He then noticed All Might looking around in shock to see that the broccoli haired boy he chose was no longer around. He apologized to the media and then blasted off at fast speeds into the sky, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

_"Hm, that hero… He's indeed powerful, even if he has the major drawback of the limit on his power. However, I noticed that look in his eyes before he saved those two from that monster, he was inspired by that boy and judging by how he looked when he rushed off, he must be going to find him…"_

He then jumped off the rooftop and went along to also follow the direction that Izuku took.

_"What could he want with him this time?"_

Little did this mysterious being know, that on that day, by formally meeting not just Izuku, but All Might as well, that he would be starting on an adventure that would change his entire life. Everything he knew before, everything he didn't know, everything that he remembered, that was all going to change due to taking the same path as the emerald haired boy.

And so began the adventure begins.


	2. The Opportunities Of Encounters

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

_"__I'm sorry… but I cannot simply say 'you can become a hero even without power', it's not that easy."_

Izuku recalled these words from his number one hero, All Might, from earlier in the day. The color of the sky was now orange as the sunset beamed in Izuku's direction, the sun starting to lower itself on the horizon. He slowly waddled home holding his backpack straps and tilting his head down in sadness. He didn't even realize when he was already back in his neighborhood, not even noticing that there was no one else but him in the area. There were only a few birds overhead on the telephone wires as he came upon an intersection on the path he took, then stopping his walk and sighing in a discouraged manner.

_"I wanted to apologize to All Might, but I couldn't get to him while he was still getting interviewed... I'll send him a message on his website when I get home."_

He then heard a woosh behind him and saw a shadow on the ground go past him, which meant that something came from above.

His eyes shot up and around but he didn't see anyone around, yet he couldn't help but feel an intense stare from afar. He gulped nervously as he remembered the assaulter he had met earlier that day, "D-Don't tell me he's-?"

"DEKU!"

"Gyah!" Izuku jumped in shock from the sudden outburst of an angry voice and turned around to find Bakugo running towards him, nearly out of breath.

"K-Kacchan!?" he shouted as he saw his tormentor.

Bakugo stopped a few feet away from Izuku and bent over, supporting himself on his knees and panting from all the running he did to get to Izuku. When he rose up, Izuku could tell that he looked rather angrier than usual, which wasn't a good sign.

Bakugo clenched his left hand into a fist as he used his right hand to point a finger at Izuku and shout.

"I didn't ask for your help, nor did I even need it! You didn't even do anything to help me out at all! You were quirkless, yet you still tried to do something so retarded! What were you trying to do, make me owe you?! You're just a failure so don't you DARE go looking down on me!"

He then spun in place and put his hands in his pockets angrily before comically marching off with heavy steps. "You DAMN nerd!" he finally finished.

Izuku stood at a loss for words, awkward sweat drops formed on the side of his head to know that Bakugo had run all this way just to say that to him. But he blinked as he recalled certain words that he heard the boy say.

"Looking... down at him?" he wondered in confusion. He then shook his head and dismissed what he heard, looking down and releasing yet another sigh.

"Whatever... Kacchan is right. I didn't do anything to help. If anything, I only caused more trouble for everyone. Oh well…" he turned around and continued to walk forward to his house, trying to keep his head even a little high. "Now I can focus on thinking of a realistic future for myself."

Just as he decided to do this, someone dashed out from the left path of the intersection and screeched to a halt right in front of Izuku with a proud laugh.

**"I am here!**

Izuku jumped back in shock from the sudden speed and his eyes widened to suddenly see All Might appear in his view once more.

"A-All Might!? Why are you here?! What about all those reporters!?" Izuku nearly yelled, completely overwhelmed once more by his presence.

**"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Getting away from them was simple! Why?"** All Might then showed his back to Izuku and flexed his arms, **"Because I am All Migh-PFFT!"** At that very moment, All Might suddenly exploded with smoke and from that smoke he emerged spurting out blood from his mouth in his skeletal form.

"AAAAAHHHHH! Are you alright!?" Izuku comically yelled.

He let out a few coughs and wiped his mouth of blood before giving him a grin, "I'm fine kiddo." He then formed a more serious expression on his face.

"More importantly young man, I have come to thank you, give a correction from earlier, and give an opportunity."

"Th-Thank me?" He didn't understand.

All Might nodded, then looking down in shame, "If you weren't there... If you didn't tell me all about your life or went to save that boy, then I would've ended up not being able to do anything..."

Izuku flailed his arms, "Th-That can't be! I-" his mind went back to holding on to All Might, guessing that it must've been when the sludge villain got released. He put his arms back to his sides and looked down in a similar shame as All Might did, "It was my fault in the first place... I got in the way of your work and just inconvenienced you with my problems."

All Might chuckled, "Yeah, but it was also my fault for somehow letting a fan cause me to do something unprofessional."

Izuku felt a stab in him as he looked away in shame and embarrassment, "S-Sorry..."

"But, it was because it was none other than _you_, a quirkless and timid boy running to the scene, that I was finally able to act."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked several times in confusion.

"The top heroes always had stories about them from their early school days. Most of their stories have one thing in common:" All Might pointed a finger at Izuku and recalled the exact moment the boy had run in to save Bakugo. "When they see someone in trouble, they end up moving their own bodies before they even had the chance to think for themselves!"

Izuku realized what he meant and his eyes widened, shining brightly with hope. He then them tearing up, his mind reflecting back to his mother's words.

_"I'm sorry Izuku! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

He bent over and gripped his chest with his hands, tears now waterfalling down his eyes.

All Might smiled, "That was true for you too, wasn't it?"

Izuku let out loud sniffles as he covered his eyes with his hands and cried out, "Y-Yes!"

All Might smiled, "What I said to you before on that rooftop was wrong. What I should've said was..."

Izuku was in his own thoughts, _"That wasn't it mom... I didn't want to hear those words, there was nothing for you to apologize about. What I wanted to hear you say was..."_ Izuku fell to his knees as he listened to the next words that All Might said.

"You… CAN become a hero!" All Might stated in a proud voice.

At that point, Izuku was bawling his eyes out. Despite the many tears that went down his eyes, he wasn't sad, it was the complete opposite. He was finally relieved, relieved that one person, the most important person, was the one to tell him that he could follow his dream. Those were the most important words that Izuku had ever hoped to even hear in his life, lifting his spirits all the way up to their maximum hope. There was nothing else that could surprise, or make him feel any different than right now.

All Might held his hands outward majestically, "You are worthy of inheriting my power!"

Izuku stopped crying and lifted his head up to All Might, tears still lingering in his eyes, then tilting it to the side in confusion. "Eh?"

All Might stared at Izuku with a proud face, waiting for the boy to react.

Izuku's mind went to pieces, "Wha-!? Hu-!? How-!?" he then coughed into his hand and regained his composure. "Mind repeating that?" he asked in a new, calm voice.

_"He did a whole retake!" _All Might sweatdrop.

"What's with that reaction? It's exactly as I said." he walked closer and planted a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "You need to choose if you will inherit my power or not!"

Izuku felt complete disbelief. "B-But that shouldn't be possible!"

"That's because you don't know about my power." All Might responded as he pat his shoulder.

"Your... power?" Izuku questioned.

All Might let out a sigh, "I can't let this be known, because the Symbol of Peace has to be a natural-born hero in the eyes of the public. But young man! The truth is..." he opened his arms up and looked up, "My quirk was passed on to me like a sacred torch!"

"Passed on!?"

"Yes! That is the quirk I inherited!" All Might yelled out, then holding his hand right in front of him. "I was crowned with 'One For All'!"

"One... for... all?" Izuku repeated in confusion.

All Might closed his hand into a fist, "That's right... One person cultivates the power and passes it on to another person, who also cultivates it and passes it on! It's the very power that mixes with the voices of those who need help with a courageous heart!"

Izuku couldn't believe it, "Why... Why do you want to give me, a quirkless person, something so great?"

All Might grinned again, "I was here looking for a successor. But when you ran in that dangerous scene by yourself, I knew that you were more heroic than anyone else there! Therefore, I know it would be all right for YOU to inherit it. So what do you say?"

At that point, Izuku was still on his knees with his hands atop of his legs, still processing exactly what he was hearing from his hero.

_"He said so much to encourage me... he even told me his secret..."_ he made a decision and slowly got back to his feet, his head still looking down.

"I..."

Before he even had a chance to answer, a cold voice was heard to the side.

"So that's what you wanted with him."

Both Izuku's and All Might's eyes widened in shock as they both snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. Both their eyes came upon the slanted roof tile of a building where a pale, red-eyed person sat with one leg atop of the roof with his arm supported on it with the other leg hanging off the edge. It was the same person that had arrived just the previous night and had been watching Izuku for nearly the entire day, not that Izuku recognized his look due to not seeing him in their one encounter.

But he recognized his voice.

Izuku's eyes widened in fear as he remembered the cold feeling of a blade on the back of his neck, knowing this person was the one who did it.

"Y-You were the one that pulled me into that alleyway and put a knife behind my neck!" Izuku shouted as he pointed at him.

All Might turned to Izuku with a look of shock, "What?!"

"How perceptive of you to recognize me by my voice." the person said as he slowly got to his feet.

All Might felt an intimidating aura emerging from the person's cold red eyes and cold expression. He instinctively took a step back with a chill going down his spine as only one thing went through his mind.

They were in danger.

He got in front of Izuku to shield him and kept his eyes to the person as he whispered.

"Listen, what was your name again kid?" He whispered.

_"He's asking now!?"_ Izuku thought in shock, but still kept his eyes on the newcomer. "I-Izuku M-Midoriya." he uttered in a whisper as well.

"Well Midoriya, if I try going back to muscle form now, then I'm sure I'll only be able to maintain it for at least a few seconds due to all that happened today. He doesn't know that, so during that time, take the chance to escape-"

"I don't recommend trying to push yourself. You've already reached the limit of your capacity and I'm sure forcing your body to go back to muscle form would just cause damage to yourself as you said before to Midoriya." the person stated.

All Might's eyes widened, _"He knows about the limit on my quirk?! Don't tell me... he was watching us ever since Midoirya and I landed on the building?! But how?!"_

He watched as the individual jumped down from the roof and walked towards the two.

"A-All Might, what do we do? D-Do you think you'll be able to fight him?" Izuku whispered to him in concern.

"I don't know what this person is capable of, but I can tell that he isn't some ordinary person. I don't know what are his intentions yet, but I have to be ready."

"Don't misunderstand, I have no intention of causing any harm to either of you." The person announced as he neared them.

All Might and Izuku stopped in place as they wondered what he meant.

"B-But in that alleyway-!"

"I'll explain that momentarily, but before that, I just want to make something clear." he crossed his arms, "I am no villain, despite how I may look."

All Might was still clearly suspicious of him.

"I don't have a reason to hurt either of you, rather, I actually wish to help you two."

"Huh?" All Might and Izuku were both perplexed, wondering what the boy was talking about.

"Now, on to introductions, my name is-"

GROWL!

"Wh-What now!?" Izuku uttered in shock, his head frantically look left and right to figure out the source of the sound.

"Um..." All Might immediately knew where the sound came from and looked down at the stomach of the person.

GROOOOOOWL!

Izuku then looked as well and understood. "U-Um..."

The person looked down at his own stomach, not looking even the slightest bit embarrassed by his hunger. "I don't suppose we can talk over dinner can we?"

All Might and Izuku both sweatdropped.

_"What's with this guy?"_

* * *

Izuku and All Might awkwardly sat on one side of the table with trays of food in front of them, watching their new red-eyed character centering his attention to a burger as he ate it. They didn't know what to make of him now. One moment, it felt like a life or death situation, then the next, they had somehow decided to take him to a fast food place to talk. The boy still had his emotionless look in his eyes despite seeming to energetically eat his burger, taking bite after bite.

Izuku slightly tilted his head near All Might's ear, "A-All Might, wh-why did we decide to come here again?" he whispered.

"It's not like we had much of a choice... He somehow knows about the limit of my quirk, so I'm worried he may have been listening to us for a while. We have to make sure that One For All stays secret. Plus, I don't think we could've ran even if we tried, some villains are unpredictable and there's no telling what this guy would do in a public place if he really was evil."

"Um... Does he really seem like a villain? H-He even said so himself that he wasn't one." Izuku uttered, watching the boy begin to dig into another burger.

"But... didn't he threaten you?"

"I-I guess he did..."

The boy gulped down his food, then looking across at Izuku, "What did you say the name of this place was?"

Izuku flinched at getting the person's attention, replying nervously, "Um, S-Smile Burger."

He held the burger up and inspected it closely, "I see. Despite not liking fast food, I think it tastes rather pleasant." he said before taking another bite.

All Might sweatdropped, "You said you wanted to 'talk', didn't you?"

He stopped eating his burger and glanced at All Might for a brief moment before placing it down, wiping his mouth with a napkin, and coughing into his hand to clear his throat.

"Well, first let us move on to introductions. My name is Enso Ureshi, I am a being that is not of this Earth."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Come again?"

"As I said, I am not of this Earth. I don't think I am at least, I've been to many of them before but don't know which one is mine, if any of them are." the person called Enso said. He then took another bite of his burger while Izuku and All Might process this information.

"B-But there hasn't ever been any scientific discoveries of life being existent on other worlds yet!" Izuku looked down with a hand on his chin as he got deep in thought, "This world hasn't shown any type of technology that could relate to traveling to other worlds, but since he said 'not of this Earth', then is he implying that there are other dimensions of Earth to be in? What does each of those places even hold if someone like this came to this Earth? Why come to this Earth specifically and- *mutter* *mutter* *mutter*..."

Enso and All Might practically saw the jumbled up words storming out of Izuku's mouth and filling the entire store.

"Quite the analytic." Enso said aloud.

Izuku realized that he was muttering and flailed his hands up in front of him out of embarrassment. "Ah! S-Sorry! S-Sometimes I get carried away..."

All Might ignored Izuku's muttering and focused back to Enso, "Hold on, do you really expect us to believe that you're from another dimension of Earth?" Toshinori asked him.

Enso tilted his head, "Yes?"

_"Wow, he actually thinks so."_

All Might cleared his throat, "Okay, suppose that is true. Why are you here exactly? And how long were you listening to that... 'sensitive' conversation me and Midoriya were having?"

"Oh, I've been watching Midoriya ever since yesterday night. I've heard everything from him being quirkless in school, the limit of All Might's quirk on the rooftop, and the discussion about One For All." he said in a room level voice.

"Hey! Hey!" All Might stood up and flailed his arms in front of him, his head frantically looking around the fast-food restaurant to see if anyone heard Enso. Everyone was currently absorbed in their own things to have even bothered hearing what Enso said, so they were fine. All Might sighed in relief and sat back down, then pointing a finger at Enso. "Don't use my hero name so casually while I'm in this form and don't say anything about One For All! And at least try to be quieter!" he shouted in a whisper.

"What do I call you then?"

"My name is Yagi Toshinori. Whenever I'm not in my hero form in public, call me by that name. You too Midoriya."

"E-Eh? Alright... B-But, can I still call you All Might when we're alone." he muttered to him.

'Toshinori' let out a chuckle, "Of course you can kiddo."

"Hm, despite just meeting today, you both seem to be getting along already. Like a father and his son." Enso said while looking from Izuku and Toshinori.

Izuku finched, _"All Might? As a father!?"_ he partially pictured the scenario of a buff All Might tossing him in the air with his signature heroic laugh.

Toshinori got flustered and coughed in his hand, "Anway, back to what we were talking about... Why is it that you were following Midoriya for so long?"

"I apologize for that, but I had to examine Midoriya from afar to judge whether or not he was worth to let live."

"Y-You said something like that in that alleyway! About what path I will be taking." Izuku blurted out.

Toshinori squinted his eyes, "Hold on, you _threatened _to kill Midoriya?"

"It was necessary to determine what kind of person he would be trying to become. After all, people are usually honest when they're on the brink of death. Don't worry, I won't be a danger to him-" He then seriously narrowed his eyes at Izuku, "-unless if he becomes dangerous to mankind itself."

Toshinori stood up in his seat in anger, "I've had enough. I was willing to possibly overlook how you've been up until now, but threatening to take a life for a foolish reason, I don't think I can overlook that."

"But don't you at least wish to hear why exactly I'm investing my time for Midoriya specifically?"

Toshinori and Izuku were silent for a moment, before Toshinori turned his head to Midoriya, "What do you think?"

"M-Me?" Izuku uttered, surprised that he asked him for his opinion, "W-Well... I think we could hear him out at least. H-He knows about your quirk and we don't know what he could do.

Toshinori sighed before sitting back down and folding his hands together. "Speak."

Enso put the tips of his fingers together on the table, "Midoriya here is... I guess what I would call, a 'special' person."

_"Special?"_ Izuku wondered.

Enso pressed his watch and projected his blue holographic map of the local area onto the table. On it showed a circular red dot and a beeping green square looking right next to each other.

"I was able to pick up your location from this watch. It specializes in finding _one_ special individual in the world it's currently on. I don't know how it specifically works in finding the specific person, but I do know that the individual it locates will have a power of some form that could impact the world, whether for good or for evil."

"B-But I'm quirkless! I don't have any kind of power!" Izuku cried out.

"Yes, I know this. That is why it is peculiar that you are the one my watch is reacting too. However, every time it's reacted to someone, sooner or later I discover that the person has an abnormal power."

Izuku stood up from his seat with hope in his eyes, "S-So are you saying... that I might have a quirk?"

"Maybe not even a quirk. It could be something else entirely."

_"A power that isn't even a quirk?"_ Izuku wondered in confusion.

"But... if Midoriya has such a power, why are you coming to him for it?" Toshinori asked.

"Well..." Enso looked outside the window, "I was hoping that by having him grow stronger and even unlock his power in the process, then I may be able to finally remember more about myself."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Toshinori questioned, taken aback by the claim.

Enso turned back to him, "Well, I don't exactly have an indication of who I was before." He looked down into his pale palms, "I woke up in this form without any memory of my past."

There was a brief moment of silence at the table, with Izuku giving a sympathetic look to Enso while Toshinori gave a suspicious instead.

"No memory? Then how do you remember your name?"

"I didn't remember my name. Someone told it to me." Enso responded.

"Wh-Who did?" Izuku asked curiously.

"It was a man who was with me when I woke up. He told me my name..."

Toshinori raised an eyebrow, "Couldn't you have asked him for information about yourself?"

"I could've, but I can't now."

"Why not?"

"He's deceased." Enso responded bluntly.

Toshinori and Izuku widened their eyes, "H-How?"

"How... More like by 'who'."

Hearing that someone murdered the person that could've given Enso answers, Izuku and Toshinori couldn't help but look at each other.

"Although, I can't tell you by who... yet."

Toshinori glared at him, "So let me get this straight. You've come to this world to find Midoriya because you believe that he possesses a special power and you wish to interact with him to build up that power in hopes that you would recall the things you've forgotten? And you won't even tell us who the 'person' that gave you your name was murdered by?"

"I know how it may sound, but I don't have any other leads to go on, all of the actions I've done and places I've gone to are all based around the one thing that I obtained waking up." he turned off the map and stuck his hand out on the middle of the table to show the advanced looking watch on his wrist.

"A watch?" Izuku tilted his head in curiosity.

He nodded, "Yes, it was what has provided me the locations to the several worlds I've been to and is even built with the teleporter that brought me here in the first place. I don't know why it's showing me all these different places or different people, but I just know that it has to mean something and I have hope it'll be about something related to myself."

He brought the watch closer to himself and stared at his reflection on it.

"This device was basically all I had at the time. It was the only thing that sent me somewhere that I may be able to find answers."

"No friends, family, or anyone around to tell you anything when you woke up? Where did you even wake up anyway?" Toshinori interrogated.

"I woke up in what appeared to be a laboratory full of scientists, but they all left me and one other person there."

"A-A laboratory!?" Izuku cried out.

"Yes, that is where I woke up, covered in wires and wearing only a hospital gound."

_"By how he said it, it makes it sound like he was an experiment." _Toshinori thought.

"The other person that was left with me was the same person that gave me my name. He appeared to be the lead scientist and stayed with me while everyone else evacuated."

"So that person is the one who's deceased..." Toshinori mumbled. "Wait, but why was everyone evacuating?"

Enso then squinted his eyes, "To run from the thing that made the lead scientist 'deceased' in the first place."

"B-B-But what k-killed him?" Izuku stuttered.

"As I said before, I don't think I should tell you yet."

"Why do you think that? If you only wish to help Midoirya as you said, then shouldn't you be providing all the information you know?"

"It's not the right time. Some things shouldn't be known until it's the right time. That applies to you too, doesn't it Toshinori? To keep secrets from people because you don't want to instigate fear?"

"Urk!" Toshinori remembered the battle he made not released to the public and had briefly told Izuku about. The battle where his opponent had caused him his permanent scar. "Fine... don't say then. But now that you've found Midoriya and wish for him to grow stronger, what will you be doing now?"

Enso shrugged, "I suppose the best course of action for me would to be to interact with you two anyway and offer my support."

"Hm..." Toshinori rubbed his hand against his chin. He then glanced over to Izuku, "What do you think?" he whispered.

Izuku took a good look at Enso, who had somehow gotten a whole other burger and was eating it. "I... I believe him."

Toshinori widened his eyes, "Seriously?"

Izuku felt slightly embarrassed, "I-I mean, I think this would be too far for it to be a lie! Plus..." he glanced over at Enso now sipping his drink loudly from his straw, "I don't really think he's truly a bad person, he could've easily done something bad to me while he watched me throughout the entire day. Especially when he pulled me into that alleyway he easily could've killed me, yet he just wanted to find out if I would be worth helping."

"Yet he would've killed you right there if you had malicious intent for your future..." Toshinori sweatdropped. He turned back to Enso, "Did you go around threatening these 'special' like you did with Midoriya?"

Enso looked down at the table as he recalled past events, "I didn't exactly... 'threaten' many others before him."

Hearing him word it like that, Izuku couldn't help but feel uneasy. "Wh-What do you mean by that?"

Enso placed the back of his hand onto the table and opened his palm. Toshinori and Izuku watched in bewilderment as a small tanto dagger faded within the palm and fully took shape. The dagger had a single-edged, slightly curved blade about ten inches in length. It was rather flat, yet it had a sharp point on the tip and had a black color while the handle of the dagger was a dark brown color, not clear of what material it was made of.

"This dagger of mine... Has had the blood of many people on it."

Toshinori and Izuku widened their eyes, with Izuku slightly trembling by how he said the word 'many' like it was nothing. He then felt Toshinori grip onto his wrist tightly, calming him down appearing to be ready to pull him away if they ever needed to make a run for it.

Enso lifted the dagger up to eye level and examined his red emotionless eyes in the reflection. "I had little regard for life as I went to worlds. I've been to many places and met many people, some good, but others terrible. There were times where people would be very inconvenient to me on my path so I would have to get rid of them, times where I've seen terrible people do inhuman actions that I didn't view them fit to live, and there were even times where I had to kill because I would be the only one willing to take the action for the greater good..."

"But... why!? What gives you the right to be the judge of people's lives?! Didn't you said that you were only finding the unique individuals?! So why!?" Toshinori gritted through his teeth, trying his hardest not to start yelling in anger. This person, whether man or boy, was basically the definition of a vigilante. Not only was he angry about learning the lives Enso took, but he was also confused because Enso's motives were just to find and help the special individuals in each world, then why did he have to kill so many people?

Enso stared at Toshinori, "Because before, I thought that it was what I had to do. I thought my purpose was to get rid of all of those unique individuals."

"What?" Toshinori halted his anger.

Enso looked down as he recited "It was the first time I traveled to a different world..."

* * *

It was around noon, the sun brightly shined down upon everyone as Enso walked down the path of stony town streets, examining the area of all its contents. The whole area looked as if it would take place in a video game, as there were all different types of adventurers walking around with armor, swords, shields, staffs, and so many more items. He passed by a place called an adventurer's guild and also passed by different types of stores that contained potions and other items for all of the adventurers. Along the way of those stores, he did notice that many of the adventurers passing by gave him odd looks as the saw the business suit he was wearing.

_"I suppose this type of clothing isn't common here..." _Enso thought to be the case.

Suddenly, he heard someone shout out, "You useless goddess!"

Enso turned his head to look down the road and saw a brown-haired boy wearing a green tracksuit currently trying to push away a light blue-haired girl wearing blue clothes who was crying to him.

"Please just lend me some money!" the girl cried comically.

Enso watched them argue for a few moments before two other people, a mage and a knight, came out of a shop and met up with them. At that point, Enso decided to walk away. _"This place has some rather loud people..."_

He kept exploring the area, going into many shops to exam the contents available, spying on some adventurers to see what they did, and even going to the adventurer guild itself to examine what quests they had. He did this until the sky became dark and everyone on the streets left back to their homes. Seeing the sky turn dark, he went into a dark alleyway and used it to wall jump onto the roof of a hotel of the sort, sitting on the edge with the full moon shining over him as he admired the world he was in.

_"What should I do now? I suppose I could ask around for more information about this world, but I may have to be cautious about talking to people of a world that I'm not from." _He looked down at the watch on his wrist. _"Why did this bring me here?"_

He stared and tilted his head curiously, examing his watch which was currently off. He then tapped the screen with a finger and a holographic map of the are popped up in front of him.

_"A map... Is it of this area?"_ He saw the red marker on the map and quickly figured out that it was him, but then he squinted his eyes as he saw another marker of the sort.

A green square beeping in the corner of the map.

"Hm?" he tapped the green square and the map zoomed out to a bigger layout, discovering that the square was located at another town that wouldn't take him far to get to with his speed. _"What is that marker?"_

Deciding to investigate, Enso got back to his feet and then leaped off the roof he was on, landing onto a farther one. He kept following a path of roofs until he ended up at the very edge of the city, using amazing speed to run up the town wall and jump over. He landed on the grassy field just outside of the town, then stretching for a brief moment before kneeling down into a running position.

_"Now, let's see how fast I can go..."_

He blasted off at literal explosive speeds, leaving a crater behind him and violently blowing the grass from the intense winds created as he ran. He kept running for what felt like a little than five minutes before already seeing a new and bigger town in the distance. It looked rather similar to the first one, yet it also had some noticeable changes such as a few different building structures and richer looking people around.

_"So it's somewhere here?_" he screeched to a halt in front of the town, accidentally causing large amounts of dirt clouds to be sent inside the entrance of the town and to the front guards.

"Hey!" People began to cough from the dirt and couldn't see.

"Whoops." Enso immediately got out of sight by jumping up a tree and using it to leap over the stone walls into the city. He landed on another roof and once more and once more followed a lineup of short buildings before hopping down into a dark alleyway. He looked at his map and saw that the marker was within a building that was in front of him, the side of which made up a part of the alley. He looked for an entrance and quickly found one in the form of stone stairs looking to lead underground.

"Down there?" he stared at the entrance for a moment before sighing and started to follow them down. _"This is the only lead I have anyway..."_

He walked down for what felt like two floors before coming across a rather dark but large looking area, only being dimply lit by a mixture of lamps and candles. It vaguely looked like a huge storage room of the sort, as Enso saw what he thought were crates with tarps over them sorted in long rows.

_"What is this place?"_

He looked down at his map and saw that his destination was just up ahead, so he slightly increased his walking pace.

But then he heard a small whimper to the right of him.

"Hm?" he tilted his head curiously to the box on his right, ignoring his objective for a moment as he went over to the tarp and grabbed it.

Upon pulling on the tarp and revealing its contents, he raised an eyebrow.

"A girl?"

He discovered that the tarp wasn't covering a box, but a cage. Inside the cage was a noticeably skinny looking girl with rabbit ears. She wore what Enso considered to be more of dirty rags than clothing, and she had visible bruises all over her body. She looked young, not even fully matured yet, and upon seeing Enso's red eyes she backed up in the cage in fear and whimpered.

"..." Enso tilted his head curiously at her. _"A bunny girl? Why is she in such an unhealthy state? She looks malnourished and appears to have been beaten..."_

He crouched down at the cage and spoke in his cold voice, "Excuse me, what is it you're doing here?"

The girl didn't say anything, she just shook in fear before hugging her legs and burying her head in her arms.

Enso sighed and stood back up, turning his head to the dozens of other 'boxes' covered with tarps. "Don't tell me..."

He marched to another box and pulled the cover off of it, revealing another girl with fox ears and a fox tail, looking equally as terrified as the previous one. He pulled another tarp, and another tarp, then another, and every single tarp he pulled, there was a young girl within a cage. There were all types of them, even humans, and each one was either crying quietly or looked too afraid to cry.

_"Prisoners? No, not entirely correct, they're in cages instead of cells. They must be slaves since they all appear to be girls. To think that something like this is under a town."_

"Hey! Who are you?!"

Upon hearing that loud voice, each girl flinched and backed away in their cages. Enso turned his head to the direction the voice came from and saw someone emerge from the darkness. It was a man about seven feet tall with black ruffled hair, a small beard, and a mustache. He wore barbarian looking clothing and had daggers attached to his belt.

Enso was unfazed by the person and decided to interrogate him, "Are you the man in charge of this business?"

The man looked furious to see Enso, but when he saw the abnormal clothing he had and the word 'business', he immediately assumed that he was a noble of the sort with his own and straightened himself out. He put on a smile and cleared his throat, "Why yes, I am. Are you here to look for a nice, obedient girl for yourself?" he grinned.

Enso ignored his question as he asked, "Tell me about them."

The man stepped to one of the cages and pointed at the bunny girl he first saw, "Well, this one costs about-"

"I meant their origins." Enso interrupted immediately.

"Tsk!" The man looked rather annoyed but answered, "Each of these little ladies were picked up from a variety of towns, we've picked many different types of them so there should be at least one you'll like. Each one has been cursed with slave collars as you can see, so they will never disobey their master once they are assigned one!"

Enso looked at the first girl he saw and noticed a metal collar around her neck. He then looked around and noticed that the other girls indeed had metal collars as well.

"What about their families?" he asked.

"Eh? Why the hell would you wanna know about- Oh, I get it! You worried if anyone will ever come looking for em!" The man said, thinking he understood him. "You don't have to worry about that, each of these slaves has had their home entirely destroyed, no one will ever come get em. No family left to find them."

"Why do they have bruises?"

"Ain't it obvious? The collars around their neck only work if a slave has been assigned a master, so it won't activate if they disobey us. To fix that, and make sure they stay in line, we gotta sometimes rough em up a little bit to ensure they listen." He started laughing and banged one of the cages next to him, making the girl in it yelp. "Now they're all afraid of us guys and will listen to whatever we say!"

"Have you been feeding them correctly?" Enso asked once more, his eyes shining menacingly in the dimly lit room.

"We try to make sure they eat just enough to live, otherwise they might have the strength to try something and escape. Look, buddy, you gonna buy one or not?" the man said, getting impatient.

Enso felt the presence of men gathering around him in the dark, but he still kept his gaze on to the man as he asked one more question.

"Are you and the men currently surrounding us the ones that abducted these girls and murdered their families?"

"Huh? Why the fuck do you-?"

"Are you and your men the ones that abducted these girls and murdered their families?" Enso asked once again.

The man reached to his belt and pulled out a dagger in each hand, gripping them in downward positions with a grin on his face. "Yeah, so what if we are?"

Enso stared at the man with his arms to his side. He then heard a beeping on his watch and brought it up to look, then narrowing his eyes as he saw what was on it.

The red dot and the green square were right in front of each other.

He looked back up at the man, _"This is what I was led to? Some random thug running a slave trade? How disappointing..."_ he sighed as he put his arm down.

"Now, you've been asking too many questions, little man, I think you're gonna have to go now."

"By 'go' you mean permanently, correct?" Enso asked without any hint of fear.

"Oh, you're a smart one." The man chuckled.

Something was beginning to form within Enso's palm as he had listened to everything, but he was too focused on the man to notice the item forming.

Enso took one step forward. "Tell me? Do you enjoy what you're doing?"

The man spun the daggers in his hands, "Well, it is a little sad to collect these little ladies from everywhere-"

Enso narrowed his eyes at the man.

"-but only because I don't get to keep em all to myself! They would've felt so happy with me! But that's enough outa you, get em, boys!"

As he said that, the item in Enso's hand fully took its physical form. Multiple men leaped out of the shadows with swords and murderous smiles on their faces as they yelled in excitement.

Without hesitating, Enso closed his eyes and swung whatever he had in his hand all around him. Sharp slices were heard and there were screams to go along with it. The sound of liquid splattering against the walls and the thuds of people falling to the ground echoed in the room.

Enso opened his eyes to see a new color all around him.

Red.

He looked at the ground and saw multiple bodies laying around him, all of which, belonged to the men that just attempted to murder him. They had died instantly and their blood was already spilling onto the ground from the clean, but large wounds that had been caused by a sharp blade. Their blood had also been splattered along the cages of the slaves, traumatizing many of them and causing them to scream in absolute terror.

The only other barbarian man who wasn't sliced, was the man in charge of the area, who now took a step back with a look of horror in his eyes.

"Wh-Wh-What the hell did you just do!?" the man yelled out loud, his daggers trembling in his hands.

"What I did?" Enso repeated in a question. Even he didn't know what had happened, at least, not until he raised his right arm and examined his hand. It was entirely covered with blood that wasn't his, but there was something in the grip of it. A dagger that he had somehow summoned up and was now dripping with blood.

"I see... So I did this." There was no facial change in Enso's expression, there was no sign of fear, guilt, anger, or sadness. It was simply an emotionless gaze that stared back to the man in, who was still shaking in fear.

Enso looked into his hand, "Hm, how odd. I didn't even notice what I did until I did it. I wonder if it's because... I have the natural instinct for this?"

Enso turned his attention to the man again and lifted his watch, it beeped once more and confirmed that the man in front of him was one hundred percent his target.

He then began taking steps forward, "With the way this device is reacting to someone like you and judging by the skills I possess, it's possible that there is only one purpose that I have to fulfill."

The man stepped back, "Wh-What the hell do you mean?!"

Enso's eyes intimidatingly shined as he answered, "I have to exterminate you."

"N-No! Stay back!" the man shouted, taking a few steps back.

"Sorry, but this may be what I'm meant to do..." Enso walked forward and raised his dagger in front of him, "Rid the worlds of people like you."

"D-Don't screw with me..." The man's eyes were practically blood red, "Ain't no way I'm dying now!"

"Goodbye." Enso brought his blade back and swung it at the intention of slicing the man's neck.

The man's eyes suddenly turned completely black with red pupils, "DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" His entire skin then flashed red.

Enso's eyes widened as he suddenly felt growing energy coming from the man. On instinct, he stopped his attack and instead jumped into the air as the man shot out a devastating red energy ball from his chest, violently piercing through the room going all the way across to the wall. The shockwave from the blast was so powerful that the cages were sent violently flying across the room with the girls in them screaming as they tumbled away.

While still in the air, Enso gripped onto his dagger and spun quickly, gaining momentum before delivering a precise blow to the man's neck. The moment he struck, the man's glowing skin faded away and he stayed standing still. Enso landed in a crouching position with his back facing the man, not even looking back as he had known where he struck. He simply listened as the man fell forward with something tumbling off his neck.

_"That was... unexpected."_ He looked back and saw a giant hole across from him in the wall, a hole that kept going through the underground caused by that man.

Luckily, since Enso had walked down a path in the room, the man's beam missed any direct hits on any of the slaves, but many of them had still been hurt from the force of the blast sending them crashing into other cages or the wall. Enso then heard a large explosion in the distance and the ground violently shook, most likely from that energy ball finally exploding. Items rolled across the ground and some pieces of the ceiling fell down. All the candles were put out, and many of the lanterns in the room were broken down. Since Enso was underground when the barbarian fired his attack, the underground path crumbled the buildings on top, burying many homes underneath.

_"Such destructive power. But it didn't seem that he did that on purpose. I wonder if it was a fight or flight reflex his body did? Hold on, why do I still detect his energy?"_

He quickly turned around with his dagger and got into a defensive position, only to discover that the man's body was still ono the ground, but with a faint red aura emitting off it. Enso cautiously stepped over and crouched down over the man's corpse, reaching his hand and gently touching his back.

He instantly got a reaction in the form of the red aura the man had now seeping into Enso instead.

Enso shot back up to his feet as he saw the red aura go around his arm and travel throughout the rest of his body. He felt pain go through his arms to every other part of his body, forcing him to fall to his knees with his eyes widening as a red aura now surrounded himself as well.

He felt his vision fading away, making his sight completely back before something else replaced it.

He saw a faint vision of what appeared to be a large, corpse-like skeletal person being held in chains, screaming as the chains electrocuted him with purple electricity.

His eyes then snapped open and found himself laying on the ground, although not within the puddles of blood. He sat up and rubbed his head with a newfound confusion in his eyes.

_"What was that? A vision? That person... He was the same one I saw when I awoke back there..." _He then felt a warmth in his palm and looked down to see that a red energy ball was in his hand. _"This is..."_

He slowly stood back up and stared at the red energy ball within his hand. It was the same type of appearance that the barbarian had released just a few moments ago before his demise. Enso stuck his hand out with his palm still holding the energy ball before then blasting it upward. It pierced through above and continued going up all the way to the sky, then exploding above like a firework and shining brightly with red light down on him.

He then brought his hand down and looked down at it, curiously, _"Could it be... that I actually absorbed his power?"_

He closed his palm and tightened it into a fist.

He turned his head and looked into the fallen cage of one the girls and saw her staring right at him with a mortified expression. Tears went down her cheeks and she let out small whimpers and shook in fear. Enso looked around the room and saw all the other girls staring at him with similar looks.

_"They look even more afraid of me then how they were before. Well, that explosion I shot into the sky should've attracted attention, so people will be coming soon to help them anyway. I suppose I should leave."_

He blasted into the air and went through the hole he made above himself, getting onto the roof easily. Some people spotted him, but Enso was too fast for any of them to react to even an attempt a capture. He jumped onto another building and leaped farther away as he heard people hurrying to help in the destruction. He left the city entirely and ran into the forest that was near it, jumping into a tall tree and landing on a thick branch.

He looked back and saw smoke coming from the small town, no doubt from the area he was just at. _"So much for that. To think that I was being led to such a terrible person, using humans as a source of profit. I don't think traveling here was worth it at all..."_

His watch beeped once more. "Hm?"

He lifted his wrist and saw a message that automatically appeared on the screen of.

**Status: Eliminated**

_"Hm, so this is meant to keep track of the location and the condition of that person..."_

Then another messaged appeared.

**Travel to the new location?**

_"New location? So another world?"_

Enso thought about for a moment. He thought about what it is he's supposed to do now, he thought about what he just did, and he thought about what he gained from it.

_"If I'm supposed to be eliminating those types of people and absorb the powers they have so that it can the rid the world of that scum while also helping me obtain more of those visions, then-" _

He hit his palm onto his watch, a white portal appearing underneath him and engulfing him to a new world as he finished his final thought.

_"-then I guess I have to do it."_

* * *

Toshinori and Izuku stared at Enso with frozen expressions, completely absorbed by his story.

"Wh-What happened after?" Izuku eagerly asked.

"After that, I arrived in another world and simply did what I knew how to do. I removed each person detected by my device and absorbed the energy they had, getting a new power and new flash or vision in the process. This was all I knew how to do, to kill and take, to remember and travel again and again."

"S-So... You just kept going through worlds, hunting down each of those people?" Izuku uttered, shaking in fear.

"That's how it was. I admit that many of these people may have not deserved to die, but all I thought at the time was that I was meant to hunt those individuals down and that the vile people involved with them. I absorbed the abnormal power each special individual had after I killed them, and with each power I absorbed, I also obtained a vision with it, so I assumed that I need to do this to figure out more about myself. That was how it was for a while, but soon, I became unsure of that..."

"Unsure?" Toshinori repeated.

Enso nodded, "At first, in addition to the powers I gained from these people, I would also appear to have flashes of what I assumed are memories of the sort, my memories. They weren't even full memories, but were more like pictures flashing thought my head. Each of these flashes left more questions than answers about myself, as it would always seem that new information was always added. I never once saw myself or anyone who could possibly be myself in these flashes, possibly because I see these memories through a first-person view. Each new glimpse of a memory gain was from murder, but then..."

He looked out at the starry sky, still recollecting his thoughts, "I met a certain girl in one world, she was another one of the special individuals. I actually decided to spy on her after I saw her commit a good deed that I'm sure someone corrupt would never do. I was curious as to why she needed to be eliminated despite being so young and innocent, so after spying on her for a short time, I decided to actually do something different out of curiosity."

"You let her live?" Toshinori speculated.

"Yes. Well, I did more than that. I decided to investigate her life even more. I followed her around in her daily life, examined the people she spoke to, and I was even able to live in the same household as her."

_"That's going a little too far..."_ Toshinori and Izuku sweatdropped.

"As I spend more time with her, I saw that she was completely different from many of the people I've met. She deserved to live, she deserved to stay alive to help people. That was all she wanted. It was at one moment that her power actually released when she didn't mean to, leaving behind destruction in the process. I knew that it was the first time that she had ever used such a power, so to help her control it later I, and others of the world she was in, decided to help teach her to control it. After spending a considerable amount of time with her, I finally had... a real memory."

"You mean instead of a normal flash of an image in your head, you actually remembered a clear moment of your life?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, although the amount of time in it wasn't that long, it was still at longer than just a flash."

"What did it consist of?" Izuku asked eagerly.

Enso looked up as he recalled the memory, "Well, it wasn't much. I was-Well, I think it was me at least, was sitting on a field full of dark green grass, examing the area full of lush trees and bright flowers. The field went as far as the eye could see, with a clear sky and bright sun. Behind me was the only building within the entire area. It was basically a white dome about four floors high, with no windows in sight. There was one entrance that I saw, which was just the double front doors. That was about it, but I speculate that it might've been the lab I woke up in."

Toshinori turned to Izuku and whispered once more, "Midoirya, If everything he's been saying is true, including him being within that lab, then-"

"I know All Might." Izuku cut him off, "I've heard of experiments being illegally done on people with quirks, so that makes me think that something similar may have happened to Enso on his world."

"But that depends if he's even telling the truth..."

"You know I can you hear you two? You're right in front of me." Enso blatantly said.

Izuku and Toshinori flinched.

Enso sighed, "Look, I guarantee that my assistance will more than benefit you. I've experienced many things and know that they will help in contributing to help Izuku get stronger."

"But Midoriya hasn't even decided if he would accept the responsibility of becoming a hero. The next number one hero at that." Toshinori told him.

Enso turned his head to Izuku, "Well Midoriya? Do you have a response for Toshinori about that?"

"Huh!?" Both people stared at Izuku now, expecting an answer out of him. "W-Well, I..." Izuku looked down as he thought of it. His chance, his dream was right there, and all he had to do was accept.

He proudly lifted his head up as he cried out, "Yes!"

Toshinori grinned, "I knew you would accept." he said as he pat the boy on the back. He then turned back to Enso with a small glare, "But that doesn't mean I'm alright with you being around."

"How about letting Midoriya decide on my help then?" Enso asked.

"M-Me again? Well..." Izuku took a good long look at Enso, examining his lack of facial expressions._ "So he's someone who was experimented on, sent to other worlds, and misled to acts of murder because he had no other lead... It sounds to me like he was just led in the wrong direction."_

"I... I think we can get his help." Izuku said with a small smile.

"You can't be serious." Toshinori said once more, completely baffled.

Izuku nodded, "I am, I don't believe he's a bad person, just... misled." He then looked over at Enso, "Plus, even if we do refuse his help, I doubt he'll just leave."

"Correct."

"Didn't even try to deny it, huh?" Izuku sweatdropped with a sigh.

Toshinori scratched the back of his head, "Well, I suppose if you believe that Midoriya, then we could give him a chance. However..." He rose up from his seat and planted his hands onto the table, leaning forward and staring intensely at Enso.

"Whether or not you've been 'misled' up to this point, the fact doesn't change that you should've known that what you were doing was wrong and that you've robbed many people of their lives for your own selfish gain. I'm willing to overlook it _only_ for the fact that it's happened to take place in other worlds, so our laws wouldn't be able to prosecute you... yet. But as long as you're here, you will not take a single life. You will not get involved in any criminal activity or use your powers publicly. Our world has laws about people using quirks to take the law into their own hands, so if you ever see a crime commencing, just let the police and heroes deal with it."

Upon hearing the word 'heroes', Enso squinted his eyes, "There are laws against people using their quirks to help in situations? Only licensed 'heroes' are allowed to use them?"

Toshinori put his hands on his hips, "Of course! With quirks emerging in the world, they could be dangerous for others to use, no matter what intention. These laws are to help society fit in and adjust to the new evolutions of quirks!"

"Yet, you're proud of Midoriya going into that crime scene all alone?"

Toshinori flinched, "That was... that was different!"

"Sure it was..." Enso sighed, "But I understand, I'll do my best to avoid any conflict. But if there's a scenario where I have to step in for the sake of Midoirya's life, then I won't hesitate. After all Toshinori, wouldn't you do the same for him?"

"But I'm already a licensed hero, you don't have the right to jump in."

"Hmph, so I don't have a license to help people, that's what you're saying?"

"..." Toshinori looked down at the table. "If that's how you want to word it, so be it, but yes, you can't use your powers in public like that."

"What a troublesome place, but fine. I'll play by your rules." Enso muttered.

Izuku couldn't help but shake nervously, _"What's with this atmosphere?"_

"Now, back to the other topic at hand, so do you have a plan on how you're going to give Midoriya your quirk and train him?" Enso said, getting off the previous subject.

"Well, you've listened to everything about..." Toshinori looked side to side before slightly leaning in with a hand positioned near his mouth to whisper, "One For All?"

"As I said, I've been listening to everything." Enso confirmed.

"Well, that makes things easier for me then. I'm not going to give him my quirk yet, but I have a plan for his training."

Enso put a hand on his chin in thought, "Well, if you already do have a plan for him, then I suppose we can discuss this later. It's already late and this place shouldn't be open for too long." he said as he looked outside at the dark sky.

Hearing him say that it was late, Izuku realized exactly how dark the sky got and shot to his feet in panic, "Ah! I gotta get home! I'm sure my mom saw the news and is worried sick about me!

"Wait Midoriya. Let me get your contact information first. I'll send you a date and location of where to meet for our first lesson in your training." All Might said as he pulled out his phone.

Izuku had flowers floating around him and his eyes sparkled with a smile, "A-All Might's number!?" he bowed in a ninety-degree angle, "I would be honored!"

Toshinori sweatdropped.

"All Might's number?!" someone cried out.

"Who has it!?" a woman shouted threateningly.

Izuku and Toshninori formed looks of shock.

"We need to leave." Enso said calmly as he hopped off his chair.

"Agreed." Toshinori and Izuku joined him and ran out of the place before anyone could chase after them.

After running a few blocks, they stopped back in Izuku's neighborhood panting in exhaustion. Well, Izuku and Toshihori were exhausted at least, Enso looked perfectly fine and just waited with his arms crossed for the other two to recover.

"S-Sorry A-All Might..." Izuku uttered in embarrassment.

Toshinori stood up straight waved it off with a smile, "It's no problem my boy, just be careful what you say in public. Now about your number..."

Izuku bowed once again while handing him his phone.

"You don't really have to make it a big deal..." Toshinori chuckled.

"Give me your contacts as well." Enso said as he pressed his watch.

Toshinori turned to him with a look of confusion, "Eh? You have a phone in this world already?"

"No, but I can adjust this watch to be compatible with your devices so that I would be able to contact you. You'll be able to contact me back as well as soon as I create my own call identity for you to contact." he said as he pressed a few things.

_"Technology in other worlds is amazing!" _Izuku thought in awe.

After giving contacts, Toshinori waved at Izuku. "Goodbye Midoriya, I'll be sure to send information about our training."

"Goodnight All Might!" Izuku said happily as he turned around and began to run back home.

Toshinori smiled as he watched Izuku run, but then he saw the boy suddenly stop.

Toshinori tilted his head in confusion, but then Izuku turned around with his head looking down and dashed back to him in a quick run.

Toshinori's eyes widened, "Young Midoriya, what's wro-?!"

Toshinori felt arms wrap around him and pull him into a tight embrace. He blinked and processed that the boy was now suddenly hugging him tightly, his head pressing against his chest.

"Thank you... Thank you All Might for letting me believe in my dream..." Izuku mumbled with sniffles.

Toshinori felt awkward at the moment, yet he found the courage to pat the boy gently on his head and smile. "Just be ready to work harder than anyone else for your opportunity."

Izuku looked up with happy tears in his eyes, "Of course! I'll work harder than you think I could work!"

"Yeah, yeah, just stop crying." Toshinori said with a happy sigh, rustling the boys head and nudging him off of him.

"I'll make you proud All Might!" Izuku shouted proudly in the night sky. With that, he finally ran off for home, leaving Toshinori alone, feeling proud of himself.

"Such a fanboy." he chuckled. He turned around and happily walked down the street in the opposite direction Izuku went. He marched side by side Enso as they headed back to his house to get a good night's sleep.

"Wait a minute." Toshinori said, turning his head at the realization that Enso was walking beside him, "What are you doing?"

"Following you." Enso bluntly responded.

"...Why?"

"Well, since I just arrived here yesterday, I don't have anywhere to stay. You must be living alone anyway because a hero with such an important secret wouldn't be able to keep a lover, friends, or family living with him, so I figured I could stay with you."

Toshinori felt a stab in his heart and looked down with a purple depressing aura around him, "You don't know how to hold back do you?"

"Nope. But I won't stay long, just until I could find a place." Enso reassured him.

Toshinori facepalmed as he sighed in defeat, "Fine."

"Thank you."

They both walked side by side in silence, with Toshinori occasionally stealing glances at Enso. It wasn't until they got out of the small neighborhood that Enso said something.

"Toshinori... There's something dangerous that will fall among this world soon."

Toshinori turned to him in shock.

"I can't tell you the full details yet, but just know that you'll need to be prepared to face a life-changing event. This person, no... This monster, will be something that only Midorya may be able to face depending on what power he has and how strong he can get."

"Monster?" Toshinori repeated in concern.

Enso turned to him, his red eyes shining brightly to show how serious he was, "Toshinori... A villain created the scar on your chest correct? Most likely it was from the strongest villain that you've ever faced?"

Toshinori clenched his fist as he recalled the past, "I... I don't think it's the right time for me to say."

"I understand that, but at answer me this, was it from the toughest villain you've ever faced?"

Toshinori was quiet for a few moments before mumbling, "Yes..."

Enso took a few steps forward, "Well Toshinori, I don't know exactly how strong this 'villain' is, but..." he pointed at him.

"But this monster we'll have to face in the future... it may be even worse."


	3. Agony Of Preparation

Izuku ran merrily along Musutafu's streets, dressed up and ready for exercise indicated by his blue sweatpants and a white T-shirt with the words 'ALL MIGHT' imprinted on it in white, bold letters. It was the start of a new beginning for Izuku, the sun hadn't even fully came out yet as it was still rising up from the horizon. His smile beamed brightly as he recalled the happiest day of his life so far. Although it had started off rough with more bullying from his class, unlucky encounters, and discouraging words said from his hero, All Might, the day soon turned around when that same hero reached out to him and presented a chance for him to become the next number one hero.

_"All Might is going to trust me with the most important quirk ever. I have to give it my all against anything he throws at me!"_ Izuku grinned.

He saw his destination in the distance, feeling happier the closer he got to it. As Izuku got to the corner of the street, he caught sight of something in the corner of his eye. He screeched to a halt and tilted his head to examine a small, broken-down building two floors high and without any trace of people in it. There were broken windows, chipped pieces of glass and stone, and even some moss growing on the side of the building. What really caught Izuku's attention about the structure, was at the top of the doorway, where there stood an old sign that read 'Dojo' on it. He made a mental note of the place in his head and continued on his way, getting a small idea.

After crossing the street, Izuku arrived at the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, joyfully hopping down the stairs and landing atop the sandy beach.

He proudly stood tall as he looked up into the sky. _"I still can't believe it, I'm going to be able to become a hero using All Might's quirk! I'll never get a lucky chance like this again!"_ he smiled.

However, after taking a sniff of the area, Izuku's cheerful mood was turned irritable as he made a sour expression and looked around. He saw heaps of trash piled around the beach, mixed in with broken down furniture, electronics, and all other sorts of other different items. Dagobah beach was once a very beautiful and popular beach, but due to unchecked illegal dumping, the beach became littered with all types of trash, ruining the beautiful look that it used to have.

"People really just don't care do they?" Izuku muttered disappointingly as he glanced at all the trash.

He then heard a proud laugh behind him, **"Young Midoriya!"** Izuku turned around to see All Might standing atop pickup truck with his arms crossed. He wore a black T-shirt along with gray sweatpants and was currently in his buff form.

**"I am here!"** All Might proudly yelled.

"All Might!" Izuku said with a smile.

Then behind him stepped out Enso Ureshi, the same person from yesterday.

"I'm here too."

Izuku and All Might sweatdropped.

"Um, Ureshi-" Izuku examined his young features, "-san?"

Enso tilted his head, "San?"

"U-Um... Then Ureshi-kun?

He tilted his way the other way. "Kun?"

"Which one is it!?" Izuku yelled in confusion.

"How about addressing each other by first names instead?" Enso asked him.

Izuku blinked, "Eh?"

"I've heard that if you constantly address someone you know by just their first name, then you'll have more trust in each other."

_"I'm pretty sure addressing each other by that is when we ALREADY have that much trust in each other..."_ Izuku thought with a blank face.

"Just call me Enso, it's the simplest thing, Izuku."

Izuku couldn't help but flinch when he heard him use his first name so casually, _"He really wants to go by first name basis? I don't think I could even convince him to change his mind anyway..."_

"Alright... E-E-Enso..." Izuku muttered in a low tone of voice.

Enso turned to All Might, "Same to you, Yagi."

**_"That feels a little awkward to hear that from him... No use complaining though."_**

All Might gave him a thumbs up, **"I would be alright with calling you by your proud, desired name Enso! But call me by my hero name or my real name in accordance with the current form I'm in!"**

He nodded, "Will do 'All Might'."

"Um, anyway..." Izuku glanced at the dirty beach, "What are we doing here?"

All Might put his hands onto his hips, "**We are here for your training Midoirya! I didn't tell you this when you left the other day, but you're not a propper vessel!"**

"Eh!? That's the opposite of what you told me yesterday!?" Izuku shouted with comical tears in his eyes.

**"I'm referring to your body Midoirya."** All Might corrected as he got off the truck and walked over to him.

**"One For All is basically the physical ability of every person it was passed to, then put together into one vessel." **

Enso added on to it, "By how All Might explained to me the passing of his quirk, it's clear that your body isn't ready to take in all that power. By his words-" Enso raised a finger and a mental image of Izuku exploding was showed. "-your limbs and body would explode."

Izuku shivered as he heard this, sweating nervously, "S-So, I guess I have to move all the trash here to build up my muscle, right?"

All Might gave Izuku a thumbs up "**Why yes that is correct! If you clean up all the trash at this beach, then not only will you be doing the city a huge favor, but your body should be able to take in One For All!"**

All Might then took out a few sheets of paper and tapped them, "**This here is going to be your training schedule, if you follow it exactly, then you should be able to inherit One For All before the next U.A entrance exam starts!"**

"U.A exam?" Enso repeated in a question.

**_"Ah, that's right, he isn't familiar with it."_ **All Might turned to Enso, **"Well young Enso, the U.A entrance exam will be, as it states, an exam that will test students on their abilities and will determine if they get accepted into U.A High School, the number one high school for heroics and considered to be the top hero academy in Japan!"**

"I see... The school is named from a simple pronunciation. The school is called 'U.A' which sounds like 'Yuu' and 'Ei', and if you put them backwards, then it would be 'ei' and 'yuu' or 'eiyuu' which is how you pronounce 'hero' in Japanese. Therefore, you get U.A (Yuu Ei) high school with a hidden meaning of 'hero' in the name to reflect what the school is about."

**_"I didn't think he would analyze the name so quickly!"_** All Might thought, stunned by his realization. **"W-Well yes, that is the name of the hero school Midoriya wishes to go to!"**

"How long is it until the U.A exam then?" Enso asked.

"It'll be in ten months, so by then I have to make my body into a capable vessel." Izuku said in a determined response.

Enso looked over the beach and all of its trash. He then turned to Izuku and examined his rather skinny arms and body, no signs of muscles whatsoever.

"May I see that schedule you made for him All Might?" Enso asked as he held up a hand in expectation of receiving the papers.

**"Of course! I came up with this schedule myself! I call it, Aim to pass: American Dream Pass!"** All Might proudly stated as he handed the papers to him.

Enso carefully read the papers in his hands, looking at each part of the schedule and examining what each exercise would be for. After fully reading it, he glanced at how much trash was on the beach. Reaching a conclusion, he turned to All Might once more.

"When Izuku inherits your power All Might, exactly how much of it will he be able to use immediately?"

**"Well, technically he would be able to use as much as his body could handle. However, he could risk injuring his body heavily if he is unable to control how much power he uses at once."**

Enso squinted his eyes, "I see..."

All Might couldn't help but feel worried about the looks Enso was giving on his plan. **"Is something wrong?"**

"It won't be enough..."

**"Hm?"**

Enso turned to All Might, "This won't be enough to have him be fully prepared to take the exam in ten months if he's supposed to present his physical abilities in it."

All Might was actually shocked to hear this, **"B-But! I'm sure he'll be able to take my quirk by then!"**

"Well, based on what you said about your power on Izuku's body, then if he follows this schedule the way as it is, he will be able to take One For All in the ten months, but he wouldn't even be able to practice with it. Even if he did use it, then most likely he wouldn't even have a good handle on it, which would result in him just damaging himself from the drawback of misusing such intense amounts of power. He would only _just_ be able to finish this schedule before the exam starts."

"What makes you think so?" Izuku asked, curious as to why Enso thinks that way.

"Well, one problem is... You're short."

"Excuse me?" Izuku asked with an offended face.

"Since you're short, your body would be able to build muscle a little easier since there is a smaller frame to distribute it to, but it's also because of that reason that there won't be much more to gain further once your muscles reach a certain size. Because you'll lack the muscles, you'll most likely won't be able to effectively use One For All. Especially for your exam."

"Eh!? So what should I do!?" Izuku frantically asked.

Enso examined the schedule for a moment before turning to All Might, "You may want to change a few things and let Izuku be with me for a few sessions of training. I believe that the exercises I have in mind will be essential for having him get in a better condition for receiving your quirk."

**"Hold on! How can you be sure that my plan won't work?!"** All Might asked.

"Did you not hear me explain that he's short?"

**"Um... Well..."** All Might awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Um, Ureshi-" Izuku started.

"Enso."

"_Enso_? Exactly what kind of exercises do you have in mind to fix my problem?"

Enso crossed his arms, "Well, instead of making you do heavy lifting, running, and other usual exercises that All Might may have you do, I'll be giving you tasks that will test and improve the endurance of your body. Rather than increasing your muscles in size, we should be increasing their durability and density. This will be to get your body to be able to handle using One For All more effectively once you receive it. If your training goes well, then you may even be able to obtain it early to practice more with it."

"The way you described the task of testing my body sounds scary." Izuku couldn't help but shake.

"But it's necessary. You have to work harder than anyone else if you wish to become a hero."

Hearing him say exactly what Izuku had thought in his head before, he felt his determination returning. "Yes, I do..."

Enso looked back to the list, noticing something else. "There's nothing involving combat?" Enso asked.

"What? Combat?" Izuku questioned.

**"Why would the boy have to learn to fight right now?"**

"Will if Izuku will be receiving such a powerful power, then I'm sure that he'll need to learn ways of using it rather than just-" his eyes glanced over at All Might, "-punching through everything."

**"Why do I feel like you're insulting me?"**

"B-But All Might has done much more with his quirk and has won all the time up to now!" Izuku defended him.

"But you're not All Might." Enso bluntly told him.

Izuku didn't know why, but he felt a sting.

"You'll need to do much more than even he ever did-" Enso looked down as he thought about someone terrible. "-so you'll be able to handle anything _he_ sends at you..." he mumbled.

"Huh? What was that?" Izuku asked, not catching that.

Enso ignored him and carried on, "So, under All Might's training you'll be gaining muscle mass to help your body be ready to inherit his power. And under my training, you'll be stretching your body's limits so that you'll be able to handle the power you receive and will also be learning combat from me to better ways of adapting your power into fighting."

Izuku turned to All Might, "Would that be alright All Might?"

**"Don't ask me Midoriya, you're the one who wishes to get stronger! You just decide how you wish to do it!"**

"I'm not going to lie, my training will indeed be more painful than the heavy lifting you'll be doing here, but it will be necessary for you to get stronger." Enso warned the boy.

Izuku looked down as he considered his options, _"More painful? I've been used to pain for so long..." _

He remembered all the bullying he had to face throughout his entire life, the painful beatings and explosions from Bakugo and his lackeys that would happen daily, as well as the emotional pain that his experiences have caused him.

He clenched his hands into fists as he decided what to do, looking up to Enso with a reassured look.

"I'll do it! I'll train with both of you!" he proudly declared.

**"Ah, a part of me thought so. Guess I'll have to change your schedule a bit!"** All Might laughed. Then from the corner of his eyes, he glanced down at Enso, who kept an unfazed look when Izuku agreed to exercise with him.

**_"Despite just meeting him yesterday, Midoriya appears to have already placed so much of his trust in him..."_**

**"But Midoriya, I probably don't even need to ask this, but are you really sure you wish to do this? Young Enso said so himself that the experience will be painful and, although it may be rude, I personally don't fully trust him yet..."**

"You say that, yet you still let me stay at your place yesterday." Enso remarked.

"Really!?" Izuku uttered out in surprise.

**"Th-That was to ensure that I could keep an eye over him! I wouldn't want someone as mysterious as him going around in public after all!" **All Might coughed and regained his composure, **"Now back to my question Midoriya, are you sure about this?" **

Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath, recollecting his thoughts with his judgment fueling them. He then looked up at All Might with a determined expression. "If this is what can get me stronger, if this can help me progress with my path as a hero, then I'll gladly take this chance. I also hope that along the way, I can help Ureshi-"

"Enso."

"-that I can help_ ENSO_ here, remember himself. I believe that he's helping me, so I wish to help him too."

All Might couldn't help but feel warmed by him, **_"He really has too much faith in people."_**

**"Young Midoriya, your determination and desire to help others is very inspiring! If you're really sure about training under young Enso here then I have no right to stop you! I will simply approve of your decision and help you any way I can!"**

All Might then turned and glanced down at Enso, who also looked up to All Might with his cold gaze, sending a shiver down All Might's spine. He cleared his throat and regained his composure, **"As for you young Enso, I will look forward to working with you in order to help young Midoriya here become the next symbol of peace!"**

All Might stuck his hand out for a handshake, to which Enso glanced down at it for a moment. He then reached out his own hand and shook it in agreement. Suddenly, Enso felt All Might's grip tighten, looking up to find him staring down with glowing blue eyes staring intensely at him.

**"However, I warn you now that if you do anything that would do malicious harm to young Midoriya here, then I will not hold back to take you down." **he said in a rare, threatening voice.

Enso didn't look intimidated at all by All Might's threat, he simply remarked, "What a father."

All Might backed up, caught off guard by the sudden statement, **"Don't go spouting random things!"**

Enso ignored him and turned to Izuku, "I'll have to look around for a place that would serve for me to stay and where we could also train in peace with a large space..."

Izuku then remembered what he had seen along the way to the beach, "Ah! When I was running here I saw an old building that didn't look like it was being used!"

"Oh? Where?" Enso asked him with a peaked interest.

Izuku pointed to where he had come from, "Just across the street over there! It's an old dojo that looks like it has other rooms in it, so that might be a good place to look."

"I see, thank you Izuku. I'll go take a look right now while you start your training with All Might. I will contact you later if I decide to stay there. We'll start training together once I set the area up to be perfectly fit for us. Goodbye."

Enso walked away from the two before suddenly launching upward off the ground at quick speeds, causing sand to blast upward from the shockwave he created.

Izuku and All Might had covered their eyes from the sand rising up, and when they looked again, there was no sign of Enso.

**_"Such force..."_** All Might thought in wonder. He then turned to Izuku and grinned from ear to ear as he put his hands on his hips in a proud stance.

**"Remember why we're young Midoriya! It is your duty right now to clean up all the trash on the beach to help you build up your body! We've wasted enough time talking as it is, let us get starte-!"** before All Might could finish, he suddenly spouted blood from his mouth and poofed back into his skinny form, coughing.

"*Cough* I hate when that happens unexpectedly... Anyway kiddo lets-" but it was at that moment that Toshinori saw a dumbfounded Izuku, whose face was entirely covered with his idol's blood.

"Um, sorry about that…" Toshinori said as he pulled a towel out of his pocket to wipe the blood off of Izuku's face.

"N-N-No p-p-problem" stuttered Izuku, admittingly frightened and a little traumatized by what just happened.

* * *

Enso examined the old dojo building with a peaked interest. Although the building could've been in better condition for him, he immediately thought that it would be a perfect place for him to stay in terms of location. It wasn't too far from where Izuku lived and it was even close to the beach so he could constantly check on him on the days Izuku trained with All Might.

He was about to walk up the wooden steps, but he saw that they were on the brink of collapsing, so instead, he just jumped right into the doorway. He found the door's lock broken and was easily able to roam inside and explore the area. The place didn't even resemble a dojo as the floor, walls, and even ceiling were torn and withering away. A positive thing about the area was that it was certainly spacious and would be ideal for training in, with some fixing up that is. He caught sight of the stairs in the back right corner of the room, which he carefully went up as to not risk them suddenly breaking down on him. He went up to the second floor and discovered that it had an indoor balcony with wooden railing for people to overlook any others training below. Along the walls of the balcony were various doors, to which Enso simply stepped to each of the empty rooms and peeped into them, speculating what it was they used to be when the area was in use.

He concluded that this section would be where he would be staying, but there was, of course, clear difficulties.

_"I need appliances and furniture for this place to function, as well as equipment and tools to fix the area... Where can I get those? Where can I get the funds at such a short amount of time for me to obtain those items?"_

He thought about All Might, _"Being the number one hero surely should be giving him exceeding amounts of funds, but I doubt he would trust me with that much. I have to find my own way of making money here."_

He left the building and went onto the sidewalk, turning his head and gazing in the direction of the city, _"Around there possibly..."_

He took a long stroll all the way to the city, the sun was nearly above him as morning fully commenced. Once in the city, he kept his eyes peeled for anything that could help him earn exceeding amounts of money. He glanced about the towering buildings and small stores for anything that could help him out. In previous worlds, he had taken tasks for money, stolen from evil groups, and at times just offered trades to people for materials or a place to stay. But this time, he couldn't immediately find anything easy that he could do for immense profit, he could only keep searching for a while.

That is until one building caught his focus.

"Hm?" he saw a rather obvious casino that stood out from the other buildings even during the daytime. It was more colorful from anything else surrounding it and many people were walking in and out, some going in with confidence and others coming out crying.

"Gambling..."

He considered his different skills of expertise, his skill at analyzing people and emotionless look would heavily contribute to many of the games that a casino would have. Not to mention that the casinos could give large amounts of money just by winning one game depending on what it is.

"Perfect."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few gold coins that had been the currency for a previous world and would be much more valuable in the current world he was in.

_"This should be enough to start me off if I trade it in somewhere."_

He looked up at the building with his red eyes glaring up. _"This shouldn't be too difficult."_

* * *

~{Three Weeks Later}~

"Eh!? Izuku, you're going to be taking self-defense classes?! We've never even talked about this! Wait, could it be that you have to protect yourself from someone?!" Inko stammered in worry.

"N-No mom, that's not it! This just combat training to help me on my path to becoming a hero!" Izuku answered, flailing his arms around while trying to calm down his mother.

However, this actually made Inko even more worried, "A-A hero!? You still want to become one?! But you still don't even have a quir-!" Inko stopped herself from finishing her sentence as she realized how that could hurt Izuku.

Izuku just gave his mother a reassuring smile with confidence and hope in his eyes. "Don't worry mom, I know how worried you are about me taking this path, but I promise you that I can become a hero. A hero that you can be proud of!"

Inko didn't have the heart to straight-up tell Izuku not to become a hero, it was the only thing that he had ever wanted even after learning that he didn't have a quirk. She remembered how guilty she felt when the doctor told Izuku to give up in hoping for a quirk. In addition to that, when Izuku had asked her if he could become a hero, all she did was hug him and apologize over and over again in tears.

She knew that she just couldn't stop him now.

"Just...Just make sure you don't do anything to hurt yourself." Inko asked of him.

Izuku simply chuckled, "Mom, this is combat training we're talking about, I'm going to get hurt. Just not too bad."

_"I hope I don't get too hurt at least..."_ Izuku thought to himself in some fear as he pictured what types of horrid things Enso would make him do.

He then stepped out of the door with a bag over his shoulder. "I'll be back later tonight, bye mom." And just like that, he left, leaving his mother alone in the house once more and sighing in her own sadness.

"Oh, Izuku... if only you knew..."

Izuku glanced down at his phone as he ran through the neighborhood streets, reading the text that had been sent to him by none other than Enso. It had been three weeks since he had last seen him. He had been training with All Might on the beach and balancing his schoolwork throughout all that time, wondering what the red-eyed teen was even doing. Not hearing back from him for a while made Izuku wonder if something had happened to him, but yesterday night was when he had finally received a text from Enso telling him that he had fixed up the place that Izuku had told him about and told him to arrive the next day so they could finally start his training on his body.

As Izuku put his phone away, he couldn't help but feel partially depressed. He knew that deep down his mother didn't want him to become a hero. And who could blame her? It was one of the most dangerous professions around. Additionally, the more hero deaths on the news lately and the fact that Izuku was quirkless itself (for now) were more than enough for reasons to see why Inko would be against it. However, he knew that she respected any decision he made for his future and she would merely support him all the way.

It didn't take him long to arrive at the building that he had seen three weeks earlier, still in the same spot that it was originally. The outside still looked nearly the same as it had been when he first saw it, but the stairs to the door, the door itself, and the windows were all fixed.

"Whoa, did Enso do this?!"

He carefully walked on the few steps up to the entrance door and reached for the handle, gently turning the doorknob and finding the door unlocked.

"U-Um... Excuse me?" he uttered as he pushed the door inward and glanced inside. He was surprised to find simply one vast room that made up the whole two floors, but there was an inward wooden balcony up on the second floor so that people may look down to the ones training bellow. The whole ground was made out of smooth, bright wood like any dojo would have, the windows had been raised up to simply let light inward and not let the people outside gaze in. There were lanterns placed all around the beams that held up the balcony and also new lights placed on the ceilings as well. The dojo had everything and more than Izuku had expected he would find. There was a line of punching bags in the corner of the room, hoops hanging from above for acrobatic practice, wooden poles about ten feet tall for practicing to balance, and much more. Izuku stood in the room, mouth agape in awe as he looked everywhere.

"Wha-huh!? It looks so much nicer on the inside!"

"Oh, you made it." He then heard someone say above him.

Izuku eyes shot up at the balcony to see Enso wearing something other than his suit. It was a plain black t-shirt that exposed a few scars along his pale arms, along with baggy work pants with multiple pockets that held different types of tools in them. He wore a red bandana tied around his head to cover his hair while he had been working on fixing up the place. In his hands was a hammer and a bucket, showing that before Izuku came, he was fixing something.

"D-Did you remodel the whole place?" Izuku called up to him.

"I didn't really remodel the layout, but I did change the style to appear more fit as a dojo from the inside. But as you could tell from the outside this place looks like it's broken down so it'll avoid suspicion from people curiously peeking in."

"H-How did you even get all this stuff!?" Izuku asked as his eyes noticed all the different training equipment and few tools laying around.

"Gambling." He bluntly said

"...Eh?"

"Gambling." Enso repeated.

"G-Gambling!? But-!"

"Legally of course."

"For some reason, a part of me doubts that..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"Oh come on now, there's a casino down in the city. I found it quite productive in obtaining money."

"I didn't even know you could gamble..." Izuku sighed, still finding this hard to believe.

"Well, when people can't tell what you're thinking whatsoever, you can win a lot."

"Okay, that explains how you were able to afford this stuff, but wasn't this whole place broken down?

"What do you think I've been doing for the last three weeks?"

"By yourself!?"

"There are still many things to fix up here, but now this place is finally in a good enough condition for you to at least start your training with me. I'm still trying to fix a few things though, so I just plan on making you do certain tasks to train as I work. Now, let's get started." Enso put down the items he was holding and jumped over the wooden railing of the balcony, falling down to the first floor and landing on his feet in a crouching position.

He stood up and pulled the bandana off of his head, allowing his long hair to freely go down behind him as he shook his head. He then focused his gaze at Izuku and pointed over at a punching bag near the wall, "All right. To start off, I want you to keep punching that."

"Huh? Alright then." Izuku put his bag down and walked over to a black punching bag that was near twice his size. He started punching it softly at first, but as he set a rhythm he began to increase the power of his punches.

"Try not to punch the same place, switch it up." Enso told him nearly immediately.

"How long do I do this?" Izuku asked as he kept punching.

"Until your hands are bleeding and you can hear cracking from them with each punch."

"Until they bleed!?" Izuku shouted in disbelief, stopping his punches for a moment and turning his head to Enso with bulging eyes.

"Hey, I said it would be painful, but it is necessary. We're going to break the limits that your body can handle, with your hands being first." Enso explained.

Izuku thought about how painful punching the same thing over and over for so long would be, glancing down at his hands with a concerned look. He noticed the small scars that he already had on them, caused by the bullying sessions he had with Bakugo, taking many small explosions.

Remembering this, Izuku balled his hands into fists and began punching away once more. He kept punching, punching, and punching, remembering all of Bakugo's bullying, remembering the torment from his classmates, remembering the negativity everyone had towards him. His face had a sour expression and he became angrier and angrier the more he punched, picturing the punching bag as Bakugo himself.

_"This exercise is also good to get rid of the stress he's been building up until now..."_ Enso thought, making clear his real reason of why he decided to have Izuku start with punching as his first exercise.

It felt as if hours had gone by as Izuku's punches echoed throughout the dojo. In the beginning, Enso had watched him punching, but after seeing how absorbed Izuku was in it, he trusted to leave him there and continued to remodel the building while occasionally checking in. It wasn't until he had fixed up his bedroom when he realized that the sky had begun to turn dark, then going back down to stop Izuku.

He went back down the stairs and marched up to the angry boy, ready to tell him to stop, but he took a moment to examine how Izuku's knuckles were completely cut and drenched in blood, which was dripping on the floor. Izuku's shirt was completely drenched in sweat and Izuku himself was panting hard, yet he still continued to punch away even harder than ever.

"Izuku, that's enough."

Izuku didn't even listen to him, he just continued to punch away, not even detecting Enso's presence next to him.

"Izuku, you're done."

He still kept going.

_"Good grief... He really had a lot pent up didn't he?"_ he walked over to Izuku and put his hand on his shoulder, "Izuku-"

The moment his hand touched his shoulder, Izuku turned around and swung his already bloody fist towards Enso's face. Enso simply raised his other hand up and caught Izuku's attack, the blood smacking against his palm.

"Wake up."

Izuku had his head down as he recaught his breath. When he looked up and saw Enso there, he blinked multiple times in confusion, coming back to reality.

"U-Ureshi?"

"Enso."

"Working on that..." Izuku mumbled. He pulled his hands back and sighed, "How'd I do?"

"Well, considering that you haven't even noticed how bloody and beaten up your hands are, I'd say you did okay."

Izuku looked down at his palms and his eyes widened to see his own blood, "I-I-I..."

Enso reached over and patted him on the shoulder, "You're okay."

Izuku felt the warmth of his hands leaking out, feeling his legs go numb and falling to his knees. "I-I was so weak..." he said, remembering his traumas once more.

Enso simply reached his non-blood covered hand down and gently rustled Izuku's hair, assuming that it would calm him down.

"Sorry Izuku, but this is going to feel like hell for almost the rest of the year..."

Izuku then passed out on the spot from exhaustion.

"We're just getting started."

* * *

~{Few Month Later}~

As time went on, so much ceaseless agony was what Izuku felt. All of this pain Izuku felt had been caused by visiting Enso nearly every day for body breaking exercises, testing his limits in painful ways.

At first, Enso's exercises had to do with Izuku breaking his muscle fibers for different parts of his body. Izuku starting doing so many push-ups for so long that he could sometimes hear his arms clicking or cracking, yet he still continued to do them with a fiery motivation. From there, he started performing leg exercises in the form of squats. Going up and down so many times, even when his legs felt so heavy and refused to move, he still continued to push on. Soon he started doing all sorts of other workouts, pullups, sit-ups, jogging, he overdid all of these basic exercises at Enso's instruction. His body would always feel more than just sore, it made Izuku feel like he would die at any moment.

However, as time went by, Izuku's body was beginning to change and he began to get used to any of the drills Enso threw at him. His mixture of lifting up heavy objects with All Might and the intense things he did with Enso was clearly beginning to show on his body. His muscles had so grown big and dense that some of his shirts looked a little tight on him and he was able to go to an even farther limit in his exercises.

His new gained in muscles also had an effect at his school as well. He was receiving more glances from girls, although he doesn't notice them, and some of the boys that had usually bullied him were now actually intimidated by Izuku's form.

Even Bakugo seemed to be picking on Izuku much less than before. But it didn't appear to be due to intimidation, he simply had been looking less angry recently, maybe due to preparing for his exam for U.A.

Of course, just when Izuku was feeling confident that he was getting used to the intense workouts, Enso decided to actually increase the difficulty of them all over again. He added extra weight to Izuku's back as he did push-ups, added weight to his legs when he jogged, and even putting weight onto his back when he was doing squats.

Then one day, something new happened.

Izuku walked inside the dojo once again after so many times, actually feeling less scared of whatever Enso may make him do. His body had gotten stronger to a point where Izuku was casually wearing ankle and wrist weights during the day and even when he was lifting up other objects with All Might on the beach.

Once he got to the middle of the dojo floor, he sat down and removed the weights he had on him, sighing in relief as he placed them on the ground.

"Man, those things feel like they get heavier after a while..." he muttered as he stood up straight and began doing some stretches with his arms. "I wonder what I'll be doing this time?"

"Actually, it'll be what _we'll_ be doing Izuku."

Izuku wasn't surprised and looked up at the balcony to see Enso looking down at him. He was wearing his black suit once again with his hair hanging loosely behind him.

"We'll be doing something together? You're not working on the place today?"

"As a matter of fact, I actually managed the remodeling just the other day. Now it's in a perfect condition for living in."

"Great to hear! Are you gonna give me a tour later?" Izuku smiled.

"Maybe later, but for now..." Enso jumped over the balcony and came falling right over Izuku. His right fist radiated a white aura around it and he aimed it straight down at Izuku.

"GYAH!" Izuku dove out of the way and Enso's punch landed to where he was just standing. A powerful shockwave shook the room and caused immense winds to send Izuku even farther back than when he had jumped to avoid the punch.

Izuku tumbled along the ground before hitting the wall, then shooting up to his feet with a panicked look.

"Wh-Why did you do that!?"

Enso stood up and held his fist in front of him, the white aura still emitting from it but with additional steam.

"We're starting your _official_ combat training now."

Izuku stared at the white color surrounding Enso's fist, curious to find out exactly what he just did.

"I've never actually seen what sort of power you have." Izuku told him in curiosity.

"You'll see much more of it once you actually receive One For All so we can fight higher level. Now..."

Enso turned his body sideways with one foot facing forward and the other turned ninety degrees. His raised his hands in front of him in a stance as he stared down Izuku.

"Come at me."

Izuku couldn't help but not want to.

"I-Isn't this a little too sudden?!"

"Things will always come suddenly in life, you have to learn to adapt."

"I don't think that should apply to this..."

Izuku felt his feet suddenly swept underneath him, causing him to trip backward with his head looking up. He didn't even process what had happened yet before feeling a palm grab onto his face and suddenly slam the back of his head onto the ground.

"ACK!"

His head felt dizzy, he felt pain in the back of his head, and his vision got completely dark.

Wait, no, he realized that his vision was dark because someone had their hand over his face.

He felt the hand got removed, letting the lights from above shine down on Izuku as he saw a silhouette hovering over him. It didn't him long to realize that it was Enso standing over him, due to the intense red eyes that shined down on him.

"H-How... did you even-?" Izuku grunted in pain.

"Too slow." Enso bluntly told him, crossing his arms. "We have a lot to work on."

"Oh boy..." Izuku said in a sarcastic tone.

"Get up."

Izuku used his arms to support himself up and then rubbed the back of his head. "No mercy, huh?"

He fully got back to his feet and watched Enso get into another fighting position, this time holding his arms and fists in front of him like a boxer would.

"Could you at least tell me what kind of fighting I'll actually be learning!?"

"It should be obvious. I intend to teach you every kind of martial art I've experienced before."

"Eh?"

"There were many martial arts that I've learned from many people while going through different worlds. I've even made some of my own fighting styles based on a mixture of some of these fighters, but for now, I'll just be teaching you the basics and maybe more of each of these martial art styles."

"Shouldn't you be telling me information about each of them instead of using them on me!?"

"But... I prefer to demonstrate them to you as I explain them. Now allow me to display boxing on your body."

_"I'm gonna die!"_ Izuku couldn't help but panic.

Cries of comedic pain were heard inside the dojo along with the echoing of punches and slams.

Toshinori stood outside of the dojo, peeking in from the doorway at his successor and the otherworldly person. His instincts had told him that Izuku was in some sort trouble and he came to Enso's dojo, but that was when he learned that his instincts were only half-right. He watched Izuku comically getting tossed around the room like a ragdoll.

Toshinori sighed, but then couldn't help but form a smile.

_"Lately young Midoriya has been cleaning more trash on the beach than I've been expecting and his body has been growing at such a good rate. Perhaps it's nearly time... I didn't think it would only take just a few months instead of the ten I thought we needed for him to form into the perfect vessel. I suppose Enso really is being a help after all."_

He then saw Izuku flung at the wall with his back slamming into it, actually sticking there for a few moments before sliding down onto the ground in pain.

Toshinori couldn't help but shiver, "Th-This looks just as bad as my training with G-Gran Torino."

He saw Izuku's body and eyes turned comically white on the ground as his soul was visibly leaving from his open mouth.

"Hang in there kid..."


	4. Passing The Torch

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

The sun rising on the horizon was all too familiar to Enso.

He had seen it so many times from getting up early every single day. In this particular case for waking up early though, he had gone to Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, wondering how much progress Izuku made cleaning up all the trash.

Three more months were left until it was time for Izuku to take the U.A entrance exam. During this time, Enso had been training Izuku to learn every martial art he was able to teach the boy. With the new teachings of martial arts from Enso and his muscles already growing rather well, Izuku found picking up the garbage on the beach to be rather easier to collect to the point that he even outran All Might in his skinny form while running across the beach with a microwave.

By now, Izuku knew various fighting styles, including karate, boxing and a few others. He knew the depths of a few fighting styles, while simply knowing the basics of a few others, but Enso was still in the process of teaching him much more.

Getting out of his thoughts, Enso finally came upon the beach, only to discover that it was now completely cleaned up, with the only trash in sight already set in the black pick-up truck meant to take it away. He didn't see any sign of Izuku on the beautiful and completely clear beach.

He looked around the beach, examining just how brightly the sand was lighting up from the sun shining on it and he saw the sun reflecting on the beautiful water that didn't have any pollution in it.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard someone snoring loudly behind the truck.

Checking it out, Enso found a sleeping Izuku with a sleep bubble coming out of his nose. He was shirtless with his back lying on the side of the truck, completely dozed off in his sleep. He had his green sweatpants along with his signature red boots and was even drooling a bit as he rested.

Enso crouched down to him and examined the state of his muscles. They had clearly gotten more buff than Izuku had them before and when Enso used his hand to feel upon Izuku's arm, he confirmed that they had also become very dense now.

He heard some footsteps coming from behind him, prompting him to stand up and turn around. He saw Toshinori standing at the stairs, completely awestruck as he stared at the beach.

"Oh my… Oh my… **GOODNESS!" **He yelled as he transformed into his buff form. This sudden shout popped Izuku's sleep bubble and startled him awake, making the boy shoot up to his feet and frantically look around.

"E-Enso?!" He uttered, surprised to see him in front of him.

"Please don't tell me you slept here all night." Enso immediately asked.

"Wha-!? No! I woke up early and came here!"

"Good." he turned his head to All Might laughing and proudly clapping his handa. "Your hero is examining your handiwork."

Izuku looked passed Enso and saw him, "A-All Might?!"

Hearin him, All Might walked over to the boy and proudly placed a hand atop Izuku's shoulder, "**Young Midoriya, I must say that you've surpassed all of my expectations! You've even completed your task a few months before our intended goal! I am proud to have made you the successor for One For All!"**

Izuku smiled in delight, "Thank you, All Might! I'm happy to make you proud and I promise to be the best hero that anyone will ever know, I'll become the next symbol of peace!"

**"Of course you'll become it Midoriya! You have the fine qualities of a great hero!" **All Might responded as he gave him a thumbs up.

"So… Does that mean that Izuku can inherit One For All now?" Enso asked, interrupting their touching moment.

All Might turned to him, "**Why yes, he should indeed be ready! But before that-" **He placed his hands atop Enso's shoulders.

**"-I must thank you young Enso for helping Midoirya develop his body and mentoring him in combat! I must admit that for these past few months I definitely still had my suspicions about you, especially when I occasionally checked up on the... 'experiences' Midoriya had with you as he trained. But soon I have noticed that the more time Midoriya has spent training with you, the more his condition improved tremendously! I now know to be more confident in you and have complete trust in you taking care of Midoirya! I apologize for not trusting you before!"** All Might stated, patting Enso on the shoulder.

"I had no issue with you not trusting me, but I guess this makes things easier for me to ask favors of you."

**"Favors?"**

Enso sighed, "That doesn't matter now. So are you going to present One For All to Izuku right now? The sooner he gets it, then the sooner he'll learn how to use it."

**"Well of course!" **All Might turned to Izuku, "**Well young Midoriya, it is finally time for you to inherit One For All!"**

Izuku had a look of determination on his face "I'm ready All Might!"

**"Good!"** After a dramatic pause of silence, All Might reached into his head and pulled out a strand of hair, then sticking it in front of Izuku.

**"Now, eat this!"**

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Izuku tilted his head with a dumbfounded expression, "Huh?"

"That's... disgusting." Enso added.

All Might rubbed the back of his head with his other hand, "**Well in order for you to obtain One For All, you must ingest the current wielder's DNA, and hair is the least disgusting part of my body that you can eat so… here!" **he said as he shoved the strand of hair to Izuku.

Izuku stared at the strand of hair for a few seconds, "U-Um... w-well..."

**"Eat it!" **All Might instructed once again.

Izuku then sighed, "Well, I guess that's how it is then. Well here goes…"

He placed the hair in his mouth and quickly gulped it down as fast as he could. Big mistake, because he actually choked on it for a moment and that caused him to gag on it more than he normally would've. He struggled to get the hair down his throat, before finally swallowing it and then gasping for breath.

"That looked rather painful." Enso commented.

After recovering from that experience, Izuku looked down at his arms and began to stretch them out.

"I don't really feel any different…"

**"Well, it will take some time for your body to accumulate One For All, not too long though, so in the meantime-" **All Might turned to Enso, **"-Enso, would it be alright for you to give me and young Midoriya here a description of your quirk? I've realized that you never gave us a description of it."**

Enso squinted his eyes, "Remember, I'm not of this world, so I don't technically have a 'quirk' like you and the rest of this world does."

**"But... you have powers, don't you? I've seen you move in a superhuman type way, not to mention the glowing aura I saw once."**

"Well if you put it like that, then yes, I do have powers."

**"Then would you be so kind as to explain them to us? That should pass the time for One For All to adjust to Midoriya's body."**

He sighed in a bored tone, "Very well, I believe that it would take more time than now to explain everything my powers consist of, so for now I'll explain the basics of what I can do."

Izuku paid serious attention so he could write this down in his notebook later.

"For starters, all of my human senses are sharpened compared to normal humans, but in addition to that, my speed, strength, stamina, and brainpower also have all been increased."

_"So as if they were genetically modified." _Izuku thought.

Enso put a hand on his chin in thought, "Now as for my powers, many of them I've obtained by absorbing the energy of the special individuals I've met in other worlds. So far, I have both telepathy and telekinesis at my disposal but I can also release energy-based attacks such as energy balls or energy beams. In addition to these energy moves, I can even focus my energy to different parts of my body to either shield myself from blows or add force to my physical attacks."

Enso then stuck out his hand and his dagger formed in it, "I can also manifest this weapon whenever I desire it. It is very durable and can easily slice through most materials." The dagger disintegrated in his hand and completely vanished. "I can make it disappear when I wish as well."

**"Those are quite the abilities you have. Anything else?"**

"Well, there are many other abilities I can do by manipulating the energy I have."

"Manipulating it?" Izuku asked curiously.

Enso nodded, "The energy balls and energy beams are technically part of the way I manipulate energy, but there are different ways I can manipulate it."

He turned to the ocean and swiped his arm, causing a wave of white energy to be sent over the water and violently splashed it as it passed. He then lifted up his other arm and a white lance formed within it, which he launched forward with intense speed over the water a great distance away before it appeared to fade away in the water.

He turned back to the two, "As you can see, nearly all of the manipulations I do with this energy is just for destructive purposes. They all come in the form of new moves and abilities that I was able to absorb from others. But I was able to create a few of my _own _techniques using different aspects of the abilities I already have."

"That sounds amazing!" Izuku said in excitement, thinking how powerful he was. But then he blinked in a realization at the sound of his 'encounters',

_"Wait... From the previous people he met? Oh..."_

Enso gazed away from him, _"I don't want them or others to learn about my weaknesses... The portrayal of oneself is important for intimidating others, so if I represent myself as stronger than any others and without much weakness, then it would be easier for me to avoid challenges and conflict. Just because I can use telekinesis and telepathy and all that energy doesn't mean that it doesn't have a limit..."_

His eye went to All Might, _"Not to mention that I don't have the pure muscle strength that both All Might and Izuku have. In theory, they may be able to overpower me with pure strength alone. Although I can enhance my physical attacks and my defenses using my energy, I can't enhance my muscle strength, so my body will feel the stress of trying to overpower them in strength. All Might's pure power is beyond what I've seen before and could most likely shatter my defensive aura if I'm not careful."_

"That's a brief summary of what I can do." Enso finished off to them.

"Your powers make you sound so strong!" Izuku praised.

"Well, I suppose I sound stronger when compared to all the other powers the beings here have." Enso said unimpressively. "However... I'm not proud of these powers. Especially when... you know how I've obtained them."

Izuku felt a shiver in his spine.

Enso changed the subject back to Izuku having One For All. "So Izuku? Do you feel any different now?"

"Now that you mention it..." Izuku jabbed the air in front of him multiple times. "I do feel more pumped up now!"

**"Good Midoriya! That must mean that One For All has fully adjusted itself in your body! Now you can start- PFFT!" **at that moment, All Might transformed back into his skinny form, spewing out blood comically once more.

"Maybe you shouldn't stay in your muscle form when it isn't necessary." Enso suggested.

Toshinori coughed for a few moments before answering, "Maybe... But as I was saying, we should have Midoriya test out One For All now that his body adjusted it."

"H-Here?" Izuku asked as his head frantically looked around for any people who could possibly be watching.

"Of course not my boy! Someone where you won't get in trouble when you use it." Toshinori walked over to the pick-up truck and stepped inside, then turning on the ignition. "Enso, Midoriya and I will be going to drop off this garbage."

"W-We are?" Izuku uttered as if he hadn't heard of this beforehand.

"Yes, afterword we'll be going to U.A academy. Enso, meet us at the front gate of the academy, I will send you an address right now."

"I see, will do." Enso responded, then vanishing from sight.

Toshinori looked down at Izuku from the truck, "Well come on my boy! We don't have all day!"

"R-Right!" Izuku quickly rushed into the truck and put on his seatbelt.

"And maybe cover your nose, this stuff is gonna smell for a while..." Toshinori said as he handed him a noseplug. "You're already green!" he then uttered as he saw Izuku's shade of green and his puffed cheeks.

"Th-Thank you..." Izuku uttered out in disguist as he took the nose plug.

* * *

~{About Thirty Minutes Later}~

Toshinori, Enso, and Izuku walked down the empty halls of U.A, with Izuku's eyes shooting all over the place in pure excitement.

"Amazing! It looks even better up close! To think that this is the school that I wish to go to! Where the number one hero, All Might, graduated with flying colors to kick off his hero career! Where he-!"

"Now, now Midoroya, let's not get fanboy mode right now alright?" Toshinori chuckled.

"A-Ah sorry All Might!" Izuku stuttered in embarrassment.

"So where are we going specifically?" Enso asked him.

"We'll be going out in the courtyard! It's rather empty there so I think it shall be perfect!"

"Perfect for what Toshinori?" A happy voice called behind them.

Toshinori flinched, his head robotically looking behind him. Enso and Izuku also turned around to find a short person, well more like an animal, standing straight. He looked to have a head of a mouse with a large scar over his right eye, a tail coming behind him, and paws for hands. He wore a white dress shirt with a black waistcoat and matching black pants along with orange, laced up sneakers.

"P-Principal Nezu!" Toshinori uttered out nervously.

"Hello Toshinori, what are you doing here at U.A on such an unexpected day?" Nezu asked with a happy smile.

"W-Well, you see-! U-Um..." Toshinori fidgeted with his words.

_"Th-That's the principal?!"_ Izuku thought, sweating nervously.

Nezu glanced at Izuku and Enso, "Oh, are those the two you spoke to me about before?"

"Y-Yes they are." Toshinori pat Izuku's shoulder, "This one here is my successor, Izuku Midoriya."

"Eh!? The principal knows about One For All as well!?" Izuku uttered in shock.

"Yes, he does know about it." Toshinori reassured Izuku.

Izuku bowed nervously, "I-It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Likewise." Nezu responded cheerfully. He then turned to Enso, "And he is... the 'other' one?"

"Yes, this is Enso Ureshi, he is the one that has also helped to give valuable training to Midoriya these past few months."

Nezu examined Enso's appearance, scanning his suspicious look.

Enso slightly leaned to Toshinori and whispered to him, "You never mentioned that you've told someone else about me. How much does he know?"

"Just that you listened in about One For All and helped to train Midoriya." Toshinori whispered back.

Enso stared in a curious silence at principal Nezu. He then walked forward toward the principal, surprising Izuku and Toshinori.

_"What's he doing?"_ Toshinori wondered.

Enso stood over the principal and crouched down to one knee to be at the same eye level as him.

"Oh? What is it?" Nezu asked with a curious smile.

Enso didn't even appear to have heard his question, he simply reached his right hand-

-and rubbed the top of Nezu's head.

_"GAK!"_ Toshinori turned black and white as a comedic bolt of lightning struck behind him.

"What are you?" Enso asked as he tilted his head curiously and continued to rub Nezu's head, all the while keeping his cold expression.

Izuku noticed Toshinori's reaction and shook as well, _"I don't think Enso should be doing that!"_

The principal's smile didn't change, "Well would you look at that. I've never had someone do this to me before, not even children." he chuckled.

Toshinori quickly rushed over to Enso and pulled him off Nezu, then making him and himself both bow, "I-I'm sorry for his actions!"

Nezu laughed, "It's quite alright. But due tell me All Might... Where exactly is he from?"

Toshinori stood back up straight and flailed his hands, "W-Well, he's from somewhere very far away! Somewhere far from Japan! I-I don't remember where exactly..."

"So he's from somewhere that you have to keep secret?" Nezu interrupted.

"Wha- I didn't say that!"

"Now, now Toshinori, you really need to work on your wording and body language. I expected you to be a better liar with how well you were able to keep your quirk a secret from the public. A normal question about the origin of someone is usually answered with a town, country, or just any actual place name. But you clearly improvised your words on the spot and because you said he comes from somewhere 'far away', then that means that either he comes from somewhere that needs to be kept a secret to prevent trouble, or that he comes from another world or dimension entirely in which would cause trouble in itself."

Izuku and Toshinori flinched.

Enso squinted his eyes at Nezu, _"This person... he's intelligently dangerous."_

"I get that you've accepted his help for training your successor, but don't you think I should know _everything _about him if that's the case?" Nezu calmly asked.

"Um, there's... a lot to explain." Toshinori said, sounding defeated.

"I'm sure there is, but before we get to that, may I ask what is it that your all doing here in the first place?"

"Oh!" Toshinori perked up, pulling Izuku next to him, "Young Midoriya was able to inherit One For All! So we were hoping to use the courtyard to have him test it!"

"Oh really? Well, then I suppose I could let you go there even though you came unannounced..."

"R-Really?" Toshinori uttered nervously.

Izuku let out a breath of relief, _"I thought he was gonna ask about-"_

"But..." Nezu turned to Enso. "I would like to have a little chat with your acquaintance here. Alone."

Toshinori and Izuku went slightly pale.

_"Crap!"_ Izuku thought.

"That's fine." Enso answered without any hesitation.

"What!?" Toshinori cried out.

"Against a being of this intelligence, secrets are pointless. They'll just give him negative opinions of us, but mostly to me, for trying to hide things from him." Enso stated.

"How understanding." Nezu said to Enso. He turned to Toshinori, "You and your successor can go practice right outside, there's not much time left until the exam comes after all. He'll need all the practice he can get." he turned back to Enso, "Now, Ureshi was it?"

"Enso is fine." Enso responded.

Izuku sweatdropped, _"Is he really trying the 'get closer with first names' thing with Nezu?"_

"Alright Enso, please come with me to my office." Nezu instructed.

_"He agreed so easily by first name!?" _Izuku thought in shock.

Enso and Nezu walked side by side in silence as they went down the hall. Enso looked back at the other two for a moment before looking forward again.

"I wonder how things are gonna end?" Izuku muttered curiously.

Toshinori sighed, "Nezu can be very unpredictable. But I'm actually really worried. Because if Enso tells him everything, then-"

"Th-Then he may even tell him... wh-what he's done before." Izuku finished, remembering exactly how Enso claimed to have 'obtained' most of his powers.

"Yes... but there is not much that we can do here. We could go and vouch to Nezu that we can trust him, but I understand why he wouldn't even want to trust someone like that. We could only leave it up to Enso, as worrying as that sounds."

"I-I see..." Izuku muttered.

"But come on Midoroya, let's go test out One For All now." Toshinori said as he pat the boy on his back.

"Alright." Izuku nodded before following Toshinori through the hall.

* * *

~{In Nezu's Office}~

Nezu walked over to his seat and jumped on it, then raising the height of it to reach his desk.

"Take a seat, please." He asked politely as he waved a hand at a comfortable looking chair in front of his desk.

Enso sat down and placed his hands on his lap while focusing his gaze on Nezu.

Nezu entwined his paws and placed his elbows on the desk.

"So Enso, I understand that you know and are informed about One For all, correct?"

"Correct, Toshinori did explain it to me."

"Alright then." Nezu pulled a drawer of his desk and pulled out a notepad and pen, placing both in front of himself. "I'll just ask you a series of questions about yourself. Some may even be personal, but I want you to answer them truthfully alright?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." Nezu scribbled in his notepad for a moment before focusing once more at Enso.

"First question, what is your name?"

"Enso Ureshi."

"Second, where are you from?"

"Another world that's an alternate version of Earth, but I don't know if I originated from there."

"..."

"..."

"Well then, I actually didn't expect that." Nezu chuckled, then writing down in his notepad.

"You don't sound so surprised."

Nezu didn't look up as he scribbled, "I am a little. But not for the reason you think. I just think I confirmed a theory that I came up with but didn't think would be true."

"And that is?"

Nezu just laughed, "Wouldn't you like to know? As much as a part of me would enjoy seeing some sort of reaction by telling you, I feel like you should find out yourself later."

"Are you implying that you know something about me that I don't know?" Enso asked.

"Mayyyyybe." Nezu chuckled. "But right now we're getting off track, let's get back to my other questions shall we?"

As much as Enso wanted to keep asking what was it the principal knew, he decided to keep quiet as to not risk annoying him in some way.

"So, about this 'alternate version' of Earth, you referred to. Can you clarify what you meant by not knowing if you 'originated' from there?"

"I mean that I don't know if that is the world I originally belong to. If it was the place that I was born and raised in. I woke up within that world without any indication of who I was."

"Hm, so you don't have any memories relating to your childhood then?"

"There were a few flashes of my past that I've seen here and there, but I didn't have enough information to determine their significance. I had woken up in this form within a capsule that was part of a laboratory."

Nezu's smile faded, "A laboratory you say?"

Enso nodded in confirmation.

"But if you didn't remember anything, then how did you get your name?"

Enso looked down at his watch, "It was given to me, by who I assume was the lead doctor with me when I first woke up.

"I see. What happened to him?"

"He was murdered. By the very monstrosity that I'm training Midoriya to prepare to face in the future."

There was a tense silence in the atmosphere, Nezu completely focused on Enso.

"A monstrosity you say? Is that why you're helping contribute to Midoirya getting stronger?"

"That is one reason. He would be very helpful to fight and get rid of it."

"But?" Nezu asked, knowing that there must be more to it.

"But... There is another reason why I wish to interact more with Midoriya."

"Do tell." Nezu said as he leaned slightly back in his chair.

Enso looked down, "I think that by changing my method of interaction with the certain individuals I meet, such as Izuku, then I may be able to learn and remember more about myself."

"It sounds like you have other things to explain to me if you want me to understand what you mean. You look like you've had a lot of experience, so, tell, me, everything." As Nezu said that, he put his pen and note pad down and simply relaxed in his chair to prepare for what Enso would say.

Enso placed his arms on the armrests of the chair.

"I just wish to give a brief warning... As you listen to what I've done, you may develop... 'new' opinions of me. But I assure you that-"

"Just speak. I'll think what I wanna think as I listen." Nezu said giving him a small, reassuring smile.

Enso was silent for a brief moment before sighing.

"Very well."

* * *

Toshinori and Izuku now stood in the middle of the dirt field of the U.A. courtyard. Behind them was the U.A building and far ahead of them was the start of a forest of the sort on the U.A grounds.

"All Might, what did you mean that the principal was 'unpredictable'?" Izuku asked out of curiosity.

Toshinori nervously rubbed the back of his head, "Well, you see Midoirya, Nezu wasn't exactly like many of the other people who had quirks. He was experimented on by humans and thus, still has a grudge that he expresses by 'toying' with them for their reactions. I don't exactly know if his appearance of multiple animals or his quirk were caused by these experiments, but he can be rather scary with his high intelligence."

"I see..." Izuku muttered, looking down in sympathy.

"Since you're my successor, he may even send some of his wrath towards you."

Izuku's sympathy turned to fear as he turned white and shivered.

"Just kidding." he chuckled as he pat the boy on the back to reassure him.

However, Toshinori turned his head away for a moment with a comical look of dread on his face, _"I sure hope he doesn't do anything TOO bad at least..."_

He turned back to Izuku and formed a fake smile, "Now Midoirya, let's see you try to activate One For All for the first time."

Izuku snapped out of his momentary fear and put on a determined face, "Right!" he took a step forward proudly and paused for a moment.

He then turned back to Toshinori with a blank look and a question mark over his head, "How do I do that again?"

_"Ah, right..."_ Toshinori rubbed the back of his head. He then put a fist in the air, "Just focus, pull your arm back, clench your buttocks, and yell smash!"

"That doesn't really sound like a good explanation..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"Just trust me!" Toshinori said, giving him a thumbs up.

Izuku turned to the big open field in front of him, taking a deep breath, _"Alright let's do this!"_

He looked down into his right hand and clenched it into a fist. He thought about One For All, wishing for it to activate in his arm for his punch. He suddenly felt his arm slightly bulging, he felt the power of his new quirk begin to build up for the first time. His arm began to glow in an orange hue, red veins noticeably stuck out, and greenish-blue sparks of electricity appeared all around him as he charged up.

"That's it my boy!" Toshinori shouted in encouragement.

Izuku then swung his arm at a slightly upward angle, shouting "SMASH!" at the top of his lungs.

The moment Izuku fully swung his arm, a giant burst of a shockwave was created and pierced the air in the direction he swung. The ground shook, the dirt on the floor kicked up, the wind was forced into one direction, and the trees in the forest ahead violently shook. Toshinori had to cover his eyes to keep all the flying dirt from getting into his eyes, but when he felt the winds die down and looked, he was amazed to see a clear path in the dirt of the direction Izuku punched.

Toshinori grinned, "Atta boy!"

Izuku panted heavily after using such a powerful quirk for the first time of his life, but then he grinned at the demonstration of the power he was able to perform. He tried to lift his arm in celebration, but he felt a sharp pain in it.

"Nngh!" he winced.

He looked down at his right arm and his eyes widened, as it was now red, swollen, and completely broken.

He held onto his arm with his unbroken left arm, falling to his knees and closing his eyes, wincing in pain.

Toshinori rushed over to the boy and crouched over. "Are you alright Midoirya!?"

"*pant* It feels like I just blew up my arm..."

Toshinori sweatdropped, "You're not that far off..."

He helped the boy stand back up.

"M-My arm completely broke with one punch of One For All. I-I couldn't control it..." Izuku said in a depressed tone.

Toshinori saw Izuku's shame and quickly spoke, "That can't be helped. It's like asking a person who suddenly grew tall to do a trick, they wouldn't even know how to control their tail to perform the trick. It was meant to happen."

Izuku suddenly blinked in a realization, turning his head to his hero with a blank face. "Wait a minute, did you know this would happen?"

Toshinori flinched and rubbed the back of his own head, "W-Well... I may have forgotten to mention that to you..."

"A warning would've been nice!" Izuku snapped in a fit of comedic anger.

"R-Relax! It's not that bad!" Toshinori tried to calm him.

"I broke my arm All Might!"

Toshinori let go of Izuku and put his hands in front of him in a position of surrender, "Sorry! But at least we know the scale of power you can use!"

"Eh?"

He raised a finger, "Right now, you can either use zero percent of your power, or use one hundred percent of what your body can let out." He then closed the finger into his hand and formed a fist, "But once you learn how to control it, you'll be able to adjust to whatever amount of power you wish your body to use at once."

"Control?" Izuku repeated.

"Of course! The more you train One For All, the better you'll be able to control it!"

Hearing that he can surely learn how to use One For All, Izuku formed a determined smile.

"I'll be sure to control it All Might! I promise!" Izuku proudly stated.

"Of course you will Midoriya, I know you will!"

Toshinori and Izuku smiled at one another. One's smile was of admiration and hope to live up to expectations of his hero, while the other's smile was proud of his pupil and was looking forward to future days to come.

_"Young Midoriya... The flame that I have passed onto you is still small, but in the future, it'll be exposed to many things. Wind, rain, dirt, and so many natural obstacles that will have to be overcome while getting bigger in the process. As that goes on, my flare will slowly weaken and will soon disappear completely, finishing my job along with it. Soon Midoirya, soon you will take my place and make the world a safer place..."_

"So All Might?" Izuku spoke.

Toshinori got out of his deep thoughts, "Yes?"

"What are we gonna do about my arm?" Izuku asked with humorous watery eyes.

_"Urk!" _

"U-Um... Yes! 'She' might be here today!" Toshinori said with a lightbulb over his head.

"Wh-Who?"

"Someone else who knows about One For All!" Toshinori said with a grin.

"Someone else who knows?"

"Yes! Now let's get you over there boy!" Toshinori said as he tugged Izuku's arm.

"OW!" Izuku shouted.

"Oops, wrong arm."

* * *

"That's about it." Enso finished explaining. He had just told Nezu the entire story that he had told Toshinori and Izuku before. He followed Izuku around (threatening him once) and learned about One For All by eavesdropping before officially introducing himself to Izuku and All Might, letting them know about the information he overheard. He then proceeded to explain that Izuku was one of many unique individuals of different worlds who supposedly possesses a power of some sort that the watch on Enso's wrist detects, making it the reason why he spied on him.

The most serious part of the conversation though, was when Enso had to explain what he had done to each of those other unique people from each previous world and why he did what he did. Killing to obtain their power, obtaining their power in order to get flashes of memories, getting those memories at a hope that he would remember himself, that was his reasoning for his actions. He didn't know what course of action Nezu would take after listening to him, but he knew that he had to explain what he could to have Nezu trust him and hope that he would understand.

He kept silent and gazed at Nezu, who had the back of his chair facing Enso at this point.

"..."

"..."

"So... You say that's about it?" Nezu asked behind his chair.

Enso nodded, "Yes."

"But, there's something else you haven't told me... What is this 'monstrosity' that you're bringing to _my_ world?"

Enso closed his eyes, "Forgive me, but I don't believe that it's something I should be sharing yet. Especially not to Izuku."

"Why is that?"

"Should I really be telling a boy who _just _obtained Toshinori's power that he'll have the responsibility to face not one, but _two_ dangerous beings that could impact his entire world?"

Nezu's ear fluttered, "Two?"

"Toshinori is having Izuku face someone in the future, isn't he?"

Nezu was unnaturally silent for a moment, then asking, "What makes you assume that?"

"Someone... or _something_ had to have made that scar on his chest, didn't it?"

He heard Nezu sigh, turning his chair around to face Enso with a solemn expression.

"I'm not sure if he's still alive, but yes, All Might did indeed fight a villain in the past, the one who made his scar. We've been keeping it secret from the public so that it wouldn't cause any worldwide panic by knowing that such a villain nearly killing their symbol of peace."

"As you're keeping the secret of such a villain from the public to not cause panic, I'm not telling Izuku about this monster so I won't scare him, as it possibly could result in interfering with his progress."

"And why is it you can't tell me about this monster instead?" Nezu asked.

Enso looked down, "It may dangerous for you to know about him. There's no telling what he would do to you just for the knowledge of his existence."

_"What kind of being would do something terrible to someone for simply knowing him?" _Nezu wondered.

Nezu leaned back in his chair and looked up, "Well, I suppose it can't be helped then. As far as I can see it, everything you've said has been true up to this point. One reason I believe so is that I can understand and relate to what you've been through."

"Understand?" Enso repeated.

"Yes. Tell me Enso, what do you think I am?"

"You look like a hybrid of a dog, cat, bear, and mouse." Enso bluntly responded.

"So it may seem. But how do you think I became this way?"

"Because of the side effects of your quirk?"

"Buzz! Wrong!" Nezu responded. "Now I don't exactly remember it myself, but I know that I must've been just one animal in my early years. But because of the mistreatment I received by humans, my entire life changed."

"By how this is sounding, you're going to claim that humans have experimented on you and ended up giving you the appearance you have now?"

"Correct!"

"Does that even include your quirk?"

"Yes, it does include that! I've obtained my intelligence from all the tests that humans did on me. If I'm honest, I am rather grateful for them for it."

"So when you claim that you relate to me, you believe that I've been from a result of experimentation as well?"

"Now, now, don't tell me that you've never thought about it?"

Enso's eyes looked down with a finger on his chin in thought, "Well... Of course, I've thought of it. Based on the fact that I woke up within the capsule of a lab without any recollection of myself and the lack of emotions that came along with it..."

Nezu turned his chair, "Ever since gaining my intellect and waking up, I barely had any recollection of my animal years, including which animal I actually was in the first place. So when I look at you, I see myself in a way. Intelligent, mistreated, and misunderstood of the world and it's people."

"Misunderstood?" Enso repeated.

"You really think I was always this calm and polite? Especially after having experienced humans? Wouldn't you be a little... 'hostile' towards them after being through such horrid experiments?"

"It's hard for me to picture you as hostile." Enso commented as he gazed at Nezu's short nature.

Nezu laughed, "I can be quite feisty! It's so satisfying to toy with humans after all."

Enso sweatdropped.

"But... does that mean that you believe me then?" he asked the principal.

"I don't believe you have any malicious intent involving harm to Toshinori, Midoirya, or taking One For All, otherwise, you'd probably already have done something by now."

Enso waited in silence.

"However!" Nezu suddenly blurted out.

"I knew there had to be something..." Enso muttered.

"The fact that you've claimed to have experience with death and murder obviously concerns me. You weren't even fazed when you mentioned it, giving me the impression that you may be able to strike people down without hesitation or consideration."

Enso kept a cold blank gaze on Nezu, "So you're going to hold me accountable on this world for my actions from previous worlds? I admit that in the eyes of you and many others, what I've done must be terrible. To kill for self-gain, to have no thoughts about those effected, but what's done is done. There's no way I can take back what happened, all I can do right now is ensure you that I won't be causing any harm."

Nezu leaned forward and surprisingly grinned as he clasped his hands over his desk.

"Oh, I know you won't!"

_"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"_ Enso wondered.

"Enso Ureshi, for me to ensure that you don't cause any trouble of any kind while you're in this world, I need to constantly know what you're doing and have you close by so that you can be watched over."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"Well, Enso..." Nezu opened his drawer and pulled out a certain sheet of paper, then sliding it with his paw across the desk towards Enso.

"How would you like to go to school?"

* * *

*Knock* *Knock*

"Hm?" Recovery Girl was in the nurse's office organizing supplies when she suddenly heard a knock on the door. _"Who could that be right now?"_

"Come in." she called out.

The door slid open to reveal Toshinori smiling, "Yes! You are here!"

Recovery Girl was surprised, "All Might? What are you doing here when the school hasn't even started yet?"

"Well..." Toshinori shyly rubbed the back of his head as he pulled the rest of the door out of the way to reveal Izuku holding his right arm.

"H-Hello." Izuku uttered out.

"Oh? You've found a successor already?" Recovery Girl remarked, already knowing exactly what was going on by his broken arm.

"Yes! And his body was able to take in One For All early! Today was his first day trying to use it!" Yoshinori said proudly.

"At least that explains why his arm is broken..." Recovery Girl sighed.

"Can you fix him up for me please?" Toshinori then politely asked.

"Alright." She hopped onto her chair and turned to Izuku while motioning him to another chair in front of her, "Sit down sonny."

"Th-Thank you..." Izuku meekly went over and sat down.

Recovery Girl first took the time to examine exactly what condition Izuku's arm was in so she would know how long to use her quirk. It was red and swollen so no doubt it was broken, but it was an easy fix for her.

She then used her quirk on his arm.

*CHUUUU!*

Izuku was caught off guard, "EH!?" but then he immediately felt the pain-relieving from his arm. "Ah, it feels better!"

Sure enough, when Recovery Girl removed her lips, Izuku's arm look nearly healed.

However, he also felt his eyes feel slightly droopy. "But now I feel tired..."

"My quirk stimulates a person's healing ability, and healing requires stamina which is why you feel tired afterward. Keep in mind that if you keep getting major injuries, then you may not have enough stamina to heal and could end up dying."

"Dying!?" Izuku cried out in shock.

"I guess that means that we can't consistently have you try out One For All..." Toshinori said.

He was then whacked on the head.

"Ow!" he uttered as his hands instantly went to his head, he then looked down at an angry Recovery Girl.

"Really though Toshinori?! You didn't even tell me that you would be having him use that quirk! What if I wasn't here? Then who would've heal him?"

"S-Sorry, we'll be more careful!" Toshinori apologized.

"You better be!" Recovery Girl snapped.

Izuku in the meantime was within his own thoughts of worry about using One For All.

_"If this is what happens each time I use One For All, then I won't even be able to practice with it throughout the day. How will I be able to practice using it if I can't even practice enough for it!? Maybe All Might would know how I could use it better, but if not, then what then?"_

"Ah, here they are." a voice said in the doorway.

The three inside turned their heads and saw Nezu standing in the now open doorway of the nurse's office with Enso standing right behind him.

"I take it that you two being in here means that it didn't go well?" Enso asked Izuku and Toshinori.

"Well... I sort of broke my arm." Izuku admitted.

_"So he couldn't handle even using the power..."_ Enso thought with disappointment. He then noticed a short old woman sitting down in a chair next to Izuku.

"Who is this?"

Nezu waved a paw to point at Recovery Girl, "This is Recovery Girl! Our school nurse and another person that has knowledge about One For All!"

Recovery girl was surprised to hear Nezu casually speak of One For All, "Hold on, does this sonny know about Toshinori's quirk as well?"

"Yes, he does! And I also have some news for both of you!" Nezu proudly said to Toshinori and Izuku.

"Hm?" Izuku tilted his head to the short principal.

"I'll be attending U.A as well." Enso immediately said as he looked away.

"EH!?" Izuku and Toshinori cried out in surprised.

"Aw, you could've let me announce it more energetically." Nezu complained.

"E-Enso will be attending U.A?" Toshinori asked, wondering if he heard that right.

"Well, technically not yet. Nezu says that I will have to take the exam to get in." Enso told them.

"I listened to his story and decided that he shall continue to help your successor grow Toshinori, but I will have to keep a watchful eye on him due to some of the things he's said. Him being in U.A will help me with that as there will always be teachers around to watch him."

"I see, but..." Toshinori glanced back at Recovery Girl, then going to the principal and crouching down to him "But he doesn't have any previous school records or any records at all! Wouldn't the staff be suspicious?" He whispered.

Nezu whispered back, "Don't worry Toshinori, that shouldn't be a problem for me at all."

Toshinori sweatdropped. _"Why do I think that he'll do something sketchy?"_

"What are you two talking about over there?" Recovery girl asked impatiently.

"I will explain to you later Recovery Girl." Nezu promised. "Now Toshinori, I believe that you should be getting back to training your successor."

"B-But... I feel really tired now, so R-Recovery Girl wouldn't be able to heal me if I used One For All and broke my arm again..."

"Hm? How does she heal you?" Enso asked.

"Recovery Girl's quirk lets her use the stamina of the person she's healing in order to quicken their healing process." Nezu answered.

"So by that logic, Izuku wouldn't be able to continuously practice with One For All unless if he got large amounts of rest after healing?"

"Yes, that's how it should be." Recovery Girl answered him.

"I believe that I have a solution to that." Enso said as he reached into the right pocket of his suit.

He then pulled out what appeared to be a brown dice bag, then reaching into it and pulling out a small green bean of the sort.

He tossed it to Izuku, "Eat this."

Izuku fumbled with it before catching it in his hand. "Wh-What's this?"

"Eat it." Enso said with a straight face.

"But-"

"Eat it."

"...Fine." Izuku sighed in defeat before popping the bean into his mouth and chewing.

_"Urk, it feels like a celery stalk than a bean... It tastes like fish too... Why am I eating weird things today?"_ Izuku thought in disgust.

As he swallowed it, Enso spoke, "How do you feel?"

Izuku immediately stood up with energy, "I suddenly feel really energetic!" he claimed.

"Huh? What kind of bean would instantly give someone that much energy!?" Recover Girl asked, baffled.

"It's something I picked up from another world."

"Excuse me?" she said with an unamused face.

"Well, I guess now that you've heard that, I'll have to explain the situation to you right now instead of later Recovery Girl. Toshinori, you take Enso and Midoirya out and continue training with One For All. Try to make him ready by the time he takes the exam."

"Will do sir!" Toshinori said.

With that, Toshinori, Izuku, and Enso all went back to the courtyard once again to train, leaving Nezu behind to describe the situation to a trusty Recovery Girl.

"Enso, what was that you gave Midoriya exactly?" Toshinori asked him curiously.

"Hm? Oh, it's called a Senzu bean, something that I picked up in another world. When ingested, it instantaneously restores the consumer's physical health and energy to the fullest."

"To... the fullest?" Toshinori repeated, suddenly very intrigued.

"Yes, supposedly it's healing capabilities are so great that you can restore fatal injuries and even limbs."

Toshinori's eyes widened, "Th-Then can they used for-!?"

"They won't heal your permanent injury Toshinori. If you had taken one bean right after receiving your injury, then it would've worked, but now that it's healed into a scar that your body has adapted, the bean won't heal it."

A black and purple depressing aura formed over Toshinori and his eyes were shadowed. "I see..."

"All Might!?" Izuku cried in worry to see his hero look down.

"It's alright young Midoirya... At least we could use them to continuously have you practice One For All until you stop injuring yourself..." Toshinori said in a depressed tone.

Enso sighed and pulled the bag out of his pocket, "Keep in mind that I only have a small supply of these. They only grow in one specific place that I can no longer reach, so we have to make sure each use is worth it. So in other words, Izuku has to learn to use One For All quickly so I don't waste my entire stash."

"I-I'll do my best!" Izuku stuttered.

"Let's go back and practice as soon as Toshinori stops going through the five stages of grief..." Enso said sarcastically as he stared down at the depressed man.

"I'm fine... I was just foolish to have hope..." Toshinori mumbled.

"Yare yare daze..." Enso sighed.

* * *

~{Back onto the courtyard}~

"So... Clearly Izuku can't use One For All effectively... exactly _how_ did you tell him to use it Toshinori?" Enso asked him.

"Well, I told him to pull his arm back, clench his buttocks, and yell smash." Toshinori answered

"What kind of advice is that? It's terrible."

"B-But it's basically what it is!" Toshinori said, "The trick to controlling it is... feeling!" he proudly shouted.

"That sounds... stupid."

_"Urk!"_

Toshinori ignored him and turned to Izuku, "You've already pulled out the hundred percent part of it! That's a start!"

"But it destroyed me..." Izuku said with a blank face from remembering that moment.

"But now you have the feeling of it! Tell me, how did it feel?"

"How did it feel? It was like a sudden 'bzzt' or a 'whoosh' or... Oh, I know!" he punched his hand into his palm, "Like putting an egg into a microwave!"

"I see, the egg in the microwave heats up over time until it isn't able to handle the heat it receives, resulting in it exploding.." Enso analyzed.

Toshinori laughed with blood coming out of his mouth, "That's boring but unique!" He pointed at Izuku, "With that image in mind, focus on lowering the wattage, or shorten the cooking time! Anything is fine to focus on the egg not exploding!"

_"It feels like we're just cooking now..."_ Enso thought as he watched them talk about an egg.

"I see..." Izuku muttered.

"Hold on a moment, maybe try something else along with that." Enso spoke up.

"Hm? Like what?" Toshinori asked.

"What if Izuku only focused his power on one part of his body? That way, if he is unable to put less power on his attack, then at least only one part of his body would be injured."

"Oh, I see!" Izuku said as he heard his advice. "Let me try that then!"

He then turned to the open dirt field in front of him.

This time, he stuck his arm in front of him and positioned his index finger and thumb into a finger flicking position.

_"Okay Izuku, focus! Just my finger, just use my finger!"_

His finger suddenly shined orange with red veins and green electricity around it.

He then dug the back of his heels into the dirt as he flicked his finger, "SMASH!"

The force of the attack was less destructive than when he had used his entire arm, yet it still created a powerful shockwave that went forward in the direction he flicked his fingers.

When all was calm, they looked at Izuku's finger to see that it was red an swollen like his arm before, with Izuku slightly panting.

"I-I was able to keep it into just my finger... but I wasn't able to focus on keeping it at a lower power..." Izuku gritted.

"Well, it's better than nothing. Now keep practicing with each of your fingers and then use your arm."

"Eh?!" Izuku cried out.

Toshinori waved his arms in a stopping motion at Enso, "Hold on now Enso! You can't be asking Midoirya to keep hurting himself so much at one time!"

"But it'll help preserve each use of the beans I have. I don't want to be healing him after each injury, not until his arms have taken the max damage it can. With his fingers, he'll have more attempts to get a hold on his power."

"But-!"

"It's alright All Might." Izuku said to him with a slightly pained smile. "I've been through much worse already. I can handle this."

Toshinori gazed at Izuku in worry, but looking at the light of hope in his eyes, he sighed in defeat.

"Okay kiddo... But don't push yourself too far."

Izuku grinned, then turning to the field once more, _"I have to learn to use my power! I will!"_

"Now then, let's keep going." Enso said, watching Izuku.

"Heh, you don't have to tell me." Izuku said, pulling his arm up.

Charging up once more.


	5. Creations Of Power and Friendship

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Izuku groaned in frustration as he stared down at his eight broken fingers. He turned his head and glanced over at All Might and Enso, who were both sitting down on chairs underneath an umbrella and discussing any future plans for Izuku's training. This was the second week that Izuku had been attempting to get a hold One For All, being unsuccessful in trying to use it. They were still training in U.A, but Recover Girl was not around the school this time, nor were there any other teachers.

Enso glanced at Izuku and noticed his broken fingers, getting up from his chair and heading towards him.

"You used up all your fingers again?"

Izuku was panting as he felt the stinging of his fingers. He raised his hands in front of himself and examined their state, then sighing in disappointment to himself.

"Yeah... I don't really seem to be making any progress..." he shamefully admitted.

"Yes, and I'm worried that I'll run out of beans soon." Enso said as he checked his pouch and passed Izuku another bean, which he ingested.

"I think we should stop for today." Toshinori suggested as Izuku's fingers faded in red color and healed back.

"If you believe that, then could I take Izuku back to my place for another combat lesson instead?" Enso asked.

"Depends if Midoriya is alright with it."

"Of course I am." Izuku answered, checking his fingers and not feeling any more pain.

"Well, then I'll see you tomorrow Midoirya." Toshinori said as he pet the boy on the head.

Once Toshinori removed his hand, Izuku looked up to him and smiled, "I'll be here again!"

"Of course you will kiddo." Toshinori smiled.

Izuku then felt himself get raised off the ground.

"Eh?"

He looked to find that Enso had picked him up and flung him onto his shoulder.

"Oof, you're heavy." Enso commented as he adjusted Izuku's weight on his shoulder.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on! What are you doing!?" Izuku frantically asked him.

"What does it look like? We're gonna head over to my place." Enso answered as he started to walk away from Toshinori with Izuku over his shoulder.

"Wait, a moment Enso, how do you plan on taking him there?!" Toshinori quickly asked.

Enso turned his head to him, "How else? By jumping."

"You can't do that! The authorities would try to arrest you if they see you flying around the city!" Toshinori warned him.

Enso blinked, "I can't?"

Izuku and Toshinori both sweatdropped.

* * *

~{Thirty Minutes Later}~

"To think we had to take a train..." Enso said as he walked inside to the dojo area.

"You heard what All Might said, you would get in trouble if you keep on traveling by using your powers. "

"But I don't even use my powers to make those leaps, I use my enhanced body abilities. So it shouldn't count."

"But what if a hero saw you doing that?" Izuku asked as he placed his bag down and stretched his arms.

"Then I would jump faster." Enso responded with no hesitation.

"Things really seem simple for you don't they?" Izuku sighed.

"Whatever, now that we're here..." Enso turned to Izuku and put on a fighting stance, "Let's get back to hand to hand combat."

Izuku was puzzled, "Didn't you say that you would be showing me more . of your powers when I got One For All?"

"That was when I assumed that you would get an actual hold of using it by the time we sparred again, but clearly you didn't have good control over it. Do you really still wish for a demonstration of my abilities when it'll mean that it will be even harder than it already is for you to fight me without power?"

"Yes! I wish to see!" Izuku immediately shouted with excitement, even pumping his fists up.

Enso took note of his enthusiasm, "Well, I suppose I could demonstrate part of my powers to you. Don't say I didn't warn you though." he said as he rotated his right shoulder.

"Yes, sir!" Izuku responded as he got into a boxer's stance, moving his right foot forward and about shoulder length apart of his other foot. He slightly turned his body and had one arm forward with the other one close to cover different parts of his upper body.

Enso, on the other hand, punched his palms together and gave off a white aura surrounding his entire body, with the irises of his eyes matching the white color of the aura as well. He put a dominant leg forward and moved his body slightly lower to the ground with his palms open in front of him.

Izuku was partially surprised, _"He's in a wrestling stance of the sort. but what does the glow around his body mean?" _

He clenched his fists tighter, _"The powers he told me consisted of telekinesis and telepathy, so I may have to look out for possible hallucinations or items sent flying at me, he may even lift me up so I should be ready for that. Then there are also his energy-related projectile attacks, I'll just have to avoid those. But then... there is that dagger of his that he can form anytime. I don't know if he'll actually use it or not, but I have to be careful either way."_

"Come at me." Enso told him.

Izuku didn't full-on sprint towards Enso, but he took short and quick steps to get in close while maintaining his defensive boxer's stance. Enso didn't send any projectiles at him like he had thought he would, nor did he change position as Izuku got closer towards him.

_"It looks like Enso is planning to use a grappling form, so he's most likely waiting for me to get close enough to grab me! So that means when he goes for the grab, I should switch my attacks to kicks and knees!"_

Once getting close enough, Izuku's prediction came true as Enso's hands attempted to reach forward for him.

_"Now!"_

Izuku changed his fighting style and raised his knee up at an attempt to slam it under Enso's chin.

But Enso was waiting for that.

He stopped his attempt to grab Izuku halfway and instead pulled his right arm back, clenching his hand into a fist just as Izuku's knee neared his chin.

When Izuku's knee collided with Enso's chin, Enso didn't even flinch in pain, instead, Izuku felt pain in return.

_"Arrgh! What the hell!? It felt like I just hit a wall!"_ Izuku thought as he felt intense pain in his knee.

Enso didn't even look fazed when Izuku's knee hit him, he let his head move slightly back from the hit while swinging his fist into an uppercut within Izuku's stomach.

When the impact occurred, Izuku's eyes widened as he coughed out all the air from his lungs, before then getting launched upward by Enso's powerful punch. He spiraled comedically through the air before coming down and slamming down to the ground, bouncing up for a moment before landing again with a thud.

Izuku gasped for breath and shook in pain on the ground, curling up into a little ball and holding his stomach.

_"Oh god... What the hell was that? It didn't look like I did anything to him when I kneed him... Could that white aura around him actually have been a shield? And that punch... That punch was way stronger than the usual blows I've received from Enso, so that aura must've also powered his physical attacks up in some way... I feel like I'm gonna die..."_

The white aura around Enso faded away as he walked towards Izuku, then stopping in front of the boy and looking down at him.

"That wasn't a long demonstration, but that style did exactly as it was meant to do."

"S... Style?" Izuku grunted on the floor, still shaking in pain.

Enso sat on the floor in a cross-legged manner next to Izuku.

"Yes, the way I use my powers are in the form of different fighting styles."

_"Fighting styles?"_ Izuku repeated in his mind, still trying to catch his breath.

"I have different fighting styles that I can use to adapt in any battle. Each one uses different variations of martial arts and powers that I have at my disposal."

Izuku had gotten to his knees at this point, recovering enough to speak through the pain, "S-So... That white-colored aura y-you had... Was that _*cough*_ a fighting style?"

Enso nodded, "Yes, that style was called the 'Brute style', or just 'Brute'."

_"Well... I think I know why it's called the Brute style..."_ Izuku thought as he continued to cough.

"I use a variation of wrestling, boxing, and other power-based martial arts in order to overpower and grab my opponents using brute strength, taking attacks from them and dealing even stronger blows back. That's my Brute Style."

By now, Izuku was recovering from the devastating punch and slowly wobbled to his feet, with Enso standing back up as well.

"But... Wh-Where do your powers come into play?" Izuku asked him.

Enso raised his right arm up and a white aura formed around it. "Feel it."

"Eh? Okay." Izuku let out one more cough before reaching over and feeling Enso's aura-covered arm. His eyes then lit up in surprise. "It feels hard?"

Enso nodded. "Yes, it is. I focus my energy around my body in an aura, as you saw. But what I do with this aura is harden it to act as a barrier, or shield, for my body to be able to withstand many attacks."

"You only use this barrier to protect yourself?" Izuku asked curiously as he let go of Enso's arm.

"Not exactly, the style overall is like a tank, being able to take attacks while dealing back stronger ones. If I focus more energy into certain parts of my body, my fists or feet for example, then I can add even more power into my physical attacks."

Izuku looked up and pictured it, "Ah, I see! So it's a little like One For All in the way that you can power your physical attacks up. But I focus my power _within_ my body rather than _around_ it."

_"And since my aura also acts as a shield, there's a limit on how much force it can take, wherein Izuku's case, One For All just depends on how much Izuku's body can handle." _Enso thought, but didn't say.

Izuku put a hand on his chin and looked down in thought, "So you can focus more energy onto certain parts of your body for stronger attacks and better defense?"

Enso lifted up his arm, "Technically speaking, yes. But I don't normally focus my energy around specific parts of my body. I usually focus it around my entire body for overall protection."

"Around... your entire body?" Izuku repeated, feeling something unique about that statement.

"Of course. After all, it's better to have overall protection around my body than just focusing energy to only specific parts while leaving others vulnerable-"

Izuku's eyes widened, "THAT'S IT!"

He was then punched on the cheek, ended up knocked onto the floor with a thump.

"Ack! What was that for!?" Izuku asked, rubbing his cheek as he got back up.

"Don't suddenly scream in my ears."

"I-I'm sorry, but I just realized something!" Izuku recollected himself.

Enso saw the look of realization in Izuku's eyes, piquing his curiosity, "Oh? What is it?"

"You said that rather than focus your energy around just certain parts of your body, instead, you focus it all around your body, right?!"

"Indeed I did."

"Then what if I did the same with One For All!?"

Enso's eyebrows were raised, "I see... Why didn't we think of that before? Instead of trying to have you use One For All in one part of your body, you should've been trying to course it through the entirety of it from the start."

Izuku raised both of his hands in front of himself and clenched them into fists, "It might've been for just two weeks, but during those two weeks, I've been trying to learn how to 'use' One For All without breaking specific parts of my body. I kept picturing an egg heating up so it wouldn't explode, but now I have a new mental image!" he grinned.

"So instead of trying to keep an egg in a microwave from exploding, now it's more like a lemon-asparagus chicken pasta that you cook in a pan by equally distributing the heat so that no part is burnt and everything cooks evenly?"

"Why is your example so specific!?" A baffled Izuku asked.

"No reason."

Izuku sighed before moving back to his realization and pumping his fists near his sides. "Anyway, if what I'm thinking is true, then..." he slightly bent his knees and took a deep breath as he focused.

Enso lifted his head up in curiosity as he watched Izuku's body begin to light up, starting from his feet, all the way up to his head. Green electricity emitted him and bold red veins were outlined along his whole body this time.

"I should've turned on the switch throughout my entire body from the very beginning!" Izuku yelled in satisfaction.

_"He really is a smart kid..." _Enso thought as he watched the scene of power begin to grow in front of him.

_"The heat is no longer in just one area... It's going through my entire body!" _Izuku thought excitedly.

"You do look a little stiff right now, could you even move in that form while maintaining your power?" Enso called out to him.

"Nngh!" Izuku grunted out, "I... I don't really know!"

"Then..." Enso slightly separated his legs and moved his arms in front of himself in another fighting stance.

"Shall we find out?"

Izuku took one big step forward, his legs partially shaking as he did so, but still grinning happily.

"Yes sir!"

Izuku then blasted forward at accelerated speeds, basically diving at Enso with his fist forward.

Enso stepped to the side, letting the boy fly right past him and crash into the wall.

"Ack!" Izuku basically bounced off the wall and the glowing skin faded as he fell onto the ground with a thud.

Enso walked over and crouched down to the boy. "Well, you definitely moved faster. But you clearly don't have a good grip on that speed. You'll have to practice more with it."

Izuku stood back up and rubbed the back of his head, "Ouch..."

"Keep trying." Enso told him.

Izuku violently shook his head and regained his composure, then getting into a fighting position once again. He charged up once more, taking yet another deep breath.

"One For All... Full Cowling!"

_"Full Cowling?" _Enso repeated. "Hm, interesting." He slightly bent his knees and got into another fighting stance.

"Show me what you can really do Izuku."

~{Meanwhile}~

"_*Sigh*_ That Midoirya... I can't believe he somehow dropped his phone at the school."

Toshinori was walking on the neighborhood street, heading towards Enso's dojo where he knew Izuku was currently training.

"The U.A exam is coming up soon... I'm actually worried if Midoriya will be able to learn how to use One For All effectively by then..." he muttered to himself. He saw Enso's dojo in the distance and quickened his walking speed, then getting to the front of the building.

_"It still looks so worn down from the outside..."_

Toshinori went up the steps of Enso's place, going up and reaching for the doorknob when-

*CRASH!* *BAM!*

"Huh!?" Toshinori was taken aback by the sudden loud noises that he heard coming from inside.

"What in blazes?" He grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, rushing inside to see what was happening.

But then he stopped at the sight in front of him.

Izuku was dashing across the room, green electricity coming off of him as he moved in faster speeds than Toshinori had ever seen him move before.

Enso was standing in the middle of the room, hands and feet positioned defensively. He didn't make any counterattacks against Izuku nor did he use any powers, because for now, he was still examining Izuku's new growth and letting him get adjusted to his new speed.

However, at one point, Izuku stopped right in front of Enso, thrusting his palm forward at an attempt to slam it into his chest, yelling "Smaaaaash!"

Enso jumped to the side and avoided the attack, noticing that even though Izuku missed, he still created gusts of winds in the directed he thrusted his arm in.

_"He clearly has more force in his attacks in addition to his gained speed..."_

Izuku immediately attempted another attack by swinging his other arm at Enso, his hand clenched into a fist with the intent of slamming his face.

"You have too many openings." As Enso said this, he sidestepped, and let Izuku's fist go past him, then grabbing his arm with both of his hands and forcing him up into the air.

"Ah!" Izukus's eyes widened as he was yanked upward and flung over Enso towards the wall at high speeds. _"Gotta break the impact!"_

Izuku managed to point the bottom of his feet at the wall, to which he then used to land on it. _"Focus power in my jumps so that I could counterattack just as fast!"_

Izuku then pushed his feet to jump off the wall and back at Enso, not losing any previous speed and reaching his arms out to tackle him.

Enso avoided Izuku by flexibly leaning back and letting him fly over him. _"He needs more speed..."_

Izuku landed on his feet, slightly sliding on the ground. _"I have to understand how much my body can take!"_ He then dashed towards Enso once more, _"One For All... 5%!"_

Izuku's speed slightly increased, but then he immediately felt a small pain in his leg, causing him to slightly stumble. "Urk!"

Enso squinted his eyes as he noticed the pain Izuku had, but then he swung his palm onto Izuku's chest as he neared him, launching the boy back.

"Gah!" Izuku was knocked off his feet and was sent back until his back slammed into the wall once more. The instance he bounced off of it, Enso suddenly appeared next to him and grabbed Izuku by the arm, then pulling the boy over him and slamming him onto the ground.

Izuku started coughing in some pain as Enso slightly leaned down to him.

"So, what happened right there?"

Izuku's vision was slightly blurry, "Nngh... I think I reached the maximum power my body could take without hurting myself..."

"And how much was that exactly?"

"Well, I tried going exactly five percent and that's when I felt some stinging in my legs... I couldn't even handle that much?" he said in a self-disappointed tone.

"But it makes sense that you could barely handle that much. You've not only had One For All for not even a month, but you've also only _just_ now learned to use it without blowing up your limbs." Enso said pulling the boy back to his feet, "Still, not bad for your first time _actually_ using it."

"Oh my... Oh my... **GOODNESS!" **

Izuku and Enso turned to the door to see All Might standing tall and laughing in high spirits as he clapped in applause for Izuku.

**"Amazing young Midoirya! To think that right after we parted ways you were able to get a hold on using One For All! You really are growing quickly!" **He said as he walked over towards the two.

"A-All Might!? What are you doing here!?" Izuku uttered out.

**"Oh, you left this." **All Might said as he lifted his hand up to show Izuku's phone.

"Ah, my phone?!"

"How did you even drop it without noticing until now?" Enso asked him.

"Beats me..." Izuku shrugged, receiving his phone from All Might. "Th-Thank you All Might."

**"No problem at all Midoriya! But more importantly, you were finally able to use One For All without breaking any limbs! **

"Y-Yes! It was thanks to Enso's own fighting style that I learned to course One For All throughout my entire body rather than just one part of it!"

**"Oh? Young Enso's fighting style? **All Might asked in curiosity.

"It's a form of mine where I focus energy around my entire body to act as a shield. That gave Izuku the idea to try the same thing with One For All, but focus his power within his entire body rather than just around it like I do."

**"Intriguing. I'm curious to see this 'style' of yours. Perhaps you could use it while helping Midoirya improve how much percentage of One For All his body can take? From what I heard, he can't even use five percent yet."**

"Of course." Enso took a few steps back, before positioning his arms in front of his face and manifesting his white aura and eyes. "Brute."

**"Excuse me, what did you call me?" **All Might asked, wondering if he heard him right.

"Th-That's just the name of his fighting form!" Izuku let him know.

**"Ah, I see!..." **he said as he pointed a finger up, but then he leaned over to Izuku and whispered in his ear, ** "But why 'brute'?"**

"You'll see..." Izuku said as a blue color went over him in worry.

"Well, come on then." Enso called to Izuku.

Izuku turned to Enso and got into a fighting stance of his own, skin glowing and green electricity appearing. _"Full Cowling!"_

All Might stepped back to watch the spectacle.

Izuku bolted forward and swung his fist, "Detroit Smash!"

Enso raised his hand and caught Izuku's punch right in his palm, a strong gust of wind blowing behind him from the small shockwave Izuku's punch did.

_"Of course it isn't that strong with just that small amount of power..." _

Seeing that Enso caught his first attack, Izuku swung his other fist forward.

This time, Enso lifted his forearm up and used it to block Izuku's punch, another small gust of wind blowing behind him from the collision.

_"He looks completely unaffected!" _Izuku thought in shock.

Enso leaned his head back and thrust it forward, slamming it right into Izuku's forehead.

Izuku fell on his back with both of his hands holding his forehead. "Ow, ow, ow..."

"You definitely do need to raise your limit, that's for sure." Enso told him.

Izuku immediately stumbled back to his feet, still looking determined as ever despite a comedic red bump visible on the middle of his forehead. "Yes, sir!"

**_"What a puzzling ability from Enso... I wonder how much pressure that barrier of his can take." _**All Might wondered with a hand on his chin.

"Things are gonna be much tougher from now on since you're able to use One For All effectively now. I'll be sure to train you with a bigger scale of power to help you grow." He then glanced over at All Might, "You will be helping as well right?"

All Might flexed his muscles and laughed proudly, **"Well of course! This will be to ensure Midoriya's strength increases! Are you up for it young Midoirya?"**

Izuku grinned as One For All coursed through his body again, "Of course!"

All Might slightly raised his head, revealing glowing blue eyes staring menacingly. **"Let's begin shall we?"**

"Good luck not dying, I'm gonna make lunch." Enso waved as he turned his back to Izuku and went to the stairs.

"Eh? Not dying- GAH!" Izuku was interrupted as All Might's fist hit his chest and launched him to the wall, bouncing off it and faceplanting onto the ground with a thud.

**"Now, now, Midoirya! You should pay attention! Villains won't wait to attack after all!" **All Might grinned.

_"Why do I always get bounced off the wall?" _Izuku thought as his soul left his comedically white body.

* * *

~{A few weeks later}~

Momo Yaoyorozu calmly walked through the Musutafu shopping district looking for any high-fat foods to help her apply her creation quirk to the fullest. Her beautiful onyx eyes scanned the district's many stores as she slightly adjusting her spiky ponytail with her right hand. She was currently wearing a school uniform from her junior high as she had just finished school for the day and had decided to stop by the mall out of the excitement of shopping. Sadly she didn't have anyone else to go with as everyone she knew was currently busy, but by now she had already finished shopping. She looked down into the large bag she was holding and looked through all of the items in it.

_"I suppose I should be heading back." _She thought in satisfaction as she closed her bag, all the while trying to ignore the lecherous gazes of men and boys alike who were examining her very mature figure.

Yaoyorozu could feel her mood slightly go sour from picking up the eyes on her, _"How vexing..."_

She sighed in annoyance but tried not to let it get to her as hurried for the exit of the district. In truth, sometimes shewished that she didn't have her body figure so that she wouldn't have to deal with the eyes of lecherous men and jealous women, but her figure did indeed reflect her mature and caring personality so many adults and fellow students that knew her would take her seriously at least.

She went down some stairs that led her into a nearly empty parking lot that she intended to take as a shortcut to walk home.

_"I don't wish to keep relying on my driver to come pick me up everywhere I go. This time I'll get home myself." _Yaoyorozu thought happily.

Although her family was rather wealthy, Yaoyorozu usually didn't like to use anything she had at her disposal to make things easier for herself, including the use of her quirk. She preferred to take the longer or more complex ways to do things, such as taking trains or walking rather than having a butler drive her everywhere she wanted to go, going out to buy things with actual money rather than use her quirk for anything she needed, or doing her own chores at home rather than having any servants to do it.

She noticed that there weren't any people in the parking lot, making it easier for her to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Like the sounds of footsteps following from behind her.

She stopped in place as she realized that she was being followed. Turning around, she saw a suspicious middle-aged man across from her, wearing a baggy leather jacket that covered most of his upper body along with ripped jeans and worn down sneakers.

Feeling some danger from him, she pointed a finger in his direction. "You there! Stop following me or I'll be forced to report you to the police!" Yaoyorozu yelled, holding her bag close to herself.

The man stopped in place, giving Yaoyorozu an evil grin. "Aw come on little lady, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to go somewhere fun. I promise it'll be worth your time."

"I'm not interested, I have to be heading home." Yaoyorozu answered without any hesitation.

The man then started to walk towards her again, "Now, now, let's not be too hasty. I just wanna have a little chat, I'll even buy you a little something, I insist." he said, eyeing her aggressively.

"I said no! I have to leave!" she snapped back, then turning her back to the man and walking at a quicker pace than before.

"Don't turn your back to me! I'm trying to be nice here and you're treating me like I'm not worth your time?! I'm gonna have to show you how to respect others, you bitch!" As he said that, the man took quicker steps towards Momo, pulling a hand out of his pocket and revealing sharp claws on it.

_"I can't run with how heavy my bag is!" _Yaoyorozu thought as she saw the man heading for her. She stopped walking and put down her bag, then taking on a fighting stance to get ready to combat him._ "Should I use my quirk to make a staff? But then I might get in trouble for using my quirk in public even if it was in self-defense! But if I try to use hand-to-hand combat then I may have a bigger risk of getting injured by his quirk!"_

As Yaoyorozu's thoughts went rampant and the angry man neared her, a sudden eraser went through the air and flew in front of the man, surprising him and prompting him to stop. "Who the fuck?"

Yaoyorozu and the man both turned their heads in the direction the eraser came from, only to find a green-haired, freckled boy wearing a backpack and black school uniform. He was currently staring over at the man with a serious expression on his face.

"Excuse me, but could you leave her alone? It's obvious that she doesn't want to go anywhere with you." There was Izuku, just finishing school and deciding to stop by the mall buy something before his next session with Enso. He was there to buy more notebooks to note hero information down before he spotted the suspicious man following Yaoyorozu into the parking lot. Because of his good nature, of course he followed them out of worry, and how glad he was to do that.

The man growled in Izuku's direction, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm just someone passing by." Izuku responded.

"Then mind your own business then!" The man snapped back.

"But clearly you were about to do something." Izuku responded, squinting his eyes in suspicion towards the man.

"Oh? You wanna play hero do you?" The man grinned. He then dashed in Izuku's direction, his claws reaching for the boy. "Then I'll show you what happens to heroes!"

Izuku remained still as the man came towards him, waiting for him to get close.

Yaoyorozu formed a look of worry, _"Oh no! He might get killed! I have to step in before-" _Yaoyorozu didn't finish that thought as the man had already got too close to Izuku.

Izuku turned his body so that his back faced the man, but tilted his head to the side to easily avoid the obvious attempt the man did at reaching for his face with his claws. Green electricity then appeared around him as he activated One For All, using his hands to then grab the man by the same arm he had attempted to grab Izuku with. He then slightly squatted as he performed a Judo Throw on the man, throwing him over his shoulder and slamming his back onto the ground with a loud thud.

"Ack!" The man had the wind knocked out of him from the force of Izuku's slam, especially since Izuku had used his quirk to perform the throw. Izuku held the man's arm and kept him pinned down with a serious expression, making sure the man couldn't swing his claw.

Yaoyorozu was stunned by what she just saw. What Izuku had just done took a span of about 3 seconds, she had worried that the boy would've gotten hurt, but those thoughts disappeared just now as she saw what he just did. The man didn't move at all on the ground now, his stupid expression clearly showing that he had gotten unconscious.

It was at this point that all the composure Izuku had vanished. Realizing what he did, he began panicking nervously on the spot. "Ah! I-I instinctively used my quirk to take him down! I hope I didn't hurt him too much! Oh, god what do I do now?! It was on self-defense though wasn't it?! But then again I did intervene on my own accord, so wouldn't that mean- mutter, mutter, mutter!"

Yaoyorozu tilted her head curiously at the boy, one moment he seemed like a professional and confident martial arts warrior like from the novels she had read before, then the next, he was muttering a storm and became rather timid in a span of a few seconds.

However, she could help but find his nervousness to be somewhat charming.

Deciding to thank her savior, she walked over to him with a smile. "Thank you for helping me, I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't shown up." she said, slightly bowing in thanks.

Izuku turned to Yaoyorozu, causing himself to feel embarrassed to see someone bow down to him. He flailed his arms in panic, "Y-You don't have to thank me! I j-just did what anyone... should've... done." his words slowly trailed off as he saw the girl he helped stop bowing and stand tall in front of him, shining brightly underneath the parking lot light.

And it was at this moment that Izuku realized that this was the first girl he's talked to in a long time, a beautiful girl at that.

He immediately turned to a shade of red and turned his back to her, hands atop his head as his thoughts went rampant.

_"Th-This is the first time that I've talked with such a beautiful girl! What do I say!? I never talk to many because of Kacchan influencing them to join in with the bullying or avoid me entirely!"_

Yaoyorozu noticed the panic and red color on his face. "Is something wrong? You seem distressed about something. If you're worried about getting in trouble for using your quirk, I can vouch for you that the man had intended to hurt you so it was in self-defense."

Izuku turned to her, still tensed up, "N-No! Th-That's not what I'm w-worried about! I-I just-Well-I mean-!"

"It's alright, take deep breaths. Just speak whatever is on your mind." Yaoyorozu comforted him.

Izuku followed her advice and took deep breaths, closing his eyes as he did so. _"You heard her Izuku, it's not that hard to talk to someone. Just say what's on your mind..." _He then opened his eyes and spoke again.

"I just never really talked to a cute girl before." he said bluntly with no emotion on his face.

Yaoyorozu blinked in surprise.

And Izuku immediately regretted what he said.

His previous nervous state returned, "Ah! I-I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean it like that! Well, I mean I did, b-but- I-um!..." Izuku's eyes shot all over the area, desperately trying to find the right thing to say.

Yaoyorozu was astounded by how fast the boy could talk, but she was more taken aback by how he called her 'cute'. Beautiful, sexy, gorgeous, these were the words that she would occasionally hear from her classmates within her school, with boys occasionally being the ones to use those words as compliments when they tried to confess to her. She usually felt annoyed or even disgusted at times by these compliments by males, mostly because it gave her the idea that they had mainly been paying attention to her looks and body.

But the way Izuku called her cute, it just sounded so pure. There were no signs of any intention of flirting, it was just a sincere compliment from him, even if he only said it as a reason for being so nervous. It was the first time she felt even a little happy hearing such a compliment from a male that wasn't her father or her butlers just being nice.

By now, Izuku had both of his hands covering his steaming face in pure embarrassment, "I-I'm s-sorry..."

Yaoyorozu just giggled at him, "Now, now, I'm not mad. If anything, I'm flattered. But I can tell you're not used to talking to people are you? Or is it just females?"

Izuku lowered his arms and looked down with a sigh, "W-Well... I always felt nervous around people... S-Sorry..."

She smiled, "You don't have to apologize. You saved me after all."

"I-I don't really think I did much. You looked like you could've dealt with him yourself anyways."

_"He's modest too." _Yaoyorozu thought.

"Well, for now, how about we call the police?" Yaoyorozu suggested.

"Ah, I-I guess we should." Izuku meekly said.

It took a few minutes for a police car to show up in the parking lot after Yaoyorozu made the call. When they arrived, two men arrested the man and took a few minutes to ask for Yaoyorozu's and Izuku's statements, before finally leaving back to the police station.

After the police left, Izuku and Yaoyorozu got out of the parking garage together and went outside onto the sidewalk of the city.

"Thank you again for helping me- Oh, we never did introduce ourselves did we?" Yaoyorozu realized.

Izuku blinked in realization, "Ah, we didn't. I-I'm Izuku Midoirya."

Yaoyorozu stuck her hand out with a smile, "I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, It's good to meet you."

Izuku happily took her hand and shook it, "It's good to meet you too Momo."

"Huh!?" Momo was shocked to suddenly hear him call her by her first name so casually, instinctively ending their handshake and pulling her hand back.

It took a moment for Izuku to realized what he had said, then panicking once more, "S-Sorry! I-I was just t-told that constantly addressing someone by their f-first name would h-help develop trust! Th-That idea just sort of stuck in my head and I-I just said your f-first name instinctively because of that!" he said, turning beet red with his eyes looking down once more.

_"He's so innocent!" _Yaoyorozu thought as a tint of red formed in her cheeks. She could practically see puppy-dog ears on Izuku's head by how adorable and innocent he appeared. And the fact that he was shorter than her helped picture that image.

Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself down, but looked rather sad now, "Sorry, I must be bothering you with all of this... I'll just be on my way now."

Before he could even turn around, Yaoyorozu took him by the hand, "You can call me Momo if you wish! And I'll call you Izuku in return!" she unconsciously spoke insistently.

"H-H-Huuuuh!?" Izuku nearly shouted, surprised that she easily agreed to go on the first-name basis despite just meeting.

The now agreed to be named Momo was equally surprised by what she said, _"I didn't think straight! I was just thinking about how innocent he was and went along with his words!"_

Momo released Izuku's hand and cleared her throat, regaining her composure as she put on a more serious expression. "Well, it seems that you would be much more comfortable calling me that..."

_"I wouldn't feel comfortable calling someone I just met by their first name, but I'm sure because of Enso I'll keep doing it unconsciously anyways!" _Izuku thought to himself.

"And I don't oppose of it since I know you don't have any weird intentions." Momo continued.

Izuku then tilted his head with a puzzled look and a comical question mark appearing over his head, "What weird intentions?"

"Nothing! Let's be sure to get along from now on Izuku." Momo quickly said with a smile, trying not to let his innocent mind go in that direction.

Izuku felt some of his nervousness fading and was replaced with a more bubbly feeling, giving Momo a bright smile. "Likewise Momo!"

_"I made a friend!" _Izuku thought happily.

Momo giggled at his bright expression, but then she noticed a group of men grinning over at her from the end of the sidewalk.

"Izuku, I hope you don't mind, but would you care to walk me home right now?"

"Hm?" Izuku saw Momo signaling him with her eyes, so he slightly turned his head and caught a glimpse of the men staring at her. "_I see…"_

He then turned back to Momo and smiled, "Sure! I'll walk you home! Just lead the way!" he said cheerfully.

"Thank you, I feel safer already." Momo said.

"Oh, do you want me to hold your bag? It looks rather heavy." Izuku offered.

Normally, Momo would've said that she could carry it herself, but in truth, she had been carrying her bag for quite a while so her arm was beginning to hurt.

"I would appreciate it, thank you very much."

With that, they both headed off for Momo's home, walking side by side with feelings of delight to have made a new friend. Izuku, in particular, was thrilled to have made his first girlfriend-oops, I mean first female friend. He felt so happy that he was didn't notice the many people staring at him in jealousy.

So he also didn't notice the pair of red eyes staring at him from afar.

No, not Bakugo.

Enso was poking his head out of an alleyway as he watched the two walking away, sighing as he turned off his watch which he had used to locate Izuku.

"Good grief, I was wondering what was taking him so long to come, but it was because he met a girl? I wonder if his good nature made him rush in to save her from someone? I can't think of any other way he would've been able to make good friends with her otherwise. But I guess this works out."

He put his hands in his pockets as he walked deeper into the alleyway blending in perfectly with the shadows when he closed his eyes.

"He's going to need all the connections he can get, let's hope that girl is strong and won't be an inconvenience."

* * *

~{About Twenty Minutes Later}~

Izuku was shaking and sweating nervously during the walk towards Momo's place, for he realized that he was walking with a girl to her house together. It wouldn't really be something to freak out about for most people, but for someone who lacked female interactions for most of his life, it made Izuku shake to think about it, for he didn't know what to say.

Momo noticed Izuku's tense body as they made their way to the start of her neighborhood. Things felt rather awkward for the walk so far, as Momo didn't know what to say and Izuku most likely wouldn't even have the courage to say anything he had on his mind. Deciding to try and encourage the boy to speak, she started a conversation.

"Ahem. So Izuku, what is your quirk? You moved so fast against that man that I was hardly able to tell what you did."

Izuku flinched when she asked him about his quirk, "Oh! U-Um…" he had to choose his words carefully. "M-My quirk is a simple speed and strength enhancing quirk, but I can only use a little less than 5% of my power so far..."

"That wasn't even five percent?" Momo asked in surprise.

"W-Well, I only just recently learned how to actually _use_ my quirk, so I only had a little bit of time so far to practice with it."

Momo looked impressed, "I see, but it's still highly impressive that you were able to move that swiftly in that parking lot with not even five percent of your power."

"Well, the martial arts I do helps with that movement..." At this point, Izuku was feeling less nervous and more curious about Momo's own quirk, "What about you Momo? What kind of quirk do you have?"

Momo flinched to hear her first name, _"This might take a while to get used to..."_

She proudly stood up and cleared her throat, "Well, I can create any non-living items from my exposed skin using the components of my body's fat tissue. As long as I understand the elements of the item I'm creating and I have enough fat cells to make it, then I can create it." Momo replied.

Izuku's eyes widened and sparkled brightly with stars replacing his pupils, "Wow! That's amazing! You could make anything using your quirk!? There's so much versatility and potential to use it in any kind of situation! You could make medical supplies for those in need, make weapons to defend yourself, and just make general everyday objects you need at your convenience!"

Momo was surprised once more by the boy's change in personality, as he went from timid, to rather excited when her quirk was mentioned.

She did have to let him know the entirety of her quirk components, "Actually, the bigger the item, the more time and fat cells are needed to create it, so I can't just create anything too large or too many things at once. I would need to be eating constantly to create them. Plus, I would need to expose more skin to create larger objects, which could lead to... problems." Momo said with a small blush.

Izuku realized what she meant and looked away with a blush of his own, "O-Oh I see…" It took him a moment to recompose himself, before turning back to Momo once more with an impressed smile, "Still, that's an amazing quirk to have! There's so much you can do with it that you can ignore the downsides! You would be an amazing hero!"

Momo blushed again at Izuku's compliment and smiled, "You really think so? Because I'll actually be attending U.A at the start of the school year."

Izuku's smile grew, "You're going to U.A?!" but then his smile turned into a perplexed look, "Wait, what do you mean 'will be attending'? Isn't the exam in just a few more weeks?"

Momo looked rather embarrassed, "Well... I actually got accepted through recommendation so... I don't have to take the practical exam like everyone else..."

"Oh, so I won't be seeing you at the exam then..." Izuku said with a sad tone.

Momo looked rather sad as well because a part of her felt as if she had cheated her way into U.A. She did feel happy when her parents told her that they managed to get her in, but she also felt as if she didn't do anything to prove herself that she could get in. And the many students in her school that commented that she must've used her money or her body to get in didn't help with her confidence.

Her inner thoughts were cut off as Izuku spoke once again, "But that just means that they can tell just how amazing you are! If you got recommended into U.A and they accepted it, then that means they recognize your potential!"

Momo didn't ever think that she would be surprised by the same person so many times in one day, yet Izuku seemed to keep finding every respond to catch her off guard.

After hearing so much negativity from her classmates when she told them how she already got accepted to U.A, Momo expected Izuku to say something similar as they did. That it was unfair that she didn't get to take the exam while others worked hard for it, that it wasn't fair that she was born with an amazing quirk, but instead, Izuku sounded proud that she got accepted and even believed that she was amazing even though he didn't see her skills yet. Her heart felt warm knowing the confidence Izuku had in her and she gave him one of her most bubbly smiles.

"Thank you Izuku... Hearing those words means a lot more to me than you know..." she said in a low tone.

Seeing her smile and hearing her thanks, Izuku began feeling warm himself and slightly turned his head away with a small blush. "N-No problem... I-I just hope I can get into U.A as well."

"You're going to take the exam?" Momo asked him.

"Yes! It's been my dream to attend U.A!" Izuku answered with determination.

Momo giggled, "Well, I wish you the best of luck on your exam. But based on what I've seen you do in that parking lot, I don't think you need luck."

"Thank you! I'll do my best!" Izuku responded proudly.

"Good, sorry to cut our conversation short, but we're here."

Izuku turned his head forward and saw two large iron gates in front of him, with two rectangular stone pillars connecting them. But the iron fences went down the neighboorhood streets in the distance, passing where his eyes could see. Behind the main gate entrance was a concrete path that led into tall trees, obscuring any sight of how her place looked. And behind the long iron fences were also tall, lush trees that helped keep anyone from looking within the vicinity.

Izuku shakingly pointed a finger to the gate and turned to Momo, "U-U-Um... M-Momo? D-Do you own everything b-behind this gate?" Izuku asked with widened eyes and shaking nervously.

"Yes, my family owns this place... My home is just a short walk away inside there. But I don't want you to change my opinion of me! Just treat me like any other friend." Momo quickly asked of him.

"U-Um okay. H-Here is your bag." Izuku said, nervously handing her back her bag.

Momo took it and went to an intercom next to the gate, where she pressed a button, got scanned by something, and made the gate open up automatically for her.

She then turned to Izuku and bowed one last time, "Well Izuku, I guess this is where we part ways. Thank you once again for accompanying me."

Izuku smiled, even if he was still a little nervous, "I-It was no problem Momo! It was nice meeting you and I h-hope we see each other in U.A." With that, he turned away from her and started walking down the road, although a little sad to have said goodbye.

Momo felt equally sad to say goodbye, as she still wished to have at least some more discussions with the broccoli haired boy. She then had a good idea, "Izuku!"

"Hm?" Izuku turned around to see Momo put down her bag and rush over to him.

"Let's exchange contacts! I want to thank you some time for helping me today." Momo said, giving him a bubbly smile with flowers shining around her in hope.

"Oh, y-you don't have to thank me..."

"I insist!"

"O-Okay then!" Izuku immediately answered. He quickly exchanged phone numbers with her.

"Well, I hope you prepare for your exam. I will be expecting to see you in U.A after all." With that, Momo went passed the gates and they closed behind her as she waved Izuku goodbye.

Izuku waved her goodbye and watched as she disappeared down the path, then let out a breath of relief.

_"Man, I felt so nervous... I didn't know she was rich, I don't know if the way I talked to her was too casual or not..."_

He turned and looked down into his phone, appreciating the fourth contact he had ever gotten onto his phone. He only ever had his mother's number, but then he got two more contacts when he met Enso and All Might, and now he's even gotten a girls number.

Izuku then blinked in a realization.

"I got a... girl's number?"

He then began shivering on the spot, "I-I just g-got a g-girl's n-number..."

His head erupted like a volcano. Although he did feel proud of himself for being able to talk to a girl and even get her number, it was still one of the most shocking things for him do.

He then received a text on his phone, making him freeze.

Momo: _Don't be afraid to say hi. There doesn't have to be a reason for you to contact me, we could just talk._

Izuku read the text and smiled, his previous worries being shut away now. He responded back to her:

Izuku: _I'll be sure to do that._

He then looked up into the bright blue sky, smiling in a calm bliss.

_"Seems like things are really looking up for me... I hope I make more friends."_

His eyes then nearly bulged out of his sockets as he realized something, "AH! I FORGOT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOING TO ENSO'S! HE'S GONNA KILL ME! (Hopefully not literally)"

Izuku then blasted down the streets, leaving behind a large trail of dust in the progress.

When Momo got into her room, she laid atop of her enormous bed, smiling as she held her phone above her and admired the text Izuku had sent back to her.

"I hope he passes his exam..."


	6. Commencement Of The Examination

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

For the remaining month he had to prepare, Izuku continued to train with One For All, using the assistance of All Might and Enso to get a better hold of using his quirk. Each day, after school, he would immediately run all the way to Enso's living quarters, honing his skills and finding all sorts of new ways he could use One For All with either of his teachers. As the exam grew closer, Izuku learned much more about how to use his quirk. He learned how to jump from wall to wall swiftly to travel upward, he learned how to use his finger for flicking shockwaves that created strong gusts of winds, and overall learned to adjust to his speed and move better using Full Cowling.

When Enso trained Izuku, he would constantly use the same Brute Style in order to take Izuku's attacks and see how much power he was putting into them, while also dealing attacks back to the boy to see if he could dodge better with One For All's speed.

By now, Izuku had been using One For All enough to slightly grow his maximum limit his body could take without feeling any form of pain. Now, instead of feeling pain just below 5% of his power, Izuku felt fine using _exactly_ 5%, any more would sting him.

On whatever free time he had that didn't involve training or his hobbies, Izuku would occasionally text Momo just to talk. At first, he was completely terrified at the thought of texting her, as it would be the first time that he ever texted a girl. But soon, he managed to be the one to deliver the first message to the girl in a form of a stuttering hello, (to which Momo was utterly confused as to how or why the boy stuttered in a text).

As time went on, Izuku began getting more and more comfortable texting Momo, finding many things that they could converse over. Their conversations would go from talking about heroes, asking how they think U.A would be like, to even what hobbies they had (to which Izuku would mumble a storm about the heroes he analyzes in his notebooks.)

However, after what felt like so long, it was finally the day of the entrance exam. The day Izuku had been preparing so long to prove himself in.

It was 6:30 in the morning, the sun was just barely rising from the horizon, but Izuku got up bright and early completely filled with excitement. The exam was in about two hours so he didn't have to get up as early as he did, but the anticipation was killing him.

He then heard his phone vibrate, piquing the boy's interest.

_"Is it Momo wishing me good luck? I didn't think she would get up early, especially if it's just to wish me good luck."_

When Izuku checked the message he received, he found that it was actually All Might that texted him, asking for him and Enso to arrive at the beach as soon as possible. Izuku quickly put on a white t-shirt and green shorts before heading out to the beach to meet up with them. Once arriving at the beach, he saw both of their silhouettes in front of the sun, making him smile.

"All Might! Enso" he shouted excitingly.

Enso and All Might both turned around to see Izuku running towards them.

All Might started laughing as he waved his hand to him, **"Good Morning young Midoriya! The entrance exam is today! How are you feeling?" **All Might asked.

"I'm feeling great All Might! I feel really pumped!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Well, stressing over the exam wouldn't have done you any good." Enso said.

"Good morning to you too Enso..." Izuku sighed.

All Might started laughing, **"So outstanding! It seemed like it was just yesterday that I gave you One For All! You've come so far now!"**

"I don't think a year is too long considering how much more he has to improve..." Enso muttered.

"Don't ruin the moment!" Izuku snapped.

All Might then cleared his throat, getting both of their attention, **"Now, I know I asked the two of here out here early, but first off, I want to wish the both of you the best of luck on your exam!"**

"Both of us?" Izuku turned to Enso and blinked in realization, "Oh yeah, that's right! Enso is going to take the exam with me." Izuku remembered.

"Yes, because a certain rodent is making me..." Enso sighed.

* * *

Nezu's paw suddenly crushed his teacup into pieces, surprising the many staff around him in the observation room they were getting ready to watch the students in.

"U-Um... Is everything alright Nezu?" Cementoss, a humanoid cement pro hero, asked him with nervous eyes as the tea from his broken cup spilled onto the ground.

Nezu glanced down at his cup, then looking over at Cementoss. "Oh, silly me. Everything is fine Cementoss! But I think someone just called me something they shouldn't have." Nezu responded with a happy smile. Despite his cheerful-looking mood, there was a purple menacing aura around him.

The other staff sweatdropped as the kept their distance from the principal.

* * *

**_"It's probably not a good idea to call him a rodent..." _**All Might thought nervously.

**"Ahem, but anyway young Enso and Midoirya, I also called you out here to give you advice on the exam!"**

"Won't that technically be cheating? What will Nezu think?" Enso asked as he raised an eyebrow.

**"N-Not at all! I won't be giving you any information about the exam itself!" **All Might quickly stated.

"Then what do you want us to know?" Izuku asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

**"Well, as you know, the staff will be grading you thoroughly, so be careful about what actions you take and give them your Plus Ultra performance!"**

_"Could it be that specific actions could earn or make us lose points depending on if what we do is heroic or not?" _Enso analyzed.

"Thank you for the warning All Might! I'll do my best!" Izuku grinned.

**"Good! Then I must be on my way now!"**

"Wait, that's all you called us for so early in the morning?" Enso asked him.

All Might didn't even answer him, he just blasted away with sand erupting from where he was before, laughing heroically in the distance.

"That idiot, he should know not to call us out for something he can say on the phone." Enso said.

"Maybe he just wanted to make sure we actually get up early enough for the exam?" Izuku speculated.

"I doubt it." Enso responded with no hesitation.

"You really have no faith in him at all do you?..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"Just a little."

Izuku rubbed the back of his own head with a sigh of disappointment, "I guess I'll just go back home and take a light shower before heading to U.A."

"You do that. I'll wait at my place and will start heading over when I know that you're on your way."

Izuku eyed him suspiciously. "Um... How will you know when I do start heading over there exactly?"

"I have your location monitored on my watch. I can find out where you are anytime, anywhere... Within a certain radius that is." Enso said as he held up his arm to show his watch.

"Wait a minute! That's creepy!" Izuku shouted.

But Enso simply bolted away.

* * *

~{An Hour Later}~

Izuku wore his current junior high uniform proudly and took a deep breath as he walked with his head down, preparing mentally for the practical exam he would be taking. When he looked up, he found himself in awe at the gigantic gates of U.A, also watching many students walking passed him inside. He admired the huge campus, feeling happy to know that he had the power to be able to take this exam and felt confident that he would pass.

He then felt a vibration from his phone.

"Hm? Is it mom wishing me good luck... again?" Izuku wondered as he pulled out his phone and checked his messages

He was surprised to find that Momo had sent him a message.

Momo: _Good luck on your practical exam today Izuku. Do your best and be sure to pass with flying colors. Let me know how you did!_

Izuku heartwarmingly smiled as he responded:

Izuku: _Thank you Momo, I'll do my best._

Izuku put away his phone and stood tall, a determined smile showing on his face.

But then he heard an angry voice behind him.

"Fucking Deku..."

_"EEP!" _Izuku flinched and turned around to see Bakugo standing there with a scowl on his face.

The explosive teen walked passed by the boy, not saying anything else until he was a few steps ahead of him, to which he then looked back with a glare, "Despite everything I've said, you still decided to come? Do you really think that a quirkless nerd like you could ever attend U.A? If I see you doing the exam, then I'll just kill you myself and be done with it."

As Bakugo walked away, Izuku couldn't help but sigh. He never did tell any of his previous classmates that he had obtained a quirk, as Enso and All Might both had suggested him not to tell anyone about it. They both didn't want to risk that his classmates would pry too much about what kind of quirk Izuku had, thinking that there might be the chance that someone would compare him to All Might and connect the dots.

_"I guess Kacchan will never change…" _Izuku sighed in sadness. But then he shook his head side to side to get those depressing thoughts out of his head. _"No Izuku! Don't be down right now! Today is a special day! Today's the day you prove to everyone that you deserve to be in U.A!" _He thought as he straightened his back to stand tall and proud.

He only took a step forward before Izuku noticed something at the corner of his eye. There was a girl shorter than him with brown shoulder-length hair, two long bangs beside her face, and big round brown eyes. She had a nervous expression on her face, most likely from the fact that they were all about to take the U.A exam, even fanning her face with her hands and taking deep breaths.

Izuku realized that he was staring at her for too long and looked away, blushing a little at how cute she was.

"Ah!" The girl tripped on a crack on the ground and nearly fell over.

Out of reflexes Izuku reached his hand out and grabbed the girl by her arm, pulling her back up and towards him before she could fall to the ground. However, he pulled a little too hard which caused the girl to lean against Izuku as he caught her in his arms. The girl looked up at Izuku, her cute big brown eyes staring up at his bright green eyes, both staring curiously at each other.

That is, until they both realized the position they were in and the stares they were getting from others, causing them both to heavily blush as they separated from one another.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry!" Izuku shouted as he stepped back and bowed down apologetically to the girl.

The brown hair girl also blushed, replying: "D-Don't be! You saved me from falling down! I was so nervous that I wasn't paying any attention to where I was walking!"

Izuku stood up straight and calmed down a little. "W-Well, it makes sense that you're nervous. W-We will be taking the exam after all, but I suggest that you don't worry about how you'll do, because then it might definitely affect how you do."

The girl nodded, "Yeah, I guess I am a little too worried. We should get going before we're late, nice talking with you and thank you again!" The girl then hurried off towards the entrance of the building, leaving Izuku shaking.

_"Sh-She was so cute!" _He thought as he made a slightly puffed up face.

He was then thwacked behind the head. "Gah! Who in the world-!?" he turned around to see Enso there. "That wasn't necessary!"

"Well you were making a stupid expression, so I found it necessary." Enso said as he crossed his arms.

Izuku then noticed that Enso was wearing his business suit, but didn't have a bag nor backpack with him.

"Wait, what are you gonna change in for the exam?" Izuku asked him.

"I'm wearing it." Enso responded as he walked passed.

"You're gonna fight that suit!?"

"I see no problem with it. After all..." Enso put a thumbs up, despite still having his emotionless poker face. "There's no problem with fighting with style."

"I see a huge problem with what you're wearing now though! Your gonna bring attention to yourself in the exam!"

"You're bringing more attention right now by yelling so much."

Izuku blinked and realized that people were eyeing him weirdly, prompting him to grab Enso by the wrist and drag him into the building.

"You really are odd." Enso commented as they went inside.

"You're the _last_ person I wanna hear that from!"

* * *

~{Five Minutes Later}~

Izuku sighed as he parted ways from Enso within the amphitheater, going to find his assigned seat that the school gives to organize students by schools or groups. However, when he neared his seat, he froze for a moment, seeing that his spot was an empty seat right next to Bakugo.

_"Oh for the love of god!"_

Izuku gave up on any hope of peace and sat down right next to the ticking time bomb, receiving a small glare from his bully, but no words with it. A pro hero Izuku recognized for his signature long blonde hair spike upward, Present Mic, walked up to the podium with a grin on his face.

"WELCOME ONE AND ALL HERE TODAY! EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEY!" he yelled, cupping his ear with a hand toward the audience, only to receive no cheers back.

Present Mic just smiled as he pointed finger guns to them, quieting down a little. "Ooo! Tough crowd! Don't worry, I'm just as nervous as you all are!" He then pressed a button on a remote in his hand and large screens appeared around the room, displaying a city of some sort.

"Alright! So we'll be testing out your style through a ten-minute practice run at our replica city-district! Take anything you want and gather at your designated areas after the presentation! Ya dig!?"

Izuku down at his paper to see what area he would be going in, but then caught sight of Bakugo also looking down at Izuku's paper, discovering that they were assigned to different locations.

"Tsk! They don't intend on letting friends or classmates help each other huh? Its probably so I don't kill you." Bakugo muttered.

_"Please don't say that so casually in a room full of students..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

Izuku glanced around the room and found a signature pair of emotionless red eyes all the way across from him. Enso was looking unamused by Present Mic's performance and noticed Izuku's eyes looking directly at him as well. Izuku smiled and waved over at him, but Enso pointed to Present Mic as if telling him to pay attention, to which Izuku nodded. Bakugo caught sight of this and looked over at Enso, his eyes glaring at the suspicious male.

_"Hmph, so this fucking nerd actually has a friend?" _He then noticed the over the top business suit _ What the fuck is up with that guy anyway?" _He thought, examining Enso's red eyes.

A dark-blue haired kid with glasses and engines in his legs also caught sight of the signals Enso and Izuku sent to each other, _"That person with red eyes signaled the green-eyed teen by pointing over at Present Mic... Don't tell me they're planning to do something to him during the exam!? No, don't judge them so soon, I'm jumping to assumptions!" _He glanced back at Izuku, _"But I may still have to keep a watchful eye..."_

It didn't take long for Present Mic to explain what the rest of the exam consisted of. The student's main goal was to obtain as many points as possible by destroying different point-valued robots within the district, they weren't allowed to interfere or attack other students, and near the end, Present Mic warned everyone about a zero-point robot that would emerge within the city as an obstacle to interfere with the students, so he suggested that they avoid encountering it.

Soon, Izuku was standing in his green tracksuit just outside of the city-replica he was assigned in. He glanced around at all types of students doing stretches, talking to one another, or just trying to calm their minds.

_"There's a lot of people here... I wonder what kind of people Enso is around in his designated area."_

"We're in the same area." someone said from behind him.

"GAH!" Izuku jumped up in shock and turned around to see Enso standing there, wearing his suit like he said he would for the exam.

"Wh-What are you doing here!? Weren't they supposed to separate people that know each other!?" Izuku asked in confusion.

"But the teachers don't know that we know each other. There's nothing information wise that would give a hint that we know each other. This is all luck." Enso answered.

"B-But Nezu should know!"

"Perhaps he purposely placed us together to see if we compete?"

Izuku sighed and gave up trying to understand the situation. He looked around once more and actually caught sight of the brown hair girl he met earlier, who was still looking worried but taking deep breaths.

Enso looked over his shoulder, "Someone you like?"

Izuku flinched and turned to him, "N-No! It was just someone I helped when arriving for the exam!"

"What's her name?"

"Eh? I-I don't know..."

"Then why not go ask her?"

"I-I was about to before you sneaked up behind me!"

"..." Enso tilted his head with a random question mark appearing on his head, "Sneaked up on?"

"Oh never mind..."

Izuku felt slightly irritated by Enso, but put on a smile as he brought his attention to the girl and started walking over to her.

However, someone tall stepped in front of his path, blocking him. Izuku was taken aback to see a tall boy with dark-blue hair and glasses staring down at him. His calves contained the shape of automobile engines and he was rather well built as well, but the way he was looking down at Izuku was with an uncomfortable look of suspicion.

"You..."

"Y-Yes?" Izuku winced.

The strict boy crossed his arms, "You and that red-eyed student have been causing quite a ruckus at the entrance and are also causing a commotion right now. I saw you two communicating with actions within the theater and now I see you walking up to that girl over there. You're not planning to interfere with her and others during the exam are you?"

Izuku was a little intimidated by the engine teen's tall figure and serious personality, but he tried his best to answer him. "N-No! What gave you that idea!? That guy and I are friends alright? And I'm only trying to wish that girl good luck on the exam!"

"We haven't even officially met and you're already acting on suspicion towards us? How foolish." Enso said, appearing behind Izuku and looking up at the male.

The boy squinted his eyes, "Nani?"

Izuku flailed his arms, "E-Enso! D-Don't be rude-!"

"START!" a sudden yell echoed down at the students.

The doors of the city district replica suddenly opened, leaving many people confused and dumbfounded.

Present Mic was in a tower grinning down at the student's, "What?! You think there's ever a timer for heroes!? At least one of you had the right idea!"

Hearing him say 'at least one of you', Izuku shifted his attention to the now open doors of the replica city and saw Enso naruto running in towards the robots.

"He left me behind!" Izuku yelled with comedically bulging eyes. He then activated One For All and blasting after him, leaving everyone else behind. The engine boy was taken aback by Izuku's sudden green electricity and speed, but It didn't take long for him and the other students to rush in after.

Even if Izuku only mastered 5% of One For All, he still moved at a remarkable speed and was significantly stronger than before. Seeing Enso going down a straight path, Izuku decided to take a path to the right as he knew that if he followed him, then he would only find the remains of robots and no points.

Being one of the first people to run in, Izuku came upon a bunch of robots moving all over the place. He ran to the closest robot he saw, which was a 1-pointer, and drop-kicked it right on its chest, causing it to be blown away and crash into another 1-pointer for two points.

_"They aren't that hard to break or toss around! Using 5% is more than enough for me!"_

Izuku landed on his feet and then immediately jumped towards another 1-pointer and landed right on top of it, using his weight and pushing down his feet to crush it underneath himself. Hearing something wring through the sky, he looked up to see two 3-pointers firing missiles at him from the top of a building.

_"Hold on, missiles!? Whose idea was this!?"_

Nezu sneezed in the observation room once again.

Izuku noted four missiles coming down at him, but instead of trying to dodge them, he timed their speed and waited. Once they got close enough, he jumped towards them and used one a missile as a stepping stone to jump off, then jumping from one missile to another in order to reach the 3-pointer robots at the top of the building.

Izuku clenched his fist as he neared them, "Detroit smash!" As he yelled that, he swung his fist forward and completely punched through the body one of the 3-pointers, his arm stuck inside of it. But then he used it to his advantage by dragging his arm to the right to smash apart the robot on his arm onto the other 3-pointer beside him.

_"This is easy!"_

Izuku then ran to the edge of the building and leaped to the building across from him. There was another 3-pointer already aiming at him on that building before Izuku came soaring down and crushed its head with his fist.

He pulled his arm out of the robot and grinned, _"12 points already, not bad, but I could do better." _From there, Izuku continued to smash robots left and right, rushing through the city and trying to find the areas with more robots and fewer people.

Izuku jumped from building to building in search for more robots, before suddenly seeing about a dozen small explosions in the distance.

_"Whoa! What was that?"_ Izuku jumped to the side of a building and then jumped to the ground, rolling to break his fall before standing up straight.

There he found over a dozen destroyed robots laying on the ground in pieces, with a lack of other students around. "_I guess the others have already been here, oh well. I have more than enough points already... I hope..."_

"Yo."

"GAH!" Izuku jumped from the voice behind him and turned around to see Enso holding a 3-pointer's head in his hand.

"Stop doing that!" Izuku snapped.

"Doing what?"

"Appearing behind me out of nowhere!"

"I don't know what you mean." Enso said as he tilted his head with a question mark appearing over him.

"Arrgh! You-! Nevermind..." Izuku gave up. "Well, it looks like everybody's already been here."

"No one else came here yet, it was just me." Enso corrected him.

"EEEEH!?" Izuku shouted as he looked around at the dozens of robots scattered, "You did all of this?!"

"I don't see why you find it that surprising, they're robots after all- Oh, heads up."

Izuku reacted to his warning by doing a backflip high in the air, narrowly avoiding five missiles that came from behind him. However, since their target moved out of the way, the missiles kept going to Enso.

Enso didn't move out of the way, but he raised his forearms up in front of him to shield him.

"Brute" His white aura emerged as the missiles all hit him, exploding right on his forearms and creating large clouds of smoke.

Upon landing on the ground, Izuku turned to the two 3-point robots down the street that had fired their missiles at him, raising his arms and positioning his fingers into a flicking position.

"Delaware Smash!" He flicked his finger and sent a shockwave powerful enough to send the robots tumbling right into a building, smashing into pieces.

He then turned back and saw a big cloud of smoke where Enso was just standing, "Enso! Are you alrigh-!?"

Izuku was cut off as a sudden gust of wind blew away the smoke to reveal Enso completely fine, having used his Brute Style to take the missiles without getting dealt any damage.

"The missiles aren't that powerful. At least they were being a _little considerate._"

_"Well, that's good to know." _Izuku thought.

"We've wasted enough time here. I suggest you rack up more points, I won't accept it if you don't end up in second place behind me." And with that, Enso dashed away and took a left on the street, getting out of sight from Izuku.

_"Hold on, does he think he'll end up first?"_ Izuku got into a running position and bolted down the street with streaks of lightning emitting from him as he ran. "That's what he thinks! I gotta get more points!"

* * *

~{In The Observation Room}~

The U.A staff examined the variety of students showing off their skills and powers as they demolished robots left and right, keeping track of many students on the television screens.

Nezu grinned as he leaned back in his chair and watched the students with a peaked interest. "This year's students look quite promising, don't they Toshinori? Your 'student' and 'accomplice' specifically are doing rather well."

Toshinori watched beside him as Enso was on the screen in his Brute style, shooting rather large energy balls out of his hands towards robots on top of the buildings.

_"This is the first I've seen him shoot out energy orbs... I guess the 'brute strength' of his technique also applies his energy into the form of larger and more destructive blasts..."_

Toshinori then glanced over at Izuku throwing a robot onto another larger robot with a satisfied smile.

"But now their _true_ test is here." Nezu grinned evilly, pressing a big red button in front of him.

Toshinori shook, "Y-You didn't just send that _thing_ did you!?"

"Of course I did!" Nezu laughed maniacally.

"Oh, lord... Good luck Midoirya..." Toshinori muttered.

* * *

~{Back to Izuku}~

By this time, Izuku had already made 65 points and felt overly excited as he landed onto another street with other students smashing robots.

_"Wow! There are so many people with different quirks! I wish I could write all of them down!"_

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, making Izuku wobble for a moment before looking back to see a robot bigger than any of the other robots of the exam. It wasn't just big, it was _massive_, even taller than any of the buildings in the vicinity. It marched through the street, destroying any buildings it grazed by while looking down threateningly to the students. Upon seeing such a monstrosity, nearly all of the students all ran away in panic, not daring to face the robot.

_"What the hell!? That thing is huge! Is that the obstacle that Present Mic told us about!? What was U.A thinking?! Putting something like that near so many students!? I better run away before-!" _

Izuku's thoughts immediately froze. His eyes widened in terror and his mouth became agape as he saw someone within the robot's path, trapped underneath some large amount of rubble.

It was the same brown-haired girl he had met, her ankle stuck in the rubble and unable to escape from the robot coming towards her. The world seemed to move slow for Izuku, his eyes watched everything move, noticing all the students running away, not even bothering to try and help.

_"Wh-Why? Why doesn't anyone help out even though they're right there? They… They want to be heroes don't they?" _

Izuku wondered what he should do, for he knew that his current limit on One For All wouldn't even be close to being able to take down that robot. Not only that, but the robot was already too close to the girl for Izuku to rush in and pull her out of the rubble. He clenched his fists and charged his power, getting into a running stance as the world began to regain its speed.

He knew what he had to do.

_"Full Cowling, 7%!"_ He blasted off even faster than before, feeling some pain in his legs as he slightly went over his limit, but he powered through it.

After running close enough to the girl's position, Izuku leaped onto the side of the building and used it to jump up higher in the air. He landed on some of the falling debris from buildings and used them as platforms, jumping from piece to piece to reach for the robot's head.

_"I've got to punch the robot away, I've got no choice!"_

The girl noticed the green, electric person dash over towards her before jumping up towards the robot, a look of awe formed on her face as she saw him fly through the air above her.

Izuku, now in front of the robot's head, pulled his arm back, _"It's all or nothing! Go 100%!"_

In the observation room, Toshinori grinned hard as he saw Izuku, then shooting up from his chair, "Yes! There it is! The most important qualification for a hero-!" He started, just as Izuku brought his arm forward.

"SMAAAAAAAASSSHHHH!" Izuku's fist collided with the robot, it's head immediately shattering in over a dozen pieces and its body was launched back, completely annihilated.

"-the spirit of self-sacrifice!" Toshinori finished yelling, with the other judges in the room looking dazzled.

"Quite impressing Toshinori." Nezu commented. But then he formed a large grin on his face, "So...How is he gonna land?"

Toshinori turned comedically black and white in shock.

_"HOW AM I GONNA LAND!?"_

Izuku screamed that same question in his head as he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. He didn't even have to look to know that it was completely broken.

_"I can't move in the air! I need something to jump off of if I ever wanna land safely!"_

Izuku frantically scanned the area around him and noticed that there were many parts of the robot he destroyed falling around him.

_"There!"_

He reached out with his unbroken left arm and grabbed onto a big metallic piece, pulling it to himself and doing his best to put his feet on it as he flipped in the air.

_"I don't know what direction I'll be launching myself, but it's better than just letting myself fall!" _Green electricity and an orange glow appeared on him again.

"Full Cowling!"

He kicked himself off the piece of metal and launched himself in a random direction. He flew through the air, spinning off balance before his back hit another piece of falling rubble, causing him to spiral in the air more.

_"Nngh! I can't see where I'm going!" _Izuku thought, head feeling dizzy as he flew in god knows what direction. He didn't know how high he was or where he was sent, he could only hope that he didn't die.

He then felt a pair of arms abruptly catch him. He felt himself in the person's arms as they both fell in the air before he felt that they had finally landed on the ground.

Izuku's vision was blurry for a moment, seeing only two red blurs looking down at him.

"You really are an idiot you know that?"

Izuku blinked and his vision cleared up, now realizing that the two red blurs were Enso's red eyes.

Izuku weakly lifted his left arm up, "I gave it my Plus Ultra..."

"Look out!" someone yelled.

Izuku saw large pieces of the robot still falling down near him and the other students.

"Sorry about this." Enso dropped Izuku, letting him hit the ground.

"GAH!" Izuku shouted as he felt a sharp pain in his right arm when he landed.

"Punk Style." Enso suddenly formed a different colored aura around himself. It was a dark blue color, his eyes then matching that color. He then raised his arms up and opened his palms as the wreckage nearly went down on everyone.

His eyes flashed blue and the aura around his hands and head became denser as he focused. In a moment, similar blue auras formed around all the falling debris, slowing down it's falling speed before entirely stopping within midair.

Everyone looked up in a mixture of fear and bewilderment. Fear from nearly getting crushed underneath the remains of a giant robot, and bewilderment from one person stopping so many objects in place at once. They all glanced over at Enso, who was standing completely focused with his arms up.

Izuku sat up and looked up to Enso, his eyes widening at the blue color around him.

_"This is a different color than his Brute Style... Is this a different one of his fighting styles?" _He glanced at the floating pieces of metal all around. _"Whoa... This is his telekinesis?"_

The blue-haired strict boy that had confronted Izuku before had gone over to the brown-haired girl and helped her from the rubble, both joining in to watch the spectacle of impressive abilities. He glanced over at Enso and Izuku with widened eyes.

_"Just who are they?"_

"Would all of you please hurry up and move away from underneath the debris? Otherwise, you all might have a painful experience." Enso warned them.

Everyone blinked at the realization at what he was saying, then frantically running out of the way as far as they could.

Izuku stood back up to his feet, holding onto his broken arm. "Wow, your telekinesis so amazing!"

"Not for long..." Enso murmured. Izuku then saw Enso's eyes slightly twitching and their blue color beeping from blue to red, almost as if mimicking a warning light.

"Could it be that you can't hold on much longer!?"

"Maybe... Get out of here would you? I can't shield you and myself at the same time..."

"Ah! Y-Yes sir!" Izuku charged One For All and ran down the street, getting out of the area while holding his arm.

Once gone, Enso released his grip on his telekinesis and cross his arms over himself, changing his style to Brute as the rubble fell down over him.

Izuku stopped running and turned around once he heard the crashes of the wreck hit the ground.

"TIMES UP!" shouted Present Mic.

Everyone was already completely still after seeing what happened by the two students, but they all then sighed in relief that nothing else would be coming at them.

"Wait! There is someone underneath that rubble!" The brown-haired girl yelled.

Almost on cue, metal was blasted off a specific spot, where Enso then came out unharmed and brushing himself off.

"That wasn't too bad." he commented as he came down and stretched his arms.

"You almost got crushed!" Izuku shouted to him.

"No chance." Enso immediately responded.

Enso then noticed the looks of nearly all of the other students around.

"It seems that we've caused quite the commotion."

Izuku glanced around at everyone stares, then turning to a shade of red out of embarrassment of being stared at. "W-We might've..."

"Shouldn't you be fixing your arm?" Enso then pointed out.

"R-Right!" Izuku took a step before realizing something else. "_The brown-haired girl! Was she alright?!"_

He looked around and saw her sitting on a piece of a robot by the entrance, getting her ankle treated by Recovery Girl.

_"Good, she's alright." _Izuku glanced down at his arm, _"Better get myself fixed up as well... Actually, instead-"_

He turned to Enso, about to ask him something.

"Don't even think about asking for a bean. You know how much confusion and suspicion we would cause if I just gave you something that miraculously healed you. Recovery Girl is right there, ask her."

Izuku sighed as he walked over to Recovery Girl and the brown-haired girl, careful not to move his arm. The girl then noticed him and saw his limp arm, "Y-Your arm…"

Izuku saw the worry on her face, "D-D-Don't worry about it! I-I-I'm just glad you're alright!"

Despite him saying this, the girl stick looked particularly guilty, slightly bowing her head down. "Thank you for saving me..."

Izuku could feel his head warming up, his eyes avoiding a direct look at the girl, _"She's so cute!"_

"Th-Th-There's no need to th-thank me! I-I just did what a hero would do after all!"

*CHU*

"AH!" Izuku was caught off guard as lips suddenly went onto his arm. He then felt his surprise turn to exhaustion, the pain in his arm decreasing now. "I feel tired now..."

Recover Girl pulled back her lips and sighed, "I swear, these exams are getting much more dangerous by the years! What are those guys thinking?"

"Th-Thank you Recovery Girl..." Izuku said with tired eyes.

Recovery Girl then healed the girl's ankle as well. "There you go."

The girl got to her feet and took a step forward, no longer feeling any pain in walking. "Thank you." she said to Recovery Girl with a bow.

"Let's go Izuku." Enso called out to him.

"Yeah, yeah..." Izuku yawned as he walked over to him, _"I think I'll need to go to sleep after losing so much energy..."_

"W-Wait!" he heard the girl call out. Izuku turned around to the girl as she walked up to him. "Um, what's your name?"

Izuku tensed up, his eyes widening nervously, "I-Izuku Midoirya!"

She smiled, "I'm Ochako Uraraka. Thank you again for saving me."

"I-I j-just did what was right Ochako!" Izuku stuttered.

"Eh!?" Ochako's face turned completely red as she heard him say her first name. "Wh-What are you saying!?"

Izuku realized what he said once more, "Ah! N-No! I-I didn't mean-!"

"How bold of you to already call her by her first name." Enso commented as he stepped next to Izuku.

"It's your fault that you gave me the mentality of calling someone by their first name stuck in my head!" Izuku snapped at him.

"But I was mainly referring to you and adults rather than other students."

"You never specified that!"

Uraraka stared at the two with a curious look on her face. She then started giggling, "Wow, you two get along pretty well."

"What part of this is 'getting along'?" Izuku sweatdropped.

"In my opinion, how you refer to someone should reflect how close you wish to get to them. So if you wanna this girl by her first name, then there shouldn't be much of a problem with it. It should just show that you want to be her friend."

"You really don't know how names work here do you?" Izuku asked with a blank expression.

"Maybe I don't, and even if I did, it still wouldn't change how I think about it. I'll leave you two to discuss that, I'll be heading back instead." Enso said as he turned his back to them.

"Eh? Hold on-" Izuku didn't finish as Enso blasted away at incredible speeds, creating a large gust of wind that forced others to cover their eyes.

"What was that boy thinking, suddenly running off like that so fast?!" Recovery Girl shouted with a vein of annoyance showing.

When the dust cleared, Izuku slightly bowed to Uraraka apologetically.

"S-Sorry about that..."

"Eh? O-Oh it's no problem at all!" Uraraka waved at him happily.

"S-So... U-Um..." Izuku scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Wh-What were we talking about before?"

Uraraka's eyes lit up, "Oh yeah!" she pulled out her phone. "I wanted to get your contact so I could thank you some time for saving me!"

Izuku's eye opened in shock, "H-Huh!? Y-You don't h-have to thank me!"

"Well, maybe you don't want me to, but I still want to have your contact regardless. We could be attending U.A together after all, so it'll be nice to have someone I know to be with me!" she said, smiling brightly.

Izuku could practically see a flower aroma around Uraraka, feeling his heart clench for a moment before avoiding a direct gaze at her and taking out his phone as well.

"S-Sure... I-I hope w-we get along..."

"Likewise!" Uraraka said.

Recovery Girl let out a cheerful sigh as she watched the two, "Oh how young..."


	7. Texts, Calls, and Letters

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

The sky was already dark by the time Izuku got home. He was in a rather cheerful mood after finishing the entrance exam and making a new friend on the same day. After officially leaving the exam, Izuku had planned to go to Enso's place to train, only to receive a text from him that something came up and to meet him the next day to fight instead. Having nothing else to do for the day, Izuku decided to go home, but taking a purposely long walk back for the heck of it, happily thinking about everything he's done so far.

After walking for about an hour, he had come back to his door and unlocked it with his own key, opening it and going inside to his lit up house.

"I'm home!" he shouted happily as he took off his shoes and stepped inside.

"IZUKU!" Inko came barraging out of nowhere to Izuku at frightening speeds.

"AAAAAH!" Izuku's eyes comically bulged out in fear as his mother came and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him so tightly that Izuku could feel the state of his spine in danger.

"I was so worried! It's two hours after the exam ended and you didn't let me know if you visited your teacher or not! I was beginning to worry that something happened to you and was gonna call! You're not hurt, are you!? How did it go?" Inko frantically started speaking.

"M-Mom... C-Can't breath..." Izuku faintly called out, eyes turning white.

Inko let go of her child and brought his face to look at her waterfalling eyes, expecting an answer.

"I-I finished the exam fine! The results should be posted in about a week! I-I just decided to take a long walk home to calm down after having such an intense exam!" Izuku told her.

"At least text me then!" Inko scolded him.

"S-Sorry..." Izuku apologized.

After apologizing a few more times, Izuku made it to his room and jumped onto his bed, faceplanting into his pillow and sighing in relief.

"What a day..."

He then flipped himself so that the back of his head was on his pillow, lifting his phone above his face.

"I should text Momo now. She's also probably wondering what happened."

He texted her a quick message.

Izuku: Hey Momo! I finished the exam a while ago, but then did something right after so I couldn't text you. But now I'm doing nothing at the moment."

Izuku smiled as he looked at the message he sent, wondering if Momo would respond back immediately like she usually did.

Instead, his phone unexpectedly started ringing in his hand.

Izuku yelled in shock and fumbled his phone in his hands. He caught it, then looking at the screen to see that Momo was trying to call him. His eyes widened and he felt his throat getting dry.

"Sh-She's trying to call me?! What do I do!? It would be rude not to answer, b-but this would be the first time actually being on the phone with a girl!"

Izuku unconsciously pressed the answer icon.

"I answered it!"

Momo spoke nearly immediately, "Good evening Izuku!"

Izuku shakingly put his phone to his ear, "H-Hello Momo! Th-This is kind of u-u-unexpected!"

"Well, I wanted to actually hear from yourself how you did on the exam. I'm also curious to know what it consisted of. I'm sorry, does being in a call make you feel uncomfortable? I know how nervous you can get after all."

Izuku's eyes shot around the room nervously, "N-No! There's no problem at a-all! I was j-just surprised to have you suddenly call! A-Anyway, I-I think I did um, great! Th-The exam was kind of like a v-video game! We were all placed in a replica city and had to destroy robots in order to earn the highest amount of points we could! They were rather easy to break though, so I thought I was doing okay! B-But then..."

"What happened?" Momo asked, a slight sound of concern being heard in her voice.

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "W-Well, during the exam, a robot that was even larger than the buildings suddenly appeared. Present Mic explained that it was a zero point robot that was only meant to be an obstacle for the students taking the exam. I-It was so huge and destroyed everything it touched. No one tried to even go up against it because of how huge it was."

"Oh, I recall some of my friends mentioning a robot like that at the exam. I'm still surprised that U.A decided to put a robot that big and dangerous in, it was rather extreme of them... So what happened when it arrived?" Momo asked.

"Well, I thought about running away from it, but then I saw a girl trapped underneath some rubble. Sh-She was right in the path of the robot so I was scared that she would get crushed."

"Oh heavens! She didn't get hurt did she?! What happened?!" Momo asked in worry.

"D-Don't worry, I'm getting to that part! So... Once I saw that she was in danger, I immediately ran over to try and do something. The robot was too close to the girl for me to safely rush in and pull her out of the rubble, so I did the next best thing. I-I jumped up at the robot's head and kind of... Well... I went all out with my quirk."

"What do you mean?" Momo asked him to clarify.

"I-I punched it with everything I had and was able to smash it away!" Izuku said proudly but nervously.

Momo was stunned, "You went up to the giant robot that was larger than any of the buildings and destroyed it with one punch!?"

Izuku had to pull the phone away from his ear from the shouting Momo did, then nervously putting it back.

"Y-Yeah. I know how it may sound, b-but I really did destroy it! I even ended up becoming friends with the girl I saved! I have her number too! Her name is Ochako Uraraka!" he said in a giddy manner.

Momo calmed down a little, "I see… Wait, you said you got her number?"

"Yeah! I-I hope we could see her in U.A! I think you two would be good friends." Izuku said.

Momo was on her queen-sized bed looking up with a look of surprise. "Wow, I honestly thought it would take him until after school started to make another friend that was a female. I guess I underestimated him and his heroic personality. That's how I became friends with him after all." she smiled, remembering the time she met Izuku,

"U-Um, Momo are you still there?" Izuku asked, causing Momo to snap out of her thoughts.

"Yes, I am! Carry on with your experience."

"Well, after I smashed the robot, I realized... I didn't know how to land from that high."

Momo's eyes widened on her side of the call, "What did you do?"

"I-I couldn't really do anything... I was immobile within the air, but then my teach- er, friend, saved me!"

"Your friend was in the same area as you?"

"Y-Yeah! Then you should've seen what he did afterword! The pieces of the robot were gonna fall on top of people, but then he stopped them all in the air using his telekinesis to let everyone run to safety!" he said excitingly.

"Oh? That sounds rather impressive, he must be very amazing." Momo chuckled as she heard Izuku's childish excitement.

But then she realized something.

"While on the topic of your friend's Izuku, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Y-Yeah?"

"You were so nervous first meeting me and I could tell that you weren't good at talking to people-"

"I-I'm still not good at talking to others..." Izuku added.

"But that's what makes me curious. In the previous conversations we've had by text, never once have you mentioned any of your friends. Why is that? I'm just curious."

Izuku fell silent within his room, head looking down as his green eyes partially faded in color into a blank look, remembering the experiences he's had during his life.

Momo was worried by the silence.

"Izuku? Are you alright?"

"Um... Well... How do I say this? I-I never really had any friends growing up..." Izuku confessed.

Momo could feel her heart break, "Not one?"

"Well, I had one." Izuku said, thinking about Bakugo, "But currently, things between him and I are... complicated."

Momo didn't wish to pry too much in what kind of trouble he's having with his friend, so she decided to change the subject. "I hope you resolve whatever troubles you and your friend are facing. But what about the friend you took the exam with? When did you meet him?"

"I-It was actually about a year ago! I-" Izuku remembered his first encounter with Enso, sweating nervously as he wondered what to say about how he threatened him, "I-I ran into him while walking home. He looked... Well... p-pretty scary I'll say. But he ended up being quite friendly once I got to know him."

"And you said he took the exam too? So he's also a student attempting to go to U.A then?" Momo asked.

"Yeah, he is! I just know him and I will be in U.A! M-Maybe you two could be friends!" Izuku said confidentially.

"I look forward to meeting him." Momo said.

"Izuku! It's time for dinner! It's your favorite, Katsudon!" Inko called out from the kitchen.

Izuku moved the phone away from himself, "Coming!" he then brought it back. "I-I have to go now Momo. It was nice talking to you."

"I enjoyed it too. Let me know when you get your results. I just want to make sure you get in." Momo said back.

"Will do, talk to you later!"

Izuku then hung up the phone, leaving Momo to put her phone down with a smile.

"So his favorite food is Katsudon? It is a nice meal."

Meanwhile, Izuku was completely shaking with his phone in his hands.

"T-Talking to a girl on the phone is exhilarating!" he said to himself, sweating.

His phone then vibrated again, indicating he got a message.

"Hm?" Izuku looked at the contact and saw that it was from the girl he had met at the exam, Uraraka Ochako.

Uraraka: Hey Deku! How are you doing? I just wanted to say hi!

Izuku flinched the moment he read her message.

"Wha-Wha-What!? H-How does she-!?" He was completely confused as to how she knew that nickname. The nickname that had been used for him ever since childhood, the nickname that his life long bully had always used.

He nervously texted her back.

Izuku: Hey Ochako. Sorry to suddenly ask after you just said hi, but how did you hear that name?

Ochako: Well, I heard someone call you that near the entrance of the exam, so I thought it was a nice nickname.

Izuku sighed as he texted her back.

Izuku: Actually, its an insult given to me by that guy. His name is Katsuki Bakugo, but I call him Kacchan. He gave me that nickname ever since we were little, it's supposed to mean 'worthless'.

There was a momentary pause.

Ochako: Really!? I'm sorry, I didn't know that's what he meant by it! I kinda thought it sounded like Dekiru, you know, 'You can do it!'.

Izuku immediately texted her back, slightly blushing.

Izuku: You can call me Deku!

Ochako: Really? That easily?

Izuku could feel his head steaming, blushing from the adorable thought of Uraraka calling him by his nickname with a pure intention.

Izuku: Well, you're not using it with a bad intention. And it's nice to think of that name in that way, especially if it's you calling me that.

Izuku stared at his phone at the message he sent back, sweating buckets.

Ochako: Well then I guess it'll be a trade for you calling me Ochako.

Izuku blinked in a moment of confusion, before scrolling up to see that he had called Uraraka by her first name at the beginning of their conversation, he even had her first name as the name he put her contact under. He frantically texted back a message at lightning speeds.

Izuku: I'msorryIcalledyoubyyourfirstnameagainI'lltrytostopdoingthatfromnowon!

"Ah! I forgot the spaces!"

He was in the middle of editing his message when Uraraka sent another.

Ochako: Don't worry about it. I mean, it does feel kind of embarrassing to have my first name spoken by someone else, but I don't really have a problem with it. I'll be calling you by Deku from now on, so I think it's fair if you call me something you feel comfortable with.

"Again, I just do it instinctively! Not because it's comfortable!" Izuku said to himself in the room.

Ochako: I hope we get along Deku.

Izuku's finger shook as he tapped a final message back.

Izuku: Likewise.

Izuku then turned off the screen of his phone, but continued to stare at it with widened eyes and a slightly puffed out nervous red face.

"I-I really gotta be more careful with names..."

* * *

~{One Week Later}~

Izuku flexed his right arm as he lifted a dumbbell up and down, smiling away as he used his left hand to check his phone for any hero activity that was currently happening. He hadn't done anything particularly noteworthy throughout the week. Going to school, training with All Might and Enso, or texting Momo and the newly named Ochako were pretty much the only things he did.

He sighed as he recalled his training sessions with Enso. He had been using the same Brute Style for a while in order to combat Izuku, but Izuku hardly did any damage against that style due to the pure defensive and offensive abilities it had. He hadn't seen Enso's other style, Punk, ever since the exam, and he was more curious about how that style worked, but never really asked him about it as he was still trying to figure out how to go against the first style.

"There's only one advantage I know I have against Brute Style, it's that Enso is actually slower in that form. It might be because the energy he focuses around his body is adding more weight to it, making him slower. But I can't exactly find a way to use that to my advantage if I can't even hurt him in the first place... I need to be able to use more of One For All..."

Izuku's thoughts were cut off as his mother ran into the living room with an envelope in her hand.

"It's here Izuku! It's here!" Inko yelled with widened eyes as she frantically waved the envelope in front of her.

"Really!?" Izuku shot up from his seat as his mother came over and gave him the letter.

"For Izuku Midoriya's eyes only." The letter said on the front.

"L-Let me know what it says later." Inko said nervously.

Izuku nodded and rushed over to his room, then closing the door behind him and going to his desk.

He placed the letter onto his desk and sat down, staring nervously at the letter. He felt too nervous to even touch the letter again, but after a few moments of silence, he grabbed both sides of it and tore it apart with one pull. Out of the letter, a small circular device came out and landed onto his desk with a small clink.

The device then activated and projected a holographic video of All Might wearing a yellow and black striped suit.

"I am here, as a projection!" All Might said with a close up of his face.

Izuku's eyes widened in shock as he looked from the ripped envelope to All Might. "A-All Might!? B-But isn't this supposed to be a letter from U.A!? Unless-!"

"You must be surprised, aren't you? To tell you the truth, I came to this town in order to become a teacher at U.A!"

"A-All Might is a teacher?! Wait a minute! That must be why we were able to test One For All within the school and why All Might knows Nezu! I never thought about that!" Izuku cried out in realization.

All Might pointed a finger to the screen, "Now that I've said that, let's move on to the reason for this letter! Izuku Midoirya, your performance on the exam was absolutely tremendous! You showed compromising strength and skill eliminating all of those robots! But what the judges were impressed about the most... was your will of self-sacrifice!"

"Eh?" Izuku blinked.

"You see Midoriya, the exam wasn't solely graded on villain points... There was a whole other category!"

He crossed his arms into a dramatic pose.

"Rescue points!"

"Rescue... points?" Izuku repeated.

"It's the other basic ability we at U.A look at! The whole job of a hero requires risking one's own life to save others after all! It was graded by a number of judges here at the school!"

The screen then changed to show Izuku's name with his scores.

"Villain points, 67 total! And hero points... 60 exact! Coming to a total of 127 points! Some of the highest amount of points anyone has ever gotten in the exam!"

Izuku could feel his eyes tearing up, waiting for All Might to say one more thing.

The screen changed back to All Might, with his back dramatically facing the screen.

"You pass, by an exceptional amount."

He then turned back to Izuku and offered his hand towards the screen.

"Come, young Midoirya. This is your hero academia!"

Izuku could feel tears coming from his eyes as he shot up from his seat.

"YES!"

Outside of his room, Inko was pacing back and forth when she heard Izuku's shout, flinching instinctively.

"A-Are you alright Izuku!?"

The door to his room then opened up, revealing Izuku smiling with tears in his eyes.

Inko knew exactly what this meant, and her eyes started tearing up as well.

"Izuku!" she shouted, pulling the boy into a tight hug.

* * *

Enso stared down at his letter within his bedroom with a look of curiosity. His room was rather plain, consisting of a smooth dark wooden floor and pepper gray walls, a comfy-looking black bed in the top left corner, a coffee-colored desk at the front of the room with a matching colored chair, a tall but empty bookshelf against the left wall of the room by the desk, a fan spinning above him with light shining down, and a wardrobe with a closet next to it on the top right corner of the room. There was a window next to his bed and another window at the back of the room, both had blue curtains.

Enso was sitting on his desk as he examined the letter curiously, then shrugging as he gently ripped it open and pulled out the metallic device.

"An electronic message?"

He placed the device onto the desk and tapped it, causing it to turn on and project a video call of principal Nezu sitting at his desk with his hands clasped together.

"Enso Ureshi, you've passed the exam."

"He wasted no time at all..." Enso thought.

"I'm sure you knew that already, but I just wanted to say that to get it out of the way first." Nezu took a sip of tea and let out a sigh of bliss, "Toshinori and I were both watching you and Midoirya in the exam, it was quite a show."

"Yagi was watching also?"

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention, All Might will be a teacher at U.A starting this school year, but you can ask him about that later, you have much to talk about with him after all. Back to you, you really were impressive during the exam. You racked up the most villain points, 90 to be exact, the most that anyone has ever made before."

"I wonder how much points Izuku obtained..."

"But! The whole exam wasn't just about destroying robots!"

Enso raised an eyebrow.

"There were also rescue points! Points that you obtain by helping out those in need, the main thing we are looking for here in U.A! Now, you may think that you haven't done anything to earn these hero points, but believe me, you have."

The screen then changed to show Enso on the street smashing two robots and looking up to two more robots firing missiles down, but not at him. He looked and saw the missiles heading towards the same engine boy that had suspicion towards him and Izuku earlier, who was currently busy smashing other robots.

See that the boy wasn't paying any attention, Enso shot two energy balls at the missiles before they could reach the boy, making them all explode in the air. The boy turned around and was confused as to what caused the explosions behind him, but by then Enso had already run off. More clips of Enso helping people without them knowing showed, which mostly consisted of smashing robots or destroying missiles that were about to get to them.

"They were watching every moment of me? No, I doubt all the teachers would pay attention to me for the duration of the exam, Nezu must've watched Izuku and I the entire time..."

The screen switched back to Nezu, "The most amazing part was when you demonstrated promising telekinesis to stop the zero-pointer's scraps from falling down on everyone. From doing all of these things, you've earned yourself quite a number of hero points. You earned 78 hero points, quite impressive of you. So your total score is 168 points, the highest total points anyone has ever gotten in the exam."

"I may have brought too much attention to myself during that exam..." Enso sighed as he rubbed his head.

Nezu was quiet for a moment, then letting out a light chuckled as he stared at the camera. "You know... Despite what you've said about yourself, you show quite the potential to become a great hero. You just need people to help guide you in the right direction. You've considered yourself alone for so long correct? No people that you've considered friends, no one that you've called family?"

Nezu opened his arms up, as if welcoming Enso.

"You'll be attending U.A from now on, you and your friend Izuku Midoirya. You may think that you'll only be coming here because I'm making you attend, but why not use this chance to finally make your own friends? To have your own family?"

"Friends, family..." Enso sighed at this thought, shaking his head left and right in disapproval.

Nezu then reached his hand out to the screen.

"Enso Ureshi, this is your hero academia, become the hero you and I both know you can become. I'll see you here."

The video then stopped and the device turned off, leaving Enso alone in his room. He got up and went onto his bed, laying down on it with the back of his head staring up the ceiling.

"To be a hero... Me? Not possible... I won't even be staying here for my entire life, there's just no way..."

He rolled to his side, "Hmph, heroes. What does he believe a real hero is? Someone who is willing to sacrifice oneself or go into harm's way for the sake of others? I had nothing to sacrifice nor would I even have been able to get hurt, that exam was nothing. And if that rodent thinks that way about heroes, then what does that make everyone who took the exam and passed it while leaving others behind? Some 'heroes' they are..."

He sighed as he sat up, "I'm getting too worked up over this..."

His watch then lit up in red, white, and blue colors with the sound of beeping.

"That's All Might sending me a text..."

He brought up his watch and tapped it, projecting the message that was sent.

All Might: Good evening Enso! I know it may be slightly late, but I would like to request you to meet me at the beach again! Midoriya will be arriving shortly!

Enso looked outside his window and squinted as he saw Toshininori standing at the beach, looking in his direction and waving at him.

"Guess I have to go."

* * *

~{Dagobah Municipal Beach Park- 7:37PM}~

The moment Izuku had received a message from All Might, he ran as fast as he could to the beach, even using One For All to blaze over there. He didn't even take the stairs down the beach sand, he entirely jumped over the railing and the moment he landed onto the sand, he saw a skeletal figure near the shore, his eyes immediately started to comically tear up.

"ALL MIG-MPH!?" Izuku's mouth was covered by someone else's hand, eyes then looking to see Enso standing beside him.

"Quiet. There are others."

Izuku saw a couple standing together at the concrete dock the beach had. "Oh..."

Enso removed his hand from Izuku's mouth and walked over to Toshinori, Izuku following behind him.

Toshinori grinned as the two walked up to him, raising one hand each to Izuku and Enso.

"Congratulations to both of you for getting accepted." Toshinori praised.

"Th-Thank you very much!" Izuku answered as he took Toshinori's high five.

Enso just stared at Toshinori's hand curiously.

"You don't know what a high-five is, do you?" Toshinori asked.

A question mark appeared over Enso's head.

"He doesn't..." Toshinori and Izuku sweatdropped.

"This... This is a hand gesture where we slap the palms of our hands together to express congratulations."

"Oh, okay." Enso lifted his hand and high-fived Toshinori back.

"That was rather easy..."

"So now that we've 'celebrated', may I ask you something?" Enso said.

"Sure." Toshinori answered.

"You're actually a teacher for U.A?"

"Why yes, I am! I assume Nezu told you about that and Midoirya knew from my message. But just so you know, I didn't tell the rest of the school about my connection to either of you. Only Nezu and Recovery Girl know about us, One For All and all."

"Why didn't you tell us about you being a teacher?" Enso interrogated.

"Well, I didn't want you guys thinking that I got you into U.A by my position. I was thinking that Midoriya was the type to think that's cheating, but I wasn't one of the judges for the school."

"If I did get into U.A because of someone, I would think it was Nezu, not you." Enso answered.

"Th-Thank you for your concern!" Izuku stuttered. "B-But... I was really surprised to hear that you would be a teacher at U.A. I mean, your agency is at Roppongi in Minato, Tokyo at-ow!" Enso hit him on the back of the head.

"Don't go starting on one of your muttering sprees." Enso told him.

"I was about to say the same thing." Toshinori sighed. "But anyway, I couldn't tell anyone that I would be teaching at U.A before the school announced it. I was offered a job from U.A when I was looking for a successor."

"So you were planning to choose one of the students at the school?" Izuku and Enso both asked simultaneously.

"Yes... But then I ran into Midoirya! Whose perfect for the position, and since he doesn't have a quirk, then no one would even question that One For All is his natural quirk!" Toshinori answered.

"But if anyone from his junior high goes to U.A and sees his quirk, there will no doubt be some questions to him." Enso pointed out.

Izuku flinched, "Th-That's right! Kacchan will most likely be in U.A too! What am I gonna say to him!?"

"Don't worry about that. A lot of people get the status of their quirks changed over the years and go report it at city hall. You could just update your quirk status before school starts, quirks developing late don't really happen often, but they do happen." Toshinori reassured them.

"B-But there's no way Kacchan is gonna believe that..." Izuku shivered.

"But then there's me, who doesn't have a definitive 'quirk'." Enso brought up.

"Oh right... We can't exactly have you registered at city hall because there won't be any information about you there. And if others ask you about your quirk at school, then what would you even say?" Toshinori asked in some worry.

Enso turned to Izuku.

"Wh-What?"

"You're the quirk expert."

"Um..." Izuku closed his eyes and ten notebooks mentally flipped through his head. He also took into consideration how Enso described his overall powers and the properties.

His eyes snapped open and he raised a finger up from a thought.

"H-How about we just say that you can m-manipulate energy around your body! Allowing you to use it for different attacks! S-So it'll be called um... E-Energy Manipulation!"

"Dull name." Enso said to him.

Izuku flinched, "He wasted no time shooting that name down..."

"But the name works. His explanation was basically a near-matching description of how you first described your powers." Toshinori said.

"So we have a description of your 'quirk'. But you still won't be able to get a hero costume from city hall without any information."

"I don't need a costume Yagi, this suit of mine is what I would prefer to wear anyways."

"B-But why do you like wearing it so much?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Well..." Enso looked down at the sleeve. "It was the first set of clothing I got since waking up..."

"Oh..." Izuku said, wondering exactly what he meant by that. "Wait, does that mean he woke up without any clothes on?"

"You'll have to wear a school uniform within U.A, you know that right?" Toshinori told him.

Enso stared at him. "...Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"...Positive?"

"Absolutely."

"...But are you-?"

"Yes! I'm sure!" Toshinori blurted out.

"Well..." Enso rubbed his head with a sigh. "Damn."

Toshinori chuckled, "He enjoys his clothes doesn't he?"

"You can still use it as a hero costume I'm sure!" Izuku reassured him.

"Okay, moving on from his costume and all of that. Enso, you have no information of any kind within this world. I have no doubt that the other teachers of U.A may find you suspicious. Especially... one of them..." Toshinori said, thinking about a certain erasing hero.

"There's not much we can do about that. If they suspect me, then they suspect me. But in the end, Nezu is the principal and I doubt anyone of your school would go up against a dangerous being like him."

Toshinori thought about Nezu for a moment, before turning slightly blue, "I suppose you've got a point..."

"Is he really that scary?!" Izuku nervously shook.

"I'll be fine. But if anyone asks you guys about me, then just be vague, make something up, or just don't saying anything." Enso told them.

Toshinori smiled, then buffing up into his muscle form.

"Of course! We wouldn't want anyone finding out about your 'mistaken' past! We will do what to can to keep silent about you! Now, you'll both be going to school in about a week! Take everything you've both experienced with you and use it to do your best! Think of anything you didn't have before, then think of U.A as an opportunity to get you closer to what you don't have!"

"Y-Yes All Might!" Izuku said proudly.

Enso looked down in thought.

He then remembered Nezu's words: "But why not use this chance to finally make your own friends? To have your own family?"

He squinted his eyes, "Friends..."

"Ah! Is that All Might!?" The woman on the dock shouted in shock.

"It is!" the man next to her said in awe as well.

All Might flinched when he heard them, then starting to run down the beach.

"Let's go you two!"

Enso didn't hesitate as he ran right beside All Might.

"H-Hey!" Izuku shouted as he ran after both of them.

As he ran down the beach, he watched their backs and saw them running side by side, making him stare in wonder.

"They're both so ahead of me in power and experience... I have so much I have to do if I want to get closer to them. Like All Might said, U.A will help me obtain what I don't have! To help me increase my strength, to give me the experiences I need to become a hero! I'll get closer to them, I have to surpass them!"

He grinned as he ran, determination fueling him as he tried to catch up to All Might and Enso's increasing speed.

Enso looked back at Izuku in the corner of his eye.

"You'll get stronger Izuku... But you have to work harder than anyone else if you wish to become the number one hero. But..."

He noted Izuku's eyes of determination.

"I believe you can meet that goal."

All Might also looked back at Enso and Izuku.

"They're both so amazing. By always sticking together, I believe they can help each other improve in so many ways... I know Midoriya will lead Enso on a path of happiness and comfort, and Enso will continue to support Midoirya so that he grows... I know they'll become the greatest heroes."

He looked forward, grinning harder than before.

"They'll both be so cool!"


	8. Bloody Memories and Cheerful Hopes

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

"Goodnight you two." Enso waved unenthusiastically.

"Goodnight Enso, bye All Might!" Izuku waved cheerfully as he ran back in the direction of his house.

**"Goodnight to the both of you! The next time we meet, you'll be proud students of U.A!" **All Might responded before then leaping across some houses with a loud laugh. The three of them had been running on the beach at the heat of the moment when All Might saw two civilians on the dock. They ran from the beach to around the neighboorhood that was near the beach before finally deciding to call it in for the night. Since Enso's house was basically right across the street of the beach, he didn't have far to walk to get back. After the short walk, he made it back inside his home, the main dojo area faintly lit up by the moonlight through windows as he made his way up to his room.

_"Again... All Might called us out for something as simple as to congratulate us. But then again, I guess Izuku hearing All Might's praise directly from his mouth feels more important to him."_

He got to the second floor and went down the hall and into his room, then walking over to his desk and turning on a small lamp. He gently on his side atop his bed with his gaze facing the wall.

_"U.A Hero Academy... I wonder what kind of place it is. If that crazy rodent is the principal and was the one who put the giant robot in the exam, then there's no telling what type of teachings the school will have."_

He turned his body so that he was looking straight up at the ceiling with his hair sprawled out on his pillow.

_"I guess Nezu was right in a way... It won't help if I don't at least try to connect with people I meet at school. Having connections is always useful after all."_

Enso then noticed the ceiling lookings slightly wavy.

_"Hm? Why is my vision getting blurry?"_

Alongside his blurry sight, darkness was beginning surrounding his view.

_"It's not possible that I'm exhausted right now. I hardly did anything draining and I usually don't ever feel tired in general."_

Enso's eyesight began to darken more, no longer able to see anything within his room.

_"What... Is this?"_

Then everything changed.

* * *

His eyes slowly opened up, only to see orange, yellow, and red colors all around him. His vision was still blurry, he felt exhausted, and for some reason, he felt unable to move at all. He shook his head left in right and blinked multiple times in order to regain his vision, confused and dazed by what was going on.

He looked down just as his vision began focusing, discovering that he was no longer on the bed within his room. Upon a closer look, he discovered that he was currently on his knees atop the hard ground with red liquid around him. One of his hands was on the liquid, to which Enso raised that hand for a closer look. But he then discovered exactly what the liquid was, his eyes widening in finding out.

Blood.

He discovered that he was on a street, with an entire pool of blood surrounding him. He glanced down to his arms and hands to discover that they were covered in blood as well. He wasn't wearing his suit, instead, he was wearing a blue hospital gown of the sort, but it was covered in red blotches and was partially ripped.

Enso didn't know how he got to where he was, nor did he know what was happening around him. But what was the most confusing about the situation he was in, was the current feeling that Enso was experiencing. It was a feeling that he had never recalled in his life, so he didn't know what it was at first. Whatever it was, it was causing him to tremble, causing his arms to shiver, and caused his eyes to stayed widened as he stared down into his bloody hands.

He finally lifted his head and got a full view of the horrendous sight around him. The street he was currently sitting on was within a large city.

What was left of it that is.

Every building he saw around him had been destroyed in some sort of way. The windows of many buildings had been shattered, other buildings were set to flames, and a few of them had even collapsed to the ground. The city streets had many visible craters and bloodstains scattered along the paths, streetlamps laid on the streets completely broken with sparks emitting from them, and bodies were sprawled out everywhere along the ground.

The sky was completely covered in a giant cloud of thick, red smoke, that spread miles and miles away. Enso's eyes slowly looked down at the ground in front of him, shaking as he saw the bodies of lifeless people laying on the streets, impaled on pipes, or covered in flames around him. There were all kinds of people who were deceased, each one having traumatized expressions on their faces. Men, women, elders, and even a few children were within the number of corpses he saw. There were even just parts of bodies from some people, with body parts such as arms, legs, or even half of an entire person scattered around some parts of the area.

Enso's gaze went from one body to another, each horrid expression on each body much more worst than the last. Terror, regret, pain, despair, you could clearly see every emotion that each person had right before they died. It was terrible to look at, as you could just imagine exactly what happened to each person and how they felt at the time.

He suddenly heard some rustling to his right, making him shift his head to gaze in that direction.

He saw the body of a man that exactly wasn't dead yet. He was laying on his stomach, crawling towards god knows where in a desperate attempt to get somewhere. The man had a leg missing and was bloodied to the point where you couldn't even recognize any of his facial features. He reached his hand out in front of him, calling out loud in a desperate plea.

"He-Help… M-Me...p-please…" The man left a trail of blood as he crawled, but it didn't take long before he lost whatever energy he had left, head falling to the ground and body becoming limp.

Although Enso had blood on himself, he only had minor cuts and bruises, which made him completely confused as to why he had the blood on him. His mind came up with so many questions, how did the sight around him happen in the first place, why did he have so much blood on him but no major injuries, and why was he was the only one alive in the area despite the massacre around him?

Enso tried to move but found that his body felt heavy and realized that he was completely exhausted. With not being able to move, he continued to think instead. What could've caused all of this terror and destruction? What kind of force was so brutal, so murderous, so destructive that they would kill off these people in such violent ways?

Enso then saw both of his hands shaking for an unknown reason and his heart rate had been fast since the beginning, to which Enso wondered if it had to do with the unknown feeling he was currently experiencing.

His pupils then slightly shrunk as he realized exactly what was happening to him, what the feeling he was experiencing actually was. The shaking of his arms, the few tears going down his face, and the increased beating of his heart. He had never remembered experiencing this feeling before, but the symptoms all led to one answer.

Fear.

He didn't know why he was scared, how long he was scared for, or what happened in the area he was in.

Enso suddenly heard the voice of someone singing, a voice that echoed throughout the destroyed city all around him.

**_"Ring a-round the ro-sie..."_**

He heard the dragging of a chain along the ground with the additional sound of big, heavy steps echoing in the sky. Enso's eyes searched the area, but he didn't find anyone around, making him panic.

**_"A pock-et full of po-sies..."_**

He heard the loud cracking of bones and the winds getting stronger around him.

**_"Ash-es, ash-es..."_**

He suddenly heard some glass fall behind him and a whooshing sound go through the air.

His sense of danger went up to the max.

**_"They all FALL DOWN!" _**The voice finally shrieked. The sound of an object intruded through the air and getting close.

Feeling the menacing presence of someone falling towards him. Enso mustered up whatever strength he had left to blast forward and narrowly a avoid a large, steel hook that pierced the spot he was just at, penetrating the asphalt and causing it to crack.

He didn't exactly have enough control to land on his feet when he dived and ended up tumbling along the blood-soaked ground before stopping with an even bigger sore feeling in his body.

The steel hook in the ground was jerked back by a thick chain connected to it, sending pieces of asphalt pulled from the ground scattering around.

**"Oh? It seems like you still got some fight left in ya."**

Enso weakly lifted his head up from the ground, getting a full-body view of the dangerous figure, but his eyes widened to see the building behind the figure burning in large flames, making the person appear as a rather large silhouette in front him. The figure was as large as All Might, but there was a noticeable... 'inhuman' appearance he had about him. Despite not being able to see detailed features of the figure at a glance, Enso knew the body had an abnormal shape for it to be that of a normal person. It looked skinnier than any normal person would be and his fingers were bony, cracking as they moved. But the most notable part of this figure:

Were the empty eyes and the insane smile he had.

The figure had no eyeballs at all, instead, he had two red glowing empty holes that made up his eyes. His smile was similar in which he had no teeth, as it was permanently open and glowing red as well, giving him a menacing and crazy look to his face.

Those were the only features he could make out of the monster in front of him.

It let out a cackling chuckle, letting his rusty hook dangle from the chains he held in his right hand. **"I thought you'd be long broken by now, or are you still trying to _desperately_ hang onto to your last piece of sanity?"**

Enso tried to stand up, but his legs felt powerless as the figure slowly walked towards him, his chain making clinking sounds as he moved.

**"You don't seem to have any more fight left in ya now. You look like you don't even know what's going on." **the monster laughed.

Enso continued to stare in fear and confusion as the figure got closer to him, but then his mind seemed to ask questions automatically, then also coming out of his mouth.

"Who… are you?"

The person stopped in his tracks when he heard him ask that question, partially tilting his head in a perplexed way.

**"Wait, you serious? We were just fighting a few moments ago before you got all crazy and blew everything up!"**

Enso could clearly feel something wrong, "We... Were fighting?"

The figure slightly squatted down and leaned his head forward, getting a clear view of Enso's face.

**"Wow, you really aren't lying... I wonder if you don't remember anything because of going overboard? You sure did use a lot of energy after all. You might've suffered a bit of memory loss." **He stood up straight and circled around Enso, taking note of his weakened state.

**"But I guess that doesn't matter. After all, I can finally kill you right here. Then 'he'll' finally see that I'm the strongest one out of any one of _them! _He'll have no one else important, and to know that his last creation failed and did the opposite of what he wanted it to do, he'll be shattered! Then he can finally get what he deserves!"**

Enso was confused as to who he was talking about but asked another question.

"Did... Did you do this?"

**"Hm?" **The figure stared down at him.

"Did you... murder all of these people?"

The figure stared at him in silence for a moment, before then letting out an ear shrieking laugh that echoed throughout the dead city.

He then cracked his head as he stared down at Enso, pointing a finger at himself, **"You think _I _did this?!" **he said in a mocking tone before laughing again. **"AHAHAHA! Oh wow, that's rich... But I guess you would think that way because you forget what happened here. Sorry to turn down your suspicions, but I didn't do this."**

Enso was even more confused. He had assumed that the mysterious figure had been the cause of all this death and destruction, but he's actually claiming he didn't do it, even treating it as a joke? The figure had nothing to lose from telling the truth, especially with only him and Enso being the only ones there, so why would it lie?

"You... e-expect me to believe… that you didn't do a-all of this?"

The villain got onto one knee and further closed the gap between himself and Enso, cracking his joints as he put his left hand on Enso's shoulder, eyes brightening menacingly at him.

**"Now, now, you should know that the _one _thing I never, never ever, and I mean _NEVER do, _is lie. After all, it's more fun to watch someone's look of despair when they know the truth about something _so_ terrible and can't change it. Telling the truth makes it easier for people to agree to play... _games_ with me. They're rather fun, so I always try to force people into a situation where they're forced to play. Whenever I offer someone to play for a chance to survive, I _always_ let them know what they're getting themselves into, whenever someone asks what's gonna happen to them, I _always _tell them what sorts of pain and trauma they're gonna go through, and whenever someone asks what's happened to someone else... I tell them _exactly _what happened to them. All just to enjoy the faces they make and their pleasant reactions."**

_"He's insane!"_

"Wh-Why?... Why would you even think that way? Why would you do terrible things to people just for your own amusement?!"

The insane person removed his hand from Enso's shoulder, standing up with the sounds of his joints cracking as he moved and stared down at Enso from his tall height.

**"Why, you ask? I guess I gotta remind you... Well, it's actually really simple. Because it's FUN!" **As he shouted that, he pulled his chain up and slammed it onto the ground with enough force to send a cracking trail in the street.

He then pulled the chain back onto his arm, to which it suddenly caught a green, hellish looking fire and disappeared entirely. He put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in front of Enso, his back creepingly hunched over and his head looking at a downward angle to the ground.

**"You see kid, people are _so_ simple... They either do what they can to selfishly live..." **His head snapped a look at Enso,** "At whatever cost."**

He continued pacing.

**"So, I thought, 'why not test the limits people are willing to go?', 'Why not see how far someone is willing to live?', 'Why not test how much someone is willing to sacrifice?' So I put people in scenarios where they're forced to cooperate with me in one way in another, making them do their best in whatever game I make them play."**

He raised a bony hand in front of his face, then clenching it into a fist.

**"And the most amusing part about it... Is trauma and despair I get to see all the time from decisions that the people themselves make."**

He turned to Enso and walked in front of him once more.

**"The types of deals I make are gruesome, I know, but people have no choice but to take them, otherwise they, or someone they love, die. They can really mess up the mentality of people, it's so amazing seeing what people can do. It's so fun and interesting!"**

He started maniacally laughing once more.

**"There was even a time that I had a guy killed his own two kids in order to live free from a painful death!"**

Enso couldn't believe what he was hearing, his eyes were widened to the point where they looked they could bulge out.

**"He chose to save himself over his kids! Can you believe it!? I did, people only care about themselves in the end after all. He was such a nice father who did his best to make sure his kids were happy, but now that I think back on it... he might've just taken care of them because of his wife. But he killed them with his own bare hands, then true to my word, I just let him go." **

He then let out a small chuckle, remembering the events. **"I watched him go back to the place he called home... You should've seen the look on his wife's face when she learned what happened to her little kids. It was hilarious. Things only got better from there when the guilt caught up to the man and he confessed to his wife _exactly_ what he did to their poor little children. It was hilarious, I expected her to get angry and get her husband arrested, but to my surprise, she killed the damn old fool herself! Plot twist!"**

"But... But..."

**"Hm?" **The monster noticed the confusion in his eyes.** "What is it?" **

"I-If you weren't the one to do all of this... th-then who did?"

The figure facepalmed himself, **"You still _really_ didn't connect the dots yet?" **he then stuck his arms out and yelled,** "WHO ELSE COULD'VE DONE THIS!?"**

His voice shook the entire ground and forced Enso to cover his ears from the shrilling shriek.

He then heard him sigh, **"I thought you were smarter than that... Did using that much power fry your brain? Geez, guess I gotta tell you loud and clear."**

He on one knee once more and got inches away from Enso's face, his red eyes looking as if they could burn through Enso's skull at any moment.

**"You and I are the only ones here. Which means that only one of us could've done it. But _I _clearly didn't do it, so you know what that means?"**

_"No way... Is he saying that...? B-But..."_

**"YOU did this!" **He shouted right in front of him.

Suddenly all went black.

* * *

Enso woke up with his body still lying atop his bed the way he had been positioned before, his eyes slowly opening to stare up at his ceiling. He sat up from the bed and stared straight ahead at the wall, organizing his thoughts thoroughly. Despite having such a dream-like vision a moment ago, he didn't seem fazed at all and he still maintained his emotionless gaze as he wondered exactly what he just saw.

_"What was that? That was nothing like all the other flashes of my memories. That was Despite that 'figure' being obscured, I still know exactly who it was. But for that person to be a blur in that dream, why was it necessary? I wonder if it's because my memories are in shambles?"_

He scooted to the side of his bed, sitting on the very edge of it with his hands planted next to him.

_"That vision... That was the longest one I have ever gotten. I didn't have to kill anyone nor absorb anyone's power to see it... Perhaps continuing this path I'm on is the correct method for me to remember. But what triggered that memory in the first place?"_

He then remembered Nezu's message and All Might's encouragement.

"They wished for me to make friends..." Enso muttered aloud. He stood up and walked to his window and stared out at the deep dark sky. "But since I got that vision right after they told me that, then does that mean the vision... was a warning? Should I really not make friends?"

Enso then felt some movement in his right hand, lifting it up near his face to discover it shaking.

_"This may be the aftereffect to that 'fear' I recalled in that memory... It seems that my body is naturally reacting to it."_

He looked back to the sky.

"Should I tell them about this? No... because then it would have to involve me telling them about that monster."

He got back to his bed and laid down, red eyes staring up at the ceiling once more.

"It seems that this world's interactions with me are far different than the others..."

He let out a sigh as he turned to his side.

_"I wonder what will happen next?"_

* * *

~{Midoirya Residence}~

Izuku slowly crept his way back into his house, nervously opening his front door and praying that it wouldn't make any noise. When he had left to meet up with Enso and All Might, he hadn't told his mother, so he knew she would be worried, or even worse, mad. It wasn't that late, but of course, she would still get mad at him for suddenly leaving without saying anything and getting back when the sky was already dark.

He slowly entered his house and saw the lights of the living room and kitchen still on, but with no sign of his mother around. He was careful to walk through the halls without making the floor creak underneath him and quickly went into his pitch-black room, still carefully closing the door behind him. He let out a sigh of relief as he pressed his back against the door, thinking he got in without being noticed.

"Where were you this late?"

"GAAAAAAAAAH!"

A light switched clicked on to reveal Inko on the desk chair, her hand on the switch of the All Might night lamp Izuku always kept on his desk. She had a small glare as she stared straight into Izuku's soul, waiting for him to answer her question.

"M-Mom!? You scared me!"

"Not as much as you scared me when you suddenly disappeared this late." Inko remarked.

_"Urk!" _Izuku felt an arrow go through his heart.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Good. So, where were you?" Inko asked once again.

Izuku started fiddling his fingers nervously, "W-Well, I-I actually went to m-meet up with my trainer..."

"You went to train even after you just had dinner?!" Inko snapped at him.

"N-No! We just met to talk about our acceptance letters!"

"But why did you have to meet up with him instead of just calling?!"

"U-Um..." Izuku looked down and rubbed the back of his head. "Th-This may sound like an unreasonable reason, b-but... It feels better to hear them congratulate me in person."

Inko then formed a look of sadness on her face, immediately understanding what her child implied. She knew that for all his life, Izuku desired to become a hero, but she also knew that because he was quirkless that no one would support or even say that it was even possible for him to become one. He never received encouragement or praise from anyone of any kind, and even Inko herself hadn't offered as much support as she should have to her son and his dream. And without a father figure in his life, Izuku had no one else he could've gone to actually get comfort from. So for Izuku to have a trainer that constantly encouraged and helped him get closer to the one thing he wanted to do, of courseh he would enjoy the feelings of praise he would get. She knew how much of a pure and innocent boy he was, so she couldn't be mad at him now, especially now that she learned that Izuku had actually gotten accepted to U.A, proving everyone wrong.

_"Oh Izuku... To just want to hear them praise you- Wait a minute."_

Inko formed a look of confusion on her face as she realized a few things that were off about what Izuku just said to her.

"Izuku, did you say you wanted to hear 'them' congratulate you?"

"Huh? Yeah, both of-" Izuku covered his mouth and his eyes widened. _"Oh crap, I forgot that I told her I only had one trainer because I didn't know how to explain Enso to her!"_

"I thought you said you only have one trainer?!"

"I-I actually have t-two t-trainers..." Izuku confessed, staring nervously at his mom.

Inko had a blank look on her face. "All this time you had two trainers and lied about it?"

Izuku flailed his arms, "I-I meant to tell you sooner! But I just didn't know how to explain Enso's situation!"

"Enso? Is that the name of the one who told you to meet him this late?" Inko asked, crossing her arms with a frown.

"N-No! I-It was my other teacher!"

Inko continued to glare at him, with Izuku comedically sweating nervously.

She then let out a sigh and used her thumb and index finger to rub both of her eyes.

"Okay, so clearly there must be something going on with them if you tried to keep the fact that you had two trainers a secret, so I won't ask anymore..."

Izuku formed a look of surprise, "Eh, really?"

"Yes, _but_..." She stared at Izuku again, "I want to meet them to see for myself how they are."

Izuku turned comically black and white in shock.

_"This may be a problem..."_ Izuku thought, thinking about All Might's identity and Enso's... problems.

"I don't have to meet them now. You could introduce me to them once your ready, but the instant you do something crazy again, I'm gonna find them myself."

Izuku began shivering, _"Why does that sound really scary coming from her?"_

"O-Okay mom..." Was all Izuku uttered out as a response.

"And if you're leaving at night, you _have_ to talk to me first." Inko sternly said.

"I-I will..." Izuku nodded.

"Good." Inko got off Izuku's desk chair and went out of his room. "Goodnight Izuku."

"G-Good night mom!" Izuku said before quickly closing the door and letting out a gasp of air. _"Th-That was kind of scary..."_

He shakingly walked over to his bed and plopped facefirst into his pillow.

_"School starts within a week... I wonder what kind of people and quirks I'll see over there."_

His head then shot up from his pillow with his eyes widening in realization.

"That reminds me! I gotta message Momo and Ochako that I got my letter!"

He sat up and pulled out his phone, then seeing that it was nearly nine.

_"It's kind of late... Do I really text them now?"_

As if on cue, Izuku received a message.

Ochako: _Hey Deku. Sorry if it's late for you, but I got my letter today and was accepted to U.A! I would've texted you sooner, but my family took me out to celebrate and I didn't have any good times to text you. Let me know if you've received your acceptance letter and what hero was on it. Mine had my favorite hero Thirteen._

Izuku read her message and smiled, also feeling _very_ relieved that Ochako also got accepted into U.A with him.

_"I like how she immediately assumed that I got accepted."_

A gentle warmth overtook him as he texted her back.

Izuku: _Congratulations on getting accepted Ochako! I got my letter a while ago too but went to do something afterword as well. I got accepted into U.A and All Might was the one in my letter. I'm really happy that we're going to U.A together._

Izuku got up and walked over to his desk, sitting down on his chair still smiling as Ochako sent back another message.

Ochako: _Oh you are awake. I kinda thought you would be sleeping by now. But hi! I knew that you would get accepted into U.A by a longshot. You were amazing after all._

"M-M-Me? A-Amazing?" Izuku repeated with a blush on his cheeks.

Ochako: _What class did you get placed in? I got put into the hero course class 1-A. Your class should be on your student I.D card._

"Student I.D card?" Izuku panicked as he searched around his room until he found the envelope from U.A that had fallen under his bed when he ran to meet All Might on the beach. He pulled out the card and glanced at the class he was in.

He instantly smiled, feeling really giddy as he knew he would immediately see Ochako within the school.

Izuku: _I got placed in class A as well! We'll be in the same class._

Ochako: _That's great! I'm happy that we'll be in the same class. I would've been really nervous to get into a class without even knowing a single person in it._

Izuku: _But I'm sure you'll make friends in no time. You have a really cheerful and outgoing personality after all. You would get along with a lot of people._

There was a long pause between that message before Ochako answered again.

Ochako: _Aw, thank you Deku. That's nice to hear from you. Let's make some friends together, you're a nice person too after all._

"F-Friends..." Izuku could feel his smile get bigger from the thought.

Izuku: _Sure! I can't wait._

Izuku could feel his excitement growing, feeling very glad that he would be going to the same class as Ochako.

"Ah, that's right! Momo!" He then exclaimed. He was about to text her a message, but then wondered something. _"Would she be awake at this hour?"_

Izuku looked up at the ceiling as he thought about it for a few moments, then smiling.

_"Knowing her, she's probably reading something amazing again."_

He texted her a message.

Izuku: _Hey Momo, are you still awake?_

Izuku waited for a few moments for a text back, but didn't receive it.

_"I guess she actually was already sleeping then..." _

He put his phone down and went to get ready for bed, brushing his teeth in his bathroom real quick and changing into his pajamas.

He was about to get back onto his bed before hearing his phone vibrate on his desk. He grabbed it from his desk in the excitement that he would talk to Momo to give her the news.

Momo: _I'm sorry Izuku, I was so absorbed in reading a new book I bought that I didn't notice you text me. I'm still awake if you wish to speak to me._

_"She really was reading a book." _Izuku chuckled, imagining a bubbly Momo excitingly reading a story.

Izuku: _It's no problem at all Momo. Remember when I did the same thing by getting so absorbed in my hero notebooks that I didn't notice you send me two messages? But I just wished to let you know that I received my letter from U.A and I've been accepted. I'll be in class A and even my other friend from the exam will be there too._

Momo: _That's great Izuku! I'm actually going to be in the Class A hero course as well! I can't wait to see you and that friend of yours, which one is it?_

Izuku: _It's the one that I met during the exam, Ochako Uraraka. I actually haven't told her about you yet now that I think about it._

Momo: _Oh, then what about your other friend? The one you said you took the exam with?_

Izuku blinked, "Oh, I actually don't know if he's in the same class. I'll ask him."

He quickly texted Enso.

Izuku: _Enso, what class will you be in for U.A?_

His phone immediately vibrated.

Enso: _Class 1-A._

_"SO FAST!"_

"U-Um... Wow. I really wonder about him sometimes... But yay! We'll all be in the same class! That's amazing!" Izuku said happily.

He then texted Momo back.

Izuku: _He got accepted into U.A too and he's actually gonna be in our class as well._

Momo: _Wow, that's really convenient and amazing for all of us to have the opportunity to meet in the same class. I can't wait to meet your friends. What is the name of your other friend btw?_

Izuku: _His name is Enso Ureshi, he may look a little scary when you first meet him, but I assure you that he isn't that bad of a person._

Momo: _Well I look forward to meeting him and your other friend._

Izuku then wondered something, _"I wonder if anyone Momo knows is gonna go to U.A?" _He texted her a question about that.

Izuku: _Speaking of friends, are any of your friends getting into U.A?_

Momo: _Sadly, none of them were able to make it into U.A, so I'll just know you there. I'll be in your care._

Izuku felt slightly embarrassed when she worded it like that.

Izuku: _And I'll be in your care too. I'll see you soon._

Izuku then put down his phone with a smile, leaning back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling.

_"I can't believe I'm going to be in a class with all my friends."_ He then turned partially blue with a look worry, _"But what if Kacchan is in the same class too!? There's no doubt he did amazing on the exam and I don't think he and Enso would... get along."_

He leaned forward onto his desk, then grabbing one of his hero analysis notebooks and opening it to Enso's page. He had drawn him out in a rather detailed fashion, even drawing the dagger of his he had seen a few times.

Izuku muttered to himself as he read Enso's description of his personality.

"Kacchan really has an anger issue. And knowing Enso, who's very cold and would say something offensive without hesitation, he would push his buttons a lot... I just hope things won't get too out of hand. I may need to talk to Enso about Kacchan before he meets him."

Izuku's eyes stopped scanning the page when he thought more into Enso's personality.

_"He hasn't been sad, happy, or even angry at all ever since I've met him nearly a year ago... He's only kept that emotionless expression on his face every single day. Well, I guess there were a few times where I saw Enso squint his eyes into a different look, such as when he stared at Nezu, but knowing him, he wasn't angry and was more suspicious towards what Nezu was planning for him..."_

Izuku sighed as he tapped the page that had Enso's information on it.

_"I wonder if him not showing emotion has to do with him waking up in a laboratory... What kind of experiment would have been able to completely render him emotionless? It's sad to know that he doesn't have any feelings of enjoyment, I wish there was something I could do..."_

Thinking about this, Izuku stopped tapping his page and a small smile formed in the corner of his mouth. He grabbed a pencil from his pencil holder and excitingly wrote in a blank space on Enso's page. After writing what he was thinking, he lifted up his pencil and stared down at what he wrote.

**"Ideas to make Enso smile."**

**1) Try to help him gain friends.**

Izuku put his pencil down and let out a sigh.

"It's not much of an idea, but it's a start."

He got up from his desk and sat down onto his bed, his head staring outside at the dark night sky as he thought about Enso.

"I hope he at least tries to be friendly."

He then clicked off his lamp, ending the night of celebration.


	9. The Start Of A New Path

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{April: First Day Of The U.A Term}~

"Do you have everything?"

"Yup!"

"Your cell phone?"

"Have it!"

"Your wallet with your school I.D?"

"In my pocket!"

"What about your tissues and handkerchief?"

"Got them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"But are you-?"

"I'm sure mom! I'm gonna be late!"

Izuku was at the front of his apartment, making sure he had everything he needed on him for school with his mother nervously asking him things just to make sure.

"I've got to hurry!" Izuku said as he put on his signature red shoes and quickly opened his front door.

"Izuku!" Inko called out to him.

"What?" Izuku turned back to his mom and saw a small smile with tears in the corners of her eyes.

Inko admired her son in his U.A school uniform. "You look really cool."

Izuku was partially taken aback from this, staring at his mother with a look of wonder. He then formed a determined smile on his face as he left his apartment yelling, "I'm off!"

He started to run down the street with the largest amount of excitement that he's ever had. Today was his first day of school. And not just any school, but the number one hero academy of his dreams, U.A high. He desperately wanted to use One For All to get there faster, but he knew he would get in trouble, (and he didn't wanna disappoint All Might.)

A thought came into Izuku's mind, prompting him to stop for a moment. He pulled out his phone and picked a contact to call, then putting his phone to his ear as he started to run again.

Not even one full ring went by before the person picked up.

_"THAT WAS FAST!" _Izuku thought in shock.

"What is it?" Enso asked over the phone.

"U-Um, I'm heading over to U.A right now! Just checking to see if you're starting to head there yourself."

"I'm actually already in the U.A building." Enso responded.

"Ehhhhh!? Why are you there already?! Classes don't even start until another hour!"

"Nezu called me to come early so that he could speak to me. It didn't take me long to get here."

_"That's still too early!"_

Izuku started to pace himself in a light jog as he started to near the exit of his neighborhood and into the city. "Wait, Nezu called you early? What for?"

"He just wishes to speak about a few things regarding my attendance to U.A. I assume it's to give me some last-minute advice for class. After I'm done there, I'll wait for you near the classroom."

"Alright, see you then!" Izuku then hung up the call and continued to run.

* * *

Enso turned off his watch as he walked through the U.A halls with a few people in them. Some students had let their excitement get the better of them and arrived at U.A much earlier than intended, introducing themselves to some of the teachers walking by and trying to figure out the campus layout. Everyone was wearing their U.A uniforms and Enso was no exception.

It consisted of a gray, buttoned-up long sleeve dress jacket with a white dress shirt underneath it, along with odd dark green dress pants to go with it. He still had the same red tye from his previous suit and had his black wingtip shoes with black socks on to go with it. His hair was slightly combed down, but still loosely flowed behind him. He didn't particularly mind the different look he had, but there was something off about Enso's uniform that no one seemed to notice. It had the same color scheme as the other uniforms, yet it looked different in material.

As if it could change at any moment.

Enso made his way to the principal's office, noticing the nervous looks of the few students staring at him, He guessed that he intimidated them due to his cold red eyes and expression, but didn't care to reassure them on it.

_"Don't they know it isn't polite to stare?" _Enso sighed as he made it to the principal's door and knocked.

"Who is it?" Nezu asked from the other side.

"Me."

"Who's me?"

"You know who."

There was a brief pause on the other side of the door before Enso heard Nezu say, "Come on in."

Enso made sure no one was watching him before sliding the door open and going inside, then shutting the door and locking it behind him. He then came across Nezu sipping tea at his desk, taking a satisfying sip before putting his cup down.

"Good morning Enso! How nice of you to visit me just before you start your first day of school." Nezu chuckled.

"You were the one that forced me to come." Enso rebutted.

"Now, now, don't say it like that. Just think of me inviting you for company." Nezu chuckled.

"So you say..." Enso walked over to a chair in front of Enso's desk and sat down, staring at the principal. "So, what was it you called me for?"

Nezu clasped his hands together in front of him on his desk, "Well, first off, I assume you got my message in your letter?"

"Yes, I got your request for me to try and make the best out of U.A."

"Good, so you'll be trying then right?"

"Trying what?"

"Why, to make friends of course!" Nezu said with a smile.

"I don't really plan on it." Enso responded with no hesitation.

"Ouch. Well, I kind of figured you'd say that. But I'm not here to give you a speech about why 'friendship' is important and that you should make friends, that's for later. Right now, I just wanted to offer you a warning."

"A warning?" Enso repeated in interest.

Nezu nodded, "As I've learned from your story, you are a very dangerous person and have clearly experienced many things throughout your life. Under normal circumstances, I would've reported you to the government and have them settle your situation, but yet, here you are now, about to have a normal student's life because in the best hero school there is.

"If you really thought I was dangerous, then why let me attend here?" Enso asked.

"Because I thought that you should deserve a chance to prove that you can become a hero as I have."

"And you just assume that I have what it takes to become one?"

"Why yes, I do think so. You do remind me of myself after all."

Enso raised an eyebrow.

Nezu looked up at the ceiling as he thought about himself. "Your situation was similar to mine. Being experimented and waking up not remembering anything about yourself, becoming somewhat hostile to people because it was the only thing you became familiar with. But after receiving plenty of help to improve my condition, I was able to live alongside humans and ended up becoming one of the most respected living beings here in Japan. So after hearing your story, I decided to help you out as others have helped me, to help you find your own path to happiness."

"So you only decided to help me out of sympathy?"

Nezu looked back to Enso and chuckled, "Well, I didn't know whether or not I should've even believed your story when you told me it, but judging by how Izuku wasn't violently injured by you and that you haven't taken One For All from All Might despite having many chances to do so, you were most likely telling the truth in my eyes, so it wasn't just sympathy. I believed that you genuinely wished to help both All Might and Izuku."

"I see... So what is it that you wish to warn me about specifically? About my behavior?"

"In a way, yes. The only staff that knows the truth about you are All Might, Recovery girl, and me, so don't go acting too suspicious or the other staff in U.A may try to look into you more. If they do try to research you, they won't find anything of course, but that's the problem."

"Why not just make fake information about me then?" Enso asked him.

"You really think our staff, expertly trained and experienced pro-heroes, wouldn't be able to figure out if someone's entire information page is fake? They have instincts for that and would become even _more _suspicious of you and possibly even me if we were to try that."

Enso crossed his arms, "So what are you suggesting? That I try to blend in with the shadows and avoid interacting with others?"

"No, no, no, I actually want you to go around making friends and show the world your power to become a hero. But you would look suspicious if any pros trying to recruit you didn't have any info on you-"

Enso cut him off, "Were _you_ not the one that told me not to draw too much attention to myself earlier in the year? Yet, you're encouraging me to show off and even join other heroes in the future?"

Nezu waved a hand, "Now, now, let me finish. Yes, I did say not to gather too much attention to yourself, but I knew that sooner or later you'll gather attention anyway from demonstrating any amazing feats in school activities."

"So then what are you planning to do to 'help' me with my situation then?" Enso asked.

"I actually already did something beforehand to make it that people don't get skeptical of you. I made a fake alibi for you that has a complete 'explanation' about your past!" Nezu proudly stated.

"And that's _definitely _not fake information," Enso said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Now, now, it won't be a complete lie, it might not even be lying at all, just vague. I've already explained to the teachers that you've spent many years within a laboratory and have obtained amnesia as side effects from experimentation. You were then 'found' by a hero, All Might, and were taken in by me so that I could have you attend U.A for rehabilitation from the harsh and mental trauma caused to you by these experiments."

"I see, so you're planning to make me a 'victim' of the sort?"

"Yup! You could say that I 'adopted' you after All Might 'found' you. Of course, that doesn't mean that you should go around telling everyone this. This is mainly for the teachers, media, and maybe even your classmates if they ask you a lot of things. Cases of quirk experimentation aren't that uncommon as you think after all, so people will understand what you're going through."

Enso tilted his head, "Well, I suppose it works. Did you tell Izuku or All Might about this 'alibi' you made?"

"Just All Might, he'll be sure to use it to anyone that gets really nosy about you. Be sure to tell Midoirya as soon as you can."

"But what about my connection to Izuku? What if people think we're 'friends'?"

Nezu tilted his head, "But you are friends aren't you?"

"..." Enso turned his head and looked out the window. "I suppose."

"Then there shouldn't be much of a problem. You both just conveniently met and became close friends. That's it. Don't think too much into it."

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind." Enso got up from his seat, but Nezu spoke again.

"There's still something else that I wish to discuss."

Enso glance at the Nezu and saw that he had a more serious expression on his face.

"What is it?"

Nezu leaned forward in his chair, "This should be self-explanatory, but violent acts towards your fellow students or the staff are forbidden. Murdering or violently overdoing it against any villains is out of the question. If you harm anyone in a heavily violent way not fit for a hero, if you resort to using your otherworldly methods and take any lives, then your entire life here will be done."

"Even if I have to kill someone to save more lives?" Enso retorted.

There was a moment of silence between the two, with Nezu backing up in his chair and still giving off an intense stare.

"What makes you assume that you would _ever_ have to something like that?" Nezu asked him.

Enso kept his eyes on Nezu, "There are always those few people that are so insane, so psychotic, that if they keep on living, then innocent lives would be lost. Those are the types of people that can't be contained. They always find a way out of wherever you store them and cause more havoc. Those are being that I categorize as... 'monsters'. They have no sense of humanity left, therefore they can't be saved."

"You aren't the one to decide who gets to live and who doesn't. I don't know what types of places were those other worlds you've been to or what type of people you've... gotten rid of, but here, murder is frowned upon by society and will ruin your life. Heroes make sure to save the innocent and defeat evil, but they aren't the ones who decide who gets to die."

"So if I finish off the monster, or 'villain' as you would put it, that' wouldmassacre everyone in this world if he lives, then I would be treated as a villain?"

Nezu looked down at his desk in almost what seemed to be a shame.

"Yes... You would, so don't do anything of the sort. Here in U.A, you'll be taught how to become a professional hero to ensure that it'll never get to that point."

Enso closed his eyes and let out a disappointed sigh, _"So that's really what type of world this is..."_

Nezu put on a small smile and stood up straight on his chair, putting his hands behind his back.

"You said so yourself that you wished to change the way you did things, didn't you? Try to live up to that claim please, there is always a way to avoid bloodshed. I hope you find that way for the sake of yourself."

"Yes, sir." Enso muttered.

"You may leave for class now."

Enso stood up and turned around, heading to the door.

"Enso."

Enso stopped, not looking back at the principal.

"Don't do anything that _you_ know you'll regret."

"..." Enso said nothing and left.

* * *

Izuku stopped running and laid against the wall of the train station, slightly panting from running all the way from his house to there. He wasn't that tired though, as all the exercises he had been doing with Enso helped him get used to running as a whole. He stood up straight and searched around the area, looking for a specific person that he had said he was gonna meet this morning for the first day of school.

Suddenly he heard her voice; "I told you I'm not interested!"

Izuku glanced in the direction of the voice and saw his female friend currently getting hit on by a tall, black-haired teen.

"Aw come on, don't be like that! I just wanna give you some company." the teen said, clearly meaning more in what he said. Momo was near a pillar of the train station, with the tall teen placing a hand on the pillar next to her head to try to look cool.

"I'm currently waiting for someone already!" Momo snapped at him.

The teen began getting visibly annoyed, "You don't have to act so cold you know."

_"Uh oh, looks like she's having trouble with another guy."_

Izuku started to step over there when Momo's eyes then caught sight of him, instantly making her smile. "There you are, we need to hurry or we'll be late for school!"

"Eh? We still have time-" Izuku was suddenly grabbed by the hand, surprising him and turning red as Momo dragged him away in a run.

"Wha-? Hey!" The tall, random teen called out to Momo as she and Izuku ran away and towards the train that was just arriving.

Once they were within the train, Momo let go of Izuku's hand and sighed.

"Sorry about that. I just wanted to get away from there."

Izuku was shivering nervously as his face turned red. _"I-I-I just held hands with a g-g-g-girl!_"

"You alright?" Momo asked, noticing Izuku's tense body.

He nervously glanced up to Momo, "I-I-I'm fine... I-It's good to see you again M-Momo."

Momo then gave him a close-eyed smile, "Good morning Izuku. It has been a while."

Izuku could feel his nerves calming down by just her smile, now smiling himself.

They both went to take a seat, only to notice that every seat on the train was taken, leaving only the spaces for standing around available.

_"Guess we're standing..."_ Izuku and Momo both thought as they held on to the poles of the train, then feeling the train shift as it left the station.

After remaining in silence for a moment and gazing out the train windows at the city passing by, Momo turned to Izuku and started up a conversation.

"I'm glad that you were able to get through the exam without any problems Izuku."

"If you don't consider that giant robot a problem..." Izuku sweatdropped, remembering the scariest experience of his life so far as he stared out at the buildings.

Momo let out a small chuckle, "Was that robot really as huge as you described?"

Izuku looked up at her. "Oh, believe me, I didn't expect it at all. I've researched the previous entrance exams for U.A, but none of them had something that insane... But in the end, it turned out well. Even though the robot was worth zero points, it ironically gained me even more points than I expected."

"You did mention that there were hero points and villain points, but you never told me how many points you obtained."

Izuku slightly looked down with a hand on his chin in thought, "Let's see... I got 67 villain points from destroying robots, and 60 from saving Ochako... So I got 127 total points for the exam."

"127!?" Momo exclaimed in shock. "That was you?!"

Izuku was surprised by her question, "Wh-What do you mean by, 'that was me'?"

"Ah." Momo coughed into her hand, clearing her throat and regaining her composure. "I apologize for my sudden outburst, but... After acceptance letters were released, there was also a list of scores that were also leaked of those who passed. There weren't any names on the lists, there were scores from what I heard. I began hearing a lot of rumors about two people who did the best on the exam by an exceeding amount of 127 and 168 points. Many of the students I knew in my junior high wondered if those people cheated for getting a score that high."

Izuku looked rather sad to hear that, "People really think we cheated?"

Momo nodded. "Sadly, yes. After all, there weren't any people in the past that were able to-" She blinked, cutting herself off. "Wait, did you say 'we'?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head as the train stopped and boarded more people. "Um, yeah... I was the one to get 127 points, but my friend that took the exam with me got more than me."

Momo was stunned, "You said your friend was named Enso Ureshi right? He got the 168 points!? Just what kind of person is he?"

Izuku let out a small chuckle, "I mean, it makes sense that he got more points. He's more experienced than me after all..."

Momo tilted her head curiously, "Really? What kind of experience has he had?"

Izuku flinched, _"I can't exactly tell her what he's been doing in previous worlds..."_

Izuku rubbed the back of his head nervously, "W-Well... H-He told me he's traveled to many places before. He h-hasn't really told me how he got all of his fighting experience, but I'm guessing he must've trained under _some_ people."

"I see. How did you learn how to fight Izuku?"

"U-Um..." Izuku scratched his chin, _"Should I tell her that Enso trained me? It doesn't really expose anything..."_

"E-Enso was actually the one to teach me a few things as a favor to me." Izuku said.

Momo smiled, "I sort of guessed that was the case since the two of you were the ones on top of the exam. You both must really be amazing."

"Th-The reason we were able to get so many points was because of the 'hero' points that we didn't even know about. We were just lucky." Izuku quickly sputtered, feeling slightly embarrassed to be called amazing.

Momo shook her head side to side, "I beg to differ. U.A knew exactly what they were doing, especially if they decided to throw in the zero-point robot. If you got that high of a score on the exam, then clearly it's because you've earned it by proving yourself in the way that they wanted to see, that you're willing to throw yourself in to save others as any hero would."

Izuku avoided a direct look at Momo from embarrassment, still turning red. "W-Well, if you put it like that, I guess I really did _earn_ all my points then. A-And now I'm finally starting on my life long dream to become a hero!"

Momo smiled at his happiness, "When did you first decide to become a hero?"

Izuku suddenly turned back to her with a bright smile and stars in his eyes, "I've wanted to be a hero ever since I was little! I saw All Might save about a dozen people during a fire crisis! He had a smile on his face when he rescued people left and right, showing no signs of fear or worry! Ever since I saw him smile inspirationally like that, I wanted to be a hero just like him! To save people with a smile, reassuring them that everything was okay!"

Momo couldn't help but smile at his heroic innocence, "Heh, sounds like you've been quite inspired during your childhood. Was there anyone else that you looked up?"

Izuku went on with his rambles, saying exactly what was on his mind. "Yeah! When I was in kindergarten, I looked up to my childhood friend! His name is Katsuki Bakugo, but I call him Kacchan! Back then, he never seemed afraid to do anything! He was always able to do whatever he had his mind set to and I always looked up to him by how strong he was! I still admire him now even after he-", at that moment Izuku's voice got quiet as he recalled what changed about his childhood 'friend'. His smile slowly faded away and he lowered his arms, eyes now looking down.

Momo's smile also faded away, getting worried as she noticed how depressed Izuku suddenly got. "Is something wrong?"

Some of the bright green colors in Izuku's eyes dimmed down, his head stared down at the ground and his grip tightened on the pole he was holding onto.

_"What makes you think you could be a hero!? You're quirkless!"_

His pupils shrunk.

_"Your Deku, a useless nobody who can't save anyone!"_

His hand trembled.

_"If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it. Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!"_

"Izuku!?" Momo called out again, a little louder this time.

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, the color of his eyes returning to him. He shook his head to snap out of it and looked back up to Momo.

Momo leaned forward with a worried expression, examining Izuku's face. "Are you alright?"

Izuku slapped his cheeks with his hands and took a deep breath, then smiling back to Momo. "Y-Yeah I'm fine. I just remembered a few things..."

"Did they have to do with Bakugo?" Momo asked in all seriousness.

"Um, w-well..." Izuku looked down as he scratched his chin nervously.

Momo stood up straight, "Please let me know if something is troubling you Izuku."

Izuku took a deep breath, still looking down at the ground. "I-It really isn't much! It's just that... Wh-When Kacchan manifested his quirk, he kinda changed. He became more violent and aggressive to the point where he would bully others that he saw weaker than him. I kinda… had to avoid him after that. I'm just kind of sad that he changed, he was such a good friend at the beginning..."

Momo stared down at Izuku with a sympathetic look, "I see... so you admired your friend before because he was strong?"

Izuku looked up at her more cheerfully, "Yeah, he's got an amazing quirk! He could use his sweat in order to make explosions from his palms! It's still one of the best quirks I've ever seen!" Izuku said, smiling for a moment before looking sad again. "I just wish he would be... nicer."

Momo sighed, "Well, I may not know too much about your friend, but I do know that it's not uncommon for people to let their power go to their heads. The arrogance those people have usually come from an idea that they constantly have about themselves or others."

Izuku formed a sad smile, "Yeah, Kacchan doesn't want anyone to think lowly of him in terms of power or skill, so I guess he just 'demonstrates' his power to others to assert dominance... But I know that he really wants to become a hero at U.A! To me, that's a good thing, because I can't imagine how dangerous he would be as a villain."

"Oh, he's going to U.A as well?" Momo asked, feeling concerned after hearing about Bakugo already.

"Oh, I never told you he was aiming for U.A did I? He always talked about attending U.A and becoming the number one hero. Honestly, I kind of hope I'm not in the same class as him. His pride in being the 'best' may have been wounded since I got higher than him in the exam... I just hope he doesn't jump out at me like he did to another kid..."

Momo frowned, "The way you described him gives me a clear image of how detestable and violent he is. I hope he at least attempts to act professionally in U.A rather than assault another classmate."

"D-Don't worry! Kacchan wouldn't do something _that_ stupid in U.A, I think... He wouldn't want to get expelled on his first day of school."

Momo began to feel curious about something. She had been listening for a while now, taking in Izuku's description of Bakugo and remembering Izuku's own life of lacking friends. Something didn't feel right to her about both of these things.

"Izuku." Momo got his attention.

"Hm?" Izuku tilted his head.

"Did Bakugo ever do anything to you?"

So many things popped into Izuku's mind, yet he didn't say any of them. He didn't want to say any of them, he didn't know whether it was because it hurt to talk about it or because he was actually worried about what would become of his childhood tormentor if he did say anything. That question had only ever been asked by his mother, and even then, he never told her the entire truth.

"U-Um-"

Before he said anything, the train came to a sudden stop, catching Izuku off guard and jerking him forward.

_"Eh?"_

Izuku reached his hands out to grab one of the poles of the train at an attempt to regain his balance, but failed to do so. He closed his eyes and prepared to slam face-first onto the ground.

Instead, he felt his face get cushioned between two soft and roundish objects.

_Boing!_

_"Boing?" _Izuku repeated, eyes opening to a make a blank look on his face.

Now while he didn't fall onto the ground, he clearly landed on something. The first thing he saw was the close-up gray color of a U.A uniform. Confused, his eyes looked up to see Momo looking down at him with a wide-eyed, open mouth expression of shock. She had gripped onto the poles of the train, making herself stay in place and not fall over when the train stopped. But Izuku had been thrust forward and landed facefirst into her cleavage, making her own face turn completely red from the pure embarrassment she was currently feeling.

It only took Izuku a moment to realize what was going on. The unfamiliar softness, the two round shapes, the nice smell he picked up, he knew that his face was in a forbidden zone.

His face instantly turned red as he shot back with widened eyes and an agape mouth.

"I-I! Um! I didn't m-mean to-! I-!"

Momo hugged her breasts as she closed her mouth and glared at Izuku with piercing eyes. Izuku noticed the jealous looks of guys and the disgusted look of girls around the train, the attention make him more than just nervous.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" Izuku shouted, bowing down in a ninety-degree angle.

Momo simply turned her back to Izuku and gave a loud, "Hmph!"

Izuku turned comedically black and white in shock.

* * *

Toshinori knocked on the door of the principal's office, feeling slightly nervous as to the reason he was suddenly summoned there.

"Come in." Nezu called from the other side of the door.

Toshinori slowly slid open the door to the office, then peaking his head in. "You wished to see me Nezu?"

Nezu was looking down on his desk, writing onto a sheet of paper, "Ah yes, Toshinori, come in and lock the door behind you."

Toshinori immediately knew that the matter would be of a serious topic, so he locked the door and stepped over to one of the chairs.

Not looking up yet, Nezu continued to write as he spoke. "Sorry for calling you here on such short notice, but I wished to speak to you about one of my concerns."

Toshinori nervously sat down, "What kind of concern?"

"Well, it's about our acquaintance."

"Enso?" Toshinori asked aloud.

"Call him Ureshi while in school, we don't need the other students and teachers to think that you favor him do we? Anyway, I spoke to him just earlier and decided to summon you here on what he and I spoke about."

"I see... If you summoned me here, then I assume that he might've said something serious?"

Nezu stopped writing and placed his pen down, then clasping his hands together atop the desk and gazing at Toshinori with a serious look. "You may know this yourself already, but I need you to keep a very close eye on him."

"What did he say?" Toshinori asked in worry.

"Well... He said that if things come to it, if he has to resort to murdering a villain in order to save many lives, then he would do it. Remind you of anyone?"

Toshinori flinched and looked down in shame.

"Well, I guess with you, we don't know if you actually killed him or not, but all the same, I don't want him trying to do the same thing."

"Yes sir, I'll make sure that never happens." Toshinori stated.

Nezu leaned forward in his chair, "I know you feel guilty about doing what you did back then. You may not regret doing it, but I don't want that boy to make that same choice you did. He's been lead down the wrong path far enough. If he does something terrible now, then he'll continue going down that dark path."

Toshinori stood up. "I promise to do my best to watch over him and young Midoirya."

Nezu smiled, "I know you will All Might. He may never be able to take back what he's done in previous worlds, but he can make a difference in this hero society. Him and Midoirya both, I just know it."

Toshinori formed a small smile as well. _"I do too..."_

"You may leave now."

Toshinori bowed before walking out of the principal's office. He glanced at the many students walking down the halls in excitement as they arrived for their first day of school. He started to walk down the hall as well before looking outside at the brightly shining sky, then taking a moment to stop and admire the beautiful blue color.

_"Enso believes that a monster will come here. Does he really think that he has to finish it off himself? And he claims that whatever kind of villain I faced before, that the villain who'll come will be even stronger than him? Is that really true? No, I'm overthinking it, I haven't even told him what 'he' was capable of. I'll have to tell Enso about that villain sooner or later... him and young Midoriya."_

Toshinori then caught sight of familiar green hair near the entrance of the gate, following a tall and slightly angry black-haired girl from a distance.

_"Today is the day that you and Enso start to prove yourself what kind of hero you'll become. Do your best."_


	10. Quirk Assessment Testing

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Izuku had his head down as he walked towards the U.A gates, feeling ashamed, embarrassed, and overall just awful. He slightly rose his head and looked ahead at Momo already walking passed the gates ahead of Izuku, looking back at him with a look that he was sure was a glare. When they made eye contact, she quickly turned her head forward, with a small shade of red developing on her cheeks.

Izuku had never felt more embarrassed in his life, everyone on the train had seen him plant his face right into Momo's breasts, even if it was by accident. Although she was wearing her school uniform, Izuku was still able to detect the holy softness that was unfamiliar to him, making him turn even redder than he currently was by recalling the feeling. If he felt embarrassed now, then there was no telling how Momo was feeling at the moment.

The rest of the train trip was awkward for him, as jealous guys kept glaring at him while girls gossiped about him, muttering "pervert." Momo didn't say a word for the rest of the trip but kept her back facing Izuku without as much of a word. When the train finally arrived at its destination near U.A, Momo was the first to get off and walked ahead of Izuku at a distance, ignoring Izuku's attempts to apologize to her several times.

As Izuku got to the U.A gates, he stopped walking and watched from afar as Momo went into the U.A building without even looking back at him. _"I really made her mad... I hope she doesn't hate me now..."_

Izuku thought about Momo for a moment, then standing up straight with his head high and putting on a determined expression. _"No! I know Momo by now! She wouldn't hate me over something like this! I hope... She just needs space for now! I'll just have to focus on U.A right now and somehow madly apologize to her later!"_

Feeling more strong-minded, he marched straight into the U.A building, getting a few weird looks from other students as they saw him suddenly slam his feet into a straight stance.

"Let's see, Class 1-A…" he muttered as he followed a few signs and went up some flights of stairs, quickly rushing to make it to his class. He didn't see Momo along the way so he assumed that she had rushed to class as well, seeing that it was just about to start. It didn't take him long before he finally came across a giant door, labeled **"Class-1A"** on it.

Izuku's eyes widened by such a huge door, "I-Is it for accessibility!?"

He looked down at the ground and shook, "I-I really hope that I don't get placed in the same class as any scary people like Kacchan or that one tall guy from the exam..." He took a deep breath.

"Oh well, here goes!" as he said this, Izuku grabbed the handle and slid the door open with determination.

"Don't put your feet on the desk!" The dark-blue haired teen with glasses from the exam yelled at the blonde explosive disorder teen.

_"GOD DAMN IT! THEY'RE BOTH HERE!" _Izuku shouted in his head.

"Huh?" Bakugo shouted with arrogance to the tall teen, still keeping his feet on his desk.

"Don't you think that its rude to the U.A upperclassmen and the people who made the desk?" asked the teen in glasses as he made a chopping hand gesture.

"Nope! What junior high did you go to you side character?!" Bakugo shouted back with an evil grin.

Izuku had a blank look on his face as he heard that, _"He really thinks he's a protagonist of some story? I might've believed it a little if he actually acted like it..."_

The engine teen with glasses put a hand in the air, "I attended Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Iida!"

"Eh? So your some sort of elite hardass huh? I'm gonna enjoy crushing you!" Bakugo snapped in a threatening tone.

Iida was taken aback by Bakugo's claim, recoiling back a bit. "What?! Crush!? Do you really intend to become a hero?"

Izuku sighed, _"I guess he'll never change…"_

It was at that point that Bakugo and Iida both noticed Izuku standing at the doorway.

"You are..." Iida began to speak, his eyes recognizing Izuku. This caused the rest of the class, who were already sitting down, to turn their attention towards Izuku.

Izuku immediately tensed up and started to sweat nervously. _"Th-They're all looking at me!"_

Iida stopped speaking to Bakugo and began to march towards Izuku, "Good Morning! I am from Somei Private Academy! My name is-"

"I-I heard you just now! T-Tenya Iida!" Izuku cut him off before he went on a whole speech.

Iida stopped in place, readjusting his glasses. "I see."

Suddenly, Izuku heard a voice behind him, "Hey Deku! It's so good to finally see you again!"

"Eh?" Izuku turned around to see Ochako standing there with a bright smile on her face.

Izuku immediately felt his worries float away as he saw her smile, then smiling himself as well. "Oh! Ochako! It's good to see you again!"

Ochako's smile turned into a flustered expression as she looked down and fiddled her fingers. _"I'm not used to hearing my first name so casually like that yet..."_

Momo was sitting in her seat in the back of the room when she heard Izuku call the girl 'Ochako', turning her attention at the small group. _"Ochako? He's calling her by her first name as well? That must be the girl he saved at the exam."_

Iida then coughed, getting Izuku's attention once again. "Izuku Midoriya correct? I must apologize for my previous suspicions towards you during the exam... Not only did you pass, but you even deciphered the true meaning of the exam, earning yourself well-deserved hero points. I hate to admit it, but it's clear that you're better than me!" he said, clenching his hand into a fist to his chest and crying comically.

Izuku felt embarrassed by his praise, as he still wasn't that used to getting it. He flailed his arms in front of him, "N-No I didn't figure out anything during the exam! I just saw O-Ochako in trouble and went to save her."

Iida shook his head side to side, "Still, even if you didn't know about it, the fact still stands that you're better."

"N-No really! I-I'm-" Izuku blinked in a realization, "Hold on, how did you know about the hero points? Did you get some as well?"

Iida nodded, "Yes, I was able to receive some generous hero points when I helped the girl behind you get out of the rubble while you destroyed the zero-point robot."

Everyone was quiet as the small group spoke, but the instant Iida mentioned Izuku obliterating the zero-point robot, nearly everyone sprang up in excitement.

"Eh!? That's the guy?! Was he the one that literally one-shotted the zero point robot?!" yelled a yellow-haired boy with a black lightning bolt design in his hair.

"No way! He really punched something that huge!?" shouted a short, purple-haired boy with his eyes bulging.

Bakugo's pupils shrunk as he listened to the claims everyone was making about Izuku. Feeling his fury begin to grow at the thought of Izuku doing something that outrageous.

_"There's no way! He's just a quirkless nobody! There's no way that he was able to do something like that and get into U.A! He cheated, he must have!"_

Bakugo remembered at school when his teacher wished him and Izuku good luck in attending U.A, learning that Izuku actually got accepted into the school. He tried to confront Izuku about it after school that day, only to see the boy suddenly run out of the school faster than he had ever expected.

Bakugo still thought that Izuku was quirkless, he _knew_ he was, so of course, his conclusion to explain everything was that Izuku had cheated to pass.

_"I'll fucking kill that nerd!"_

As he thought all of this, Izuku had his back facing Bakugo, yet he could feel his back getting drilled into by the murderous gaze of his childhood tormentor.

He was sweating nervously more than ever now, _"Please don't jump at me, please don't jump at me, for the love of god Kacchan please don't jump me!"_

In addition to worrying about Bakugo, some of Izuku's new 'classmates' want up to him and Iida to get their attention, asking questions about what happened during the exam.

"Did you really one-shot that robot!?" A black-haired boy with rolls of tape in his elbows asked Izuku.

"U-Um, well I-"

"You punched that giant robot in order to save a girl?! That's the manliest thing I've ever heard!" A spiky, red-haired boy said with comedic tears in his eyes and a fist over his chest.

"Why are you crying!?"

"Excuse me, Iida-chan was it? How was he able to punch that robot? Gero." A frog-like girl asked.

Iida put a hand on his own chin in thought, "When I saw him, he immediately ran towards the robot and used the falling debris as a footing for him to go up."

"He actually _ran_ up in the air!?" A pink-skinned girl shouted in amazement.

"Th-That's a bit of a stretch..." Izuku corrected.

Ochako started to chuckle, "I guess everyone thinks your amazing Deku."

"I-I didn't do much..." Izuku said faintly as he glanced around the room to avoid eye contact with anyone.

However, he caught sight of Momo staring at him from her seat, no longer maintaining a glare on her face and had a rather curious look instead. Izuku shyly waved to her, but Momo pouted and her face formed a shade of red, turning her head away from Izuku and gazing out the window instead.

_"Yeah, figures..."_ Izuku thought as he sighed.

The door then slid open once again, prompting everyone's eyes to turn and look at who arrived.

Enso stood at the doorway wearing his 'U.A uniform' with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a small Japanese schoolbag reluctantly. Everyone was silent upon his entry, although Izuku was smiling to see him there.

"Hey Enso. You're actually wearing the uniform!" Izuku stated, admiring the different look he had. He then formed a puzzled expression. _"But why does it look... off?"_

Momo's eyes widened and she was surprised to hear his name, _"Enso? Enso Ureshi? That's the boy Izuku is friends with!?"_

Enso noticed Momo and looked over in her direction, his eyes making her shudder for a split second.

_"Just a simple gaze is enough to make me feel uneasy... Izuku wasn't kidding when he said that he looked rather intimidating."_

Enso took a step inside and turned his head to scan the rest of the class, to which his blood-red eyes seemed to flash for a moment at them, making many of the students shudder.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Enso. _"The same edgelord from the exam..."_

Izuku looked back and forth from his stiff class to Enso's cold glare. He then waved his arms in front of his friend, "E-Enso! Don't you think you should say something rather than just stare at everyone!?"

"Not really."

_"No hesitation!?"_

Iida decided to be the one to approach Enso, "Excuse me."

Enso turned to him, squinting his eyes to Iida. "Hm, you were the one that accused Izuku and I of planning to do something malicious during the exam.

Iida formed a look of shame on his face, "Yes, I know what I did. Therefore..." he then bowed in a ninety-degree angle. "I must apologize to both of you for my foolish assumption! It was not fitting of me to accuse you both like that!"

Enso looked down as Iida bowing, then sighing, "It's okay."

"Thank you for forgiving me!" Iida shouted, straightening himself out.

Ochako leaned near the side of Enso and took a good look at him, recognizing the boy. "Oh! You're the one who made all the wreckage stop in the air!" she exclaimed.

Enso turned to her, "You are..."

"Ah, you may not remember me. I was the one that Deku saved from the giant robot, Ochako Uraraka. It's nice to meet you!"

Enso tilted his head to the side, "Deku?"

"I-It's what she calls me... It's not an insult though, I swear!" Izuku told him.

"I see..." Was all Enso said back.

_"Man of a few words isn't he?" _Most of the class thought as they sweatdropped.

Izuku used his hands to present Enso to everyone near him, "Th-This is Enso Ureshi! He's... Well, he's... I actually don't know what to say about him..."

"Well, It's good to meet you! I hope we get along!" Ochako said cheerfully.

"Likewise." Enso muttered as a response.

Enso's eyes then caught sight of someone he detested, narrowing his gaze in on Bakugo glaring back at him.

"What are you doing here?"

Everyone glanced to Bakugo.

Bakugo put his feet down from the desk, "Huh? What the hell do you mean red eyes?"

"We have the same eye color though."

"Shut up and answer the question!" Bakugo snapped back.

Enso fully turned to face him. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, this is supposed to be a place for 'heroes.'"

A vein of irritation emerged on the side of Bakugo's head, he slightly rose from his seat and opened his palm. "What the hell are you implying by that?"

Izuku turned black and white, _"No,no,no,no! Don't do this Enso!"_

Momo noticed the look of worry on Izuku's face and Bakugo's threatening aura. _"Is that his childhood friend?"_

"Um, do you two know each other too?" Ochako asked, feeling the tense atmosphere around her.

"I've never talked to this shit head in my life! What gives!?" Bakugo demanded to know.

"You know what gives. You know what you've done." Enso coldly answered.

Bakugo's eyes widened and his eyes shot to a scared Izuku, _"That fucking nerd... Did he... actually tell him!?"_

"You-" Izuku covered Enso's mouth before he could say anymore. "H-he didn't mean anything at all Kacchan! He's just mistaking you for someone else!"

_"Kacchan? So it is his 'friend'." _Momo thought curiously.

"If you're all gonna start a fight, then go somewhere else." A new tired voice said.

Everyone stopped and looked down at the ground to see a man in a yellow sleeping bag staring at them.

"Ehhhhhh!?" Izuku and most of the class cried out.

The man stood up and unzipped his sleeping bag, stepping out of it reluctantly. He was a slender man with messy shoulder-length black hair and had an overall worn-out appearance, looking like he just got out of bed with his eyes tired and droopy.

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, nice to meet you." he said, looking unamused.

_"Homeroom teacher!?"_ the whole class thought in disbelief.

Aizawa then reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a number of P.E uniforms, tossing them to the students.

"It's kinda sudden, but put this on and go onto the field. Don't make me wait." He then left the room as quickly as he was in it, leaving everyone completely confused as to what happened.

Enso examined the U.A gym uniform and gripped onto it, being the first one to leave the room.

But before he left, he turned to look at the class, although mostly at Bakugo, and said one last remark.

"I guess as long as you have an amazing quirk, it doesn't matter what type of person you are."

He then left the room.

Bakugo could feel his blood boil, _"I'm gonna kill this bastard!"_

Everyone began whispering as to what Enso could've meant by that. Momo specifically was thinking about what Enso said Bakugo 'had done', glancing over at Izuku, who was overly worrying.

_"Izuku... does it have to do with you?"_

* * *

"A quirk assessment test!?" Nearly everyone in class 1-A shouted in shock, hearing their teacher already testing them. Everyone had changed into their gym uniforms and went out into the courtyard, although Izuku actually didn't see Enso anywhere until they reached the courtyard, where he mysteriously appeared in the gym uniform already.

"But what about the opening ceremony!?" Ochako shouted.

"The orientation!?" Izuku added.

"If you're going to become a hero, then you won't have time for such pointless events. U.A's main appeal is how unrestricted the school is in decision making, the teachers take advantage of this for their teachings." Aizawa stated.

"So, your school prioritizes teaching students to improve themselves as soon as possible, making so that they can learn to become heroes faster and start saving lives that are in danger even as we speak?" Enso asked him.

"Hm?" Aizawa glanced at Enso with an unamused look. _"He's the one that Nezu told me about."_

"This kid gets it. So to start off with this improvement we want out of you, I'll be having you do the quirk assessment tests to see exactly what you all can do." Aizawa pulled out a phone from his pocket and showed a list of exercises to the students.

"You know how you did physical fitness tests in junior high? This will be like that, but you will be using your quirks to go even further in your scores."

_"I knew this already, but U.A really is serious about us becoming heroes." _Izuku thought as he looked around to his confused classmates.

"Now then, Ureshi, since you were the one to get the highest score on the practical exam, walk into this circle." Aizawa instructed, pointing at the white circle outlined on the ground.

"Huh, highest score? So he was the one that got 168 points!?" The yellow-haired, electric teen exclaimed.

Before anyone could say anything, Aizawa turned to them all with menacing red eyes. "Shut it."

Everyone kept silent.

Enso walked into the circle with his hands in his pockets.

"I want you to send this ball as far as you can using your quirk. You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle." As Aizawa said this, he tossed Enso a small softball which he caught easily.

Enso glanced down at the softball, wondering which one of the countless ways he should do to send it flying.

"Come on now… We don't have all day." Aizawa said impatiently.

"Fine..." Enso sighed as he turned to Aizawa, "You're not getting this back."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow as Enso tossed the ball a few feet in the air above himself.

_"What's he doing?" _Izuku wondered.

Before the ball came back down all the way, it suddenly stopped in place within the air.

"Eh?" Many classmates uttered out.

A blue aura formed around the ball and a similar aura surrounded Enso as well, his eyes changing blue too as he pointed a finger forward. The ball disappeared without a trace from his fingertip, vanishing into thin air.

"Huh!? Where'd it go!?" The short purple-haired boy asked as his head frantically searched around for any sign of the ball.

Enso turned to them and pointed his finger forward in the sky. "There."

Everyone turned to see that the big, white clouds that were previously clumped together in the sky were completely dispersed now, scattered in all directions into smaller clouds.

"What the hell!? I didn't even see it!" the elbow-tape boy exclaimed.

Izuku looked down in thought with a hand on his chin, "So he went into his Punk Style in order to send the ball flying using his telekinesis? He must've easily been able to send it out the atmosphere by how light and simple the ball was to lift, but what is his weight limit in lifting objects and how far could he actually send them? Could he send human beings out into space? That would be scary to think about, but Enso never demonstrated doing this so could he even do it? It is a possibility for him to be able to do so- Mutter, mutter, mutter..."

"Izuku, your muttering again." Enso stated from afar.

Aizawa looked at the results of Enso's throw, seeing the infinity symbol on it. He sighed and looked back up at the boy, "I guess I'll just count that as an infinity."

"Whoa!" was the reaction of the whole class.

Aizawa then turned towards them, "You have just three years to become heroes, so we can't waste our time being chummy with one another."

"What the hell?! I don't even understand what happened!" shouted the purple-haired short boy with ball-like hair.

"What's this? It looks fun!" shouted the pink-haired, tinted pink-skin girl.

Hearing that, Aizawa looked up, "It looks fun?" He then formed a sadistic smile on his face as he looked towards the class, "If you really think it's 'fun', then how about this? Whoever comes in last place within the tests will be judged to have no potential at all and will be punished via expulsion."

"WHAAAAAT!?" Everyone cried out instantly.

"H-He can't be serious! It's the first day!" Izuku said.

"He's absolutely serious." Enso warned him.

"He is!?"

"B-But... This isn't fair!" Ochako cried out.

"Life won't be fair to heroes or people. If life was fair, then there wouldn't be any need for heroes. There wouldn't be problems that higher-ups would have to fix. Murder, robbery, assault, there are so many things that aren't fair to others, yet only certain people actually have the ability to do something about it." Aizawa stated to the class.

_"That's the reality..." _Enso thought.

"Give your Plus Ultra performance, there's no way you'll ever become real heroes if you don't." Aizawa finished.

From there, the rest of the tests began.

**50-Meter Dash**

The first two to go to the starting line were Enso and Iida. Iida started to stretch while Enso clapped his hands together and closed his eyes.

"Snipe Style."

Izuku perked his head up, _"Snipe Style!? Another style I haven't seen yet?!"_

Enso suddenly started to glow a yellow aura around him with his eyes matching the color. He and Iida then crouched down into a sprinters stance as they waited for the starting pistol.

A small robot held the pistol up, **"On your mark, get set, go!"** He pulled the trigger and the pistol shot up.

Iida's engines blasted him forward for a quick start, leaving clouds of dust behind him as he did so. Enso on the other hand, instantly disappeared from his spot and almost appeared just as fast at the finish line, with the robot shouting **"1.2 seconds!"** as his score. Then Iida finished across the finish line, **"3.04 seconds!"**

"What the hell?! I didn't even see him move! Did he teleport!?" Shouted a few of the students.

"Would you all stop shouting each time you see someone do something?" Aizawa grumbled in annoyance.

Enso dusted himself off as he walked off the track, his yellow aura and eyes fading away.

Iida glanced at Enso in some frustration, _"I could only go in third-gear for such a short distance... Yet he could go that fast just fine... I need to improve!"_

Then came Izuku and Bakugo's turns to attempt the dash. They both went to the starting line.

_"How much of One For All should I use? If I use 100% of it, then I'll be breaking my legs, but if I only use just the 5% I could use, then I feel like I won't be going as fast as I should. Guess I should find a between."_

Bakugo glared at Izuku as they both crouched into a runner's stance, _"Time to show this nerd how useless he is. There's no way he could beat me without a quir-"_

Izuku then channeled One For All throughout his body, green electricity and orange skin glowing with bold red veins.

There were a few 'Oooooo's' from the class from the light show.

Bakugo could feel his blood burning, _"What the fuck!? This nerd actually has a fucking quirk!? There's no fucking way! Did he fucking lie to me all this time?! Did he think he could keep that from me!? Why!? I'll kill him!"_

**"Ready, set, go!"**

The starter pistol went off.

Bakugo didn't hesitate as he successfully launched himself forward by unleashing two large explosions behind him, followed by many smaller explosions to keep him going forward at the same speed.

He looked back with an evil grin, expecting to see Izuku not even close to him.

What he didn't expect, was to see Izuku manage to just fly past him ahead.

_"What the hell!?"_

Turns out, instead of attempting to run the entire distance of the track, Izuku had decided to try to do it all in one jump. He invested more power than usual into his legs and feet, using One For All to basically explode forward and leave a small crater behind him. It did hurt his legs quite a bit due to over exceeding his limit, but he didn't break them, which was a win in his book as he flew over the finish line.

**"3.15 seconds!" **The robot shouted for Izuku's score. "

**"4.13 seconds!" **It shouted for Bakugo.

The only problem was that while Bakugo was able to land gracefully, Izuku still didn't know how to land with his legs in pain. He ended up tumbling along the dirt ground before stopping on his back with his eyes swirling.

_"Ow, ow, ow! I guess that's what I get..." _He thought as his mind became fuzzy.

Bakugo had his head down with his hands shaking in anger. He looked at Izuku from the corner of his eye as the veins from his eye bolded out red. _"Deku, you fucking bastard... You kept something like that hidden and even passed me?..."_

_"Fast..."_ Momo thought in awe. She then caught sight of Enso near her and walked over to him. "Excuse me."

Enso turned to her. "What is it?"

Momo couldn't help but feel uncomfortable by his attitude, "I just wished to introduce myself. I'm-"

"Momo Yaoyorozu. I know."

"Eh? How?" Momo recoiled.

"Izuku spoke highly of you."

Momo felt her cheeks slightly warm up, "He did?"

Enso nodded. "He told me that you were rather intelligent and also analytical when it came to looking at heroes. He explained the amazing abilities you have. He actually thinks you're better than him."

"He does?" Momo glanced over at Izuku getting up and dusting all the dirt off of himself.

Enso also glanced over at Izuku. "Yes. Although, I guess a part of that is due to him lacking self-confidence."

"Huh?" Momo turned back to Enso. "Lack of confidence? Why's that?"

"You don't know? I figured that you were close enough for him to tell you why by now." Enso said as he turned back to her.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. Izuku hasn't mentioned anything of the sort."

"So he hasn't told you then?" Enso said as he raised an eyebrow.

Now Momo was worried. "Told me what?"

Enso slowly looked over at Bakugo glaring at Izuku, "Perhaps I'm not the one who should tell you about 'him'."

Momo peeked over Enso's shoulder and witness Bakugo's threatening look and Izuku's nervous stance.

_"Did something really happen between them?"_

**Grip Strength Test**

Izuku held the grip machine in his hand, watching the other students attempted to grip their machines as much as they could.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, channeling One for All into his hand and pouring more amounts of power by the second. His hand felt some cramps of pain as more power over his limit was used, but he dealt with it up to the point where he heard a loud crunch. He then opened his eyes to find the handle of the grip machine crushed in his hand.

"Wh-Whoops."

He then heard another crunch next to him.

Izuku turned to see a smushed device in Enso's palm as well, with Enso in his white-aura Brute style.

"Whoops." he said as well.

Izuku couldn't help but laugh.

**Standing Long Jump Test**

Enso formed a blue aura around himself and lifted himself off the ground with his telekinesis, slowly and gently moving him across the area for the maximum amount Aizawa let him.

_"Huh, it seems he has troubles using his telekinesis on people. Or is it just himself?" _Izuku wondered.

Izuku did the same thing he had done at the 50-meter dash, blasting forward using more than he should of One For All, although he managed to land on his feet, he immediately fell over from the pain in his legs.

**Side Stepping Test**

Enso's body and eyes glowed yellow as he moved side-to-side so fast that he created after images of himself.

Izuku's legs were slightly stinging from overexerting One For All twice, but he invested a small bit of power in his body as he performed his sidesteps.

**Soft Ball Throwing Test**

Bakugo went into the outlined white circle, rotating his arm and stretching it. He brought his arm back and his grip tightened around the ball.

_"There's no way I'm letting that nerd beat me here."_

"DIE!" He threw the ball with a heavy explosion behind it, sending it launching into the air with destructive force.

"Die?" Izuku repeated with a comedic blank look on his face.

"Why is he like this?" Enso couldn't help but ask.

**"705.2 Meters"**

Then it was Izuku's turn to throw the ball, walking past a smirking Bakugo.

Izuku got into the white circle and stared down at the ball in his hand.

_"I don't wanna break my arm again... I'll just have to use the five percent of power I can use."_

Izuku rotated his arm and green electricity came from him.

Aizawa stared intensely at Izuku, expecting to see something out of him.

Izuku pulled his arm back with a serious look on his face, Bakugo glared at him and Enso stared as well with his arms crossed. Everyone waiting patiently for Izuku to throw the ball.

He swung his arm forward and launched the ball with some power, it wasn't even close to Bakugo's force, but it was still something with just 5% of his power.

Aizawa didn't look amused as he watched the ball fly through the air all the way to it's landing.

**"256 Meters!" **The robot shouted.

Izuku let out a small sigh as he started to walk back towards his classmates. _"Guess that's it then."_

He then felt some scarves wrap around him.

"Eh?"

He was yanked backward.

"GYAH!"

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw their teacher drag Izuku towards him.

The next thing Izuku knew, he was staring face to face with his teacher. Aizawa's eyes were red and his hair was floating above him, gripping onto his scarves tightly as he glared at Izuku.

"You were the one who destroyed that giant robot, weren't you?"

"Y-Y-Yes sir!" Izuku cried out in fear.

"You claim that, yet I haven't seen a single thing from you that proves that."

Izuku blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

Aizawa released Izuku from his grasp, loosening the grip of his scarves and pulling them back to himself. "Remember what I said? Give everything your Plus Ultra performance. I thought that you were trying to do your best in each exercise, but now it's clear to me that you've been holding back all this time."

Bakugo's eyes widened, _"He held back!?"_

Izuku nervously stumbled on his words, "B-But, y-you see... I-I can't really-!"

"Quiet."

Izuku flinched and became silent.

"I won't tolerate not giving it your Plus Ultra in my class. It would defeat the point of trying to get you all to grow as fast as you can. If you don't do something right now to make up for the rest of the tests you lacked in, then I'll expel you right here."

Izuku could feel himself shaking, "I-I..." He looked down. "I'll do my best..."

Enso walked forward, "Sensei."

Aizawa turned to him, "What?" he snapped.

"Could it be... that you haven't actually seen when Izuku destroyed that robot?"

"No, I wasn't there to watch the exam."

"I see... That explains it then. That's all I wanted to ask." Enso stepped back, nodding to Izuku.

_"Guess I'll have to show him..." _Izuku thought nervously.

Momo turned to Enso as he backed up, "What did you mean, 'that explains it'?"

"Did Izuku tell you what happened to him when he destroyed that robot?" Enso asked her.

"Yes, he told me that he wasn't able to find a way to land."

"So he _didn't_ tell you then. That boy sure is keeping things from you..." Enso stated.

"What?"

"Wait and see."

Momo focused her attention back to Izuku, who looked slightly nervous as he stepped back into the circle.

Izuku held the ball into his hand as he worried about doing his 'Plus Ultra' performance. "Um, sensei? Is Recovery Girl in today?"

Aizawa nodded at him.

Izuku let out a small sigh of relief, _"Okay then, I guess that makes me feel a little bit better... No holding back now."_

Izuku gripped the softball tightly as he brought his arm back, focusing the entirety of One For All within his arm. The green, orange, and red colors flashed once more around him and the ground began to shake from the intensity of the power.

"Uh oh." Ochako muttered as she and Iida backed up, knowing exactly what kind of force Izuku would cause when he unleashes the ball.

Izuku then let loose.

"SMAAAAASSSSSH!" He shouted as he yeeted the ball to the air with all of his might.

A giant shockwave was created as the ball blasted through the air with enough force to produce powerful winds that blew everywhere and caused dirt to kick off the ground all over the place.

Some used their arms to shield their eyes from the dirt, some screamed in fear by the sudden force, and some people even fell backward onto the ground from the sudden overwhelming force.

As the winds died down, clouds of dust surrounded the area Izuku had just stood. Everyone who fell slowly got back to their feet and tried to recover from the pressure, waiting for the dust to clear up.

After feeling impatient, Enso punched the air in front of him and created enough air force to disperse all the dust in one shot, revealing Izuku standing in a small crater.

A few people gasped as they saw the state he was in.

Izuku's right arm hanged loosely with an unhealthy red color, visibly swollen up.

Everyone was frozen.

Yet Enso was the one to walk forward to the boy, "You could've just told him what would've happened you know..."

Izuku used his left arm to hold his right one, small tears in the corner of his eyes from the pain. He managed to put up a smile as he looked up at Enso.

"I-I had to show him what my Plus Ultra-performance looked like firsthand!"

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. _"This kid… He had that much of a drawback to his quirk?"_

**"4237.56 meters!" **the robot shouted.

"He punched that robot all right!" yelled a tall muscular boy with big full lips and brown spiky hair.

Ochako had widened eyes and was completely worried, "D-Deku your arm!" she cried out.

Enso helped to pull Izuku out of the crater, with Izuku just letting out a small chuckle despite the pain he was going through.

"D-Don't worry about it! I'll just have Recovery Girl heal me up!"

Iida also had a look of concern, "It's just like what happened in the exam. You had to sacrifice your arm in order to produce enough force to defeat that robot."

"I-I wouldn't say 'sacrificed'" Izuku said.

Momo had a look of horror on her face. She never knew that Izuku had done something like this in order to destroy the giant robot. He didn't tell her anything about breaking his entire arm to do it, most likely so that he wouldn't worry her about it. But now after seeing the amount of force and the drawback of it, she couldn't imagine the absolute pain Izuku was currently feeling, nor could she imagine how it must've felt when he did the same thing against that giant robot.

"He did that… to his own arm?" she whispered to herself, eyes widened completely. "How… How many times has he done that to himself?"

Being used to shockwaves from his own quirk, Bakugo was barely fazed by the sudden force. But he was still utterly shocked by the sheer power that Izuku demonstrated in front of him. He was confused, stunned, and furious to no limit.

_"Everyone's quirks are supposed to manifest at the age of 4, what the fuck is going on here!? He never showed anything even close to this before!"_

He rushed towards Izuku with his palms open, "DEKU YOU BASTARD! TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" With each step he took, explosions emerged from his hands.

Izuku saw Bakugo rushing towards him and flinched, "K-Kacchan!?"

Aizawa noticed Bakugo's murderous intent, his eyes glowed red as he prepared to immobilize the ticking time bomb with his steel alloy like cloth.

But he didn't expect to see someone else act before him.

"Snipe Style"

Enso disappeared from Izuku's side and appeared right next to Bakugo as he ran, his head right by his ear.

The world appeared to move in slow motion as nearly everyone hadn't even registered that Enso moved yet. Bakugo barely noticed him appear from the corner of his eye, only picking up the yellow color of an aura next to him. His head was slowly turning and his eyes slowly widening as he processed Enso's presence right next to him while he ran.

_"When did he-!?"_

"Do you really think you can become a hero with that attitude of yours?" Enso whispered in a low, threatening tone, his eyes intensely glowing yellow.

Bakugo's pupils shrunk in anger.

He attempted to lift his right arm in an attempt to blow Enso away from him, but Enso had already spun behind him at lightning speeds and grabbed the arm Bakugo just attempted to use.

_"How did he get so fast in just a moment!?"_

Enso pulled Bakugo's arm behind him and gripped onto his other arm before forcing Bakugo onto the ground with a slam.

"Wh-What the hell!? Get the fuck off me edgelord!" Bakugo yelled as he attempted to free himself from Enso pinning him down, but not succeeding.

Enso leaned down close to Bakugo's ear again, "Let me make this clear. This school is for people aiming to become heroes, people that fight to save others, not to fight for yourself. With the way you're acting, you're more of a villain than a hero, especially with what you've done in the past. Even though I don't deserve to tell you this, I'm going to anyway. If you keep going on this path, your short temper and selfish pride will only cause you and others trouble, especially in life-threatening situations. So if you really do desire to be a hero, then I suggest that you grow up already." Enso whispered.

Aizawa wrapped his scarves back around his neck, but he couldn't help but notice Enso's stance when he took Bakugo down. _"He had a perfect form and easily took him down. He knew exactly what he was doing. He seems too experienced..."_

Making note of that, Aizawa went back to being a teacher.

"Bakugo, Ureshi, you're both causing a ruckus. Stop or I'll expel you both on the spot."

Enso waited until Bakugo stopped struggling before releasing him. He stood up and walked back towards Izuku, not even looking back at the blonde boy.

Bakugo got up and felt his wrist, which Enso had just grabbed in order to pin him down. He then brought his head up with a look of pure rage.

_"I'm gonna kill him!"_

Izuku was shivering from witnessing such an event. _"H-He took down Kacchan! He's really gonna be mad now!"_

"Wow, he's a scary guy." The electric teen said.

_"Izuku was really friends with him?" _Momo thought after viewing just how far Bakugo nearly went in his actions.

After the last test was completely finished, the total results were calculated and Aizawa put the rankings on a holographic screen.

1) Enso Ureshi

2) Izuku Midoriya

3) Momo Yaoyorozu

4) Shoto Todoroki

5) Katsuki Bakugo

6) Tenya Iida

7) Fumikage Tokoyami

8) Mezo Shoji

9) Mashiro Ojiro

10) Eijiro Kirishima

11) Mina Ashido

12) Ochako Uraraka

13) Koji Koda

14) Rikido Sato

15) Tsuyu Asui

16) Yuga Aoyoma

17) Hanta Sero

18) Denji Kaminari

19) Kyoka Jirou

20) Toru Hagakure

21) Minoru Mineta

Izuku smiled to see that he was second on the list, but was also surprised to see that Bakugo had actually gotten fifth place. He heard the panicked cries of the short boy with purple ball hair who saw that he was last on the list.

Aizawa then smiled, "Oh yeah, I was just lying about the expulsion, that was just to bring out your best performance." he said.

"EEEEEEHH!?" Nearly the whole class yelled.

"Well, of course, he didn't mean it." Momo said, making it sound obvious.

"Eh? Really?" Izuku muttered.

"He was serious." Enso declared with his arms crossed.

"Y-You could tell?"

"Yes. Although, I don't know why he isn't being honest about it.

Aizawa's smile was gone by now as he started to walk away with his hands in his pockets. "Well, that's all for today. Prepare for another hard day of work tomorrow."

Enso and Izuku watched as their teacher walked around the corner of the building.

"Such an odd teacher." Enso remarked.

"N-Now I remember who he is! That's Eraserhead!" Izuku said in realization.

"Eraserhead?" Enso repeated.

"H-He has a quirk that can erase quirks when he keeps his eyes open."

"Interesting..."

As all of this was going on, Bakugo was the only one still staring at the rankings for the quirk assessment.

_"Again..."_

His palms were partially bleeding by how tightly he was balling his hands into fists.

_"Fifth place... Fifth, fucking, place!"_

He turned his head and had his eyes glaring at Enso and Izuku.

_"Why the hell is this happening?"_

Aizawa scratched his head as he went around the corner of the building, only to find All Might standing there with his yellow suit.

**"Aizawa you liar." **All Might cheerfully said.

Aizawa looked unamused, "All Might, so you were watching? Don't you have too much time on your hands?"

All Might pointed at him, **"I had some free time to check on the new students! But more importantly, we both know you were lying about not expelling them! You punished a whole class of first years with expulsion, judging them to have no potential at all! Since you didn't expel _any_ student, then that must mean that you see potential in everyone in this class, am I right?"**

Aizawa was momentarily silent before walking passed All Might, "You talk too much. I just didn't see them as weak that's all."

**"But to think you decided not to expel a single student, that group must be very impressive!"**

"Whatever you want to think about it." Aizawa said as he walked.

But then he stopped in place for a moment, his back facing All Might.

"All Might."

**"Hm?"**

"About that one student Nezu told the teachers about, Enso Ureshi."

**"Wh-What about him?"**

"What do you know about him? Nezu said you were the one that found him after all, so wouldn't you have more knowledge about him."

All Might felt unsure of what to say, but cleared his throat in a cough, **"W-Well, while you are indeed correct that I found him, there isn't much that I know about him."**

There was a brief silence between the two, before Aizawa said a brief, "I see." and started to walk off again. "If you really were the one that found him, then I hope he isn't as much of a nuisance as you are."

All Might simply watched as Aizawa walked towards the school building.

He then started laughing, **"Ah, just as I thought! You and I will never get along!"**


	11. Momo and Izuku

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

"Really!? I thought you had already figured out how to stop blowing up your limbs!" Recovery Girl scolded Izuku, knocking him on the head with her cane a few times.

"Ow! Ow! B-But I had no choice! Aizawa Sensei would've expelled me if I didn't!" Izuku blurted out as he tried to use his unbroken arm to protect him from Recovery Girl's wrath.

After class had ended, Izuku had immediately gone to the nurse's office to get healed up by Recovery Girl, accompanied by Enso who had changed out of his gym uniform and back into his U.A uniform rather quickly when no one was looking.

"Should a school nurse really be hitting a student?" Enso asked her.

"U.A is known for how unrestricted it's school traditions are! That also applies to staff like me who could teach you youngsters a lesson about actually taking care of your body!" Recovery Girl said angrily.

"Fair enough."

"I-I'm really sorry..." Izuku apologized.

Recovery Girl sighed, then puckering her lips and kissing Izuku's arm.

*CHU!*

Izuku felt the pain of his broken arm fade away but his stamina drained in the process.

His eyes were droopy, "Explain to me why I couldn't just have a bean again?"

"You want me to waste something valuable when you just go to Recovery Girl instead?" Enso shook his head.

"R-Right..."

"You really gotta be careful with your quirk sonny! Even though you got a bit of a hold on it, you can't be abusing your body like this! Otherwise, there might be a time that I can't heal you." Recovery Girl said as she began wrapping Izuku's healed arm in bandages.

"But at least I'll have the-"

"Those beans don't matter! Even if you use them, there is still always a chance that your body gets a permanent effect from getting so heavily injured!" Recovery Girl snapped with angry fumes.

"I'm sorry!" Izuku yelled.

_"Oh boy..."_ Enso thought.

After they said goodbye to Recovery girl and headed out into the now-empty hall, Izuku eyed Enso's suit. He knew that there was something off about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Enso caught the boy eyeing him, "What is it?"

"Oh, um... I've just been kind of curious. When I saw your U.A uniform before, it looked... 'different' from all the others. I don't know why, but there was something off about it, like the material was different or something." Izuku expressed his thoughts.

"Oh, there's a simple explanation for this." As Enso said this, he tapped his watch and a 'beep' sound was heard.

Izuku then reeled back in shock as he suddenly saw the color scheme of Enso's suit change into the black suit he had before.

"EHHHH!?" Izuku's eye bulged out. "What did you do!?"

"Simple, I've upgraded this suit over my travels. Think of it like leveling up equipment in an RPG. I've had it enchanted so that it provides me extra armor and other protective abilities. It won't rip easily, if at all, and I could change the colors anyway I want."

"Were you literally in a world that was like a video game!?" Izuku asked in disbelief, eyes shining with stars as he had an amazing smile.

"Don't get too loud, even if there isn't anyone else around, you never know when someone may come out of nowhere."

Izuku formed a look of shock and realization, "Ah, sorry..."

"It's nothing that surprising anyway. As I've said before, this is the first piece of clothing I've obtained so I always make sure to keep it in good condition." Enso continued.

"So how strong is it then?" Izuku asked, curiously pulling the material.

Enso swatted his hand away, "It's only a suit, so I can't make it particularly _too _powerful. But I managed to make it resistant to magic or elemental attacks. The other things are just a few boosts in defense."

"Is it gonna be your hero costume?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Obviously."

"Interesting..." Izuku pulled out his hero notebook and began updating Enso's profile.

However, when writing about Enso, Izuku realized another thing.

He turned his head to him, "Enso! What was that other style you used at the quirk assessment test?! You also never gave me a description of that 'Brute style' you used during the practical exam either!"

"Hm? Oh, as time progresses and you get stronger, then I'll introduce them to you." Enso responded.

_"No fair!"_

* * *

Nezu cheerfully laid back in his office chair, humming happily.

_"Quite the first day. Enso already made quite an impression on his classmates with such a performance at the quirk assessment test. Of course Aizawa would be that strict on them for their very first class, it was hilarious to see so many students panic at the thought of being expelled."_

Nezu leaned forward and examined the files of both Enso and Bakugo.

_"Although I don't exactly approve of Enso pinning down one of his fellow students, I guess it works in demonstrating how far they have to grow. But if my calculations and knowledge of teachers are correct, then 'he' should be coming right-"_

Nezu heard a knock on his door.

_"Bingo."_

"Come in!" Nezu cheerfully called out.

The office door slid open to reveal Aizawa standing there, looking worn-out as always.

"Ah, Aizawa! Come in!" Nezu motioned him in.

Aizawa stepped in and closed the door behind him, keeping his focus on Nezu.

"You know why I'm here."

_"Of course I do." _Nezu thought to himself.

"Oh my, what do you mean?"

Aizawa narrowed his eyes to him, "That particular student you brought in, Enso Ureshi."

"What about him?" Nezu asked rather curiously, wondering what sort of suspicion Aizawa would have about him.

Aizawa moved on to the important matter, "There is something off about him."

"Oh? It's not like you to just invest yourself in matters involving students like this Aizawa." Nezu pointed out with a smile.

"But you know something about him don't you?" Aizawa asked, ignoring the principal's questions.

"Of course I know things about him. I helped admit him here to U.A after all!" Nezu said cheerfully, giving a good poker face.

There was a brief moment of silence between them, Aizawa stared at the principal while Nezu just kept a cheerful expression on his face.

Aizawa then sighed and turned to the door, "I see, so that's how it is. Things should be fine then."

_"Hm?"_ Nezu still kept his poker face. "What do you mean Aizawa? You weren't thinking that Ureshi would do anything bad did you?"

"He's much too experienced. Although you said that he was a result of quirk experimentation, experience doesn't come with that. What I saw in his eyes and movement was a reflection of the experience he's had. But if you already knew that about him and still let him come here, then I shouldn't waste time thinking about it."

_"Well then, that was easier than I thought. I was about to go on an entire speech too."_ Nezu chuckled.

"He's a special one Aizawa."

"Of course he is, All Might found him after all, so he's gonna be annoying to deal with..." Aizawa slid the door open, "See ya."

"Work hard!" Nezu called to him before Aizawa closed the door.

Nezu then started to let out small laughs and leaned back in his chair, "Oh Aizawa, so serious when it comes to the safety of people, but when he knows someone else is taking care of something, he just leaves things as they are as if he doesn't care. How amusing."

* * *

After stopping by the now empty locker room for Izuku to change out of his gym uniform, he and Enso made their way outside of the school.

"I didn't think we'd have a quirk assessment test _and_ I would break my arm on the first day of school..." Izuku chuckled, raising up his bandage-wrapped arm.

"You heard Aizawa though, prepare for another hard day tomorrow." Enso warned him as he reached the front doors and held one open for the boy.

"Thank you for the warning, but I'm pretty sure I've already had all the 'hard days' when I broke more than just my arms with your training..." Izuku said with a blank expression, remembering some painful and unnatural cracks his body made during Enso's training sessions.

Leaving the building, they began walking on the path towards the gates.

"In the end, your muscles fibers did get rather stronger. But you still have to do a lot more if you wish to be at a level even close to All Might."

"I know, I know, I haven't even beaten your first style yet... That's my goal for now."

Enso then stopped walking.

Izuku took about two steps forward before noticing him stop, turning his head to him.

"What's wrong?"

"A princess needs her prince." Enso answered with his gaze focused to the U.A gates.

"Eh?" Izuku had a blank look on his face. He turned his head and looked at where Enso was staring, his eyes then widening in surprise.

Momo was standing at the gates, her heading looking down with a rather concerned expression. She hadn't noticed that Izuku had exited the U.A building yet, as she was currently in deep thought.

_"Was she waiting for me?!" _Izuku wondered.

Enso walked passed Izuku and turned back to him, "She looks like she has to talk to someone. And I know that there's only one person for that."

Izuku knew what he meant before he even finished, forming a serious look on his face and nodding in agreement.

"I will see you again tomorrow." Enso said, giving Izuku a farewell and walking off to the gate.

"Goodbye." Izuku said loud enough for him to hear.

Enso sped up and walked passed Momo, who noticed him walk by and snapped out of her deep thoughts. She glanced back at him, wondering why Izuku wasn't with him, before then looking forward and seeing the emerald boy walking towards her, although rather nervous.

He raised a hand up in a hello, "H-Hey Momo." he stammered.

"Good evening Izuku." Momo answered back, trying to sound cheerful, but Izuku could see the concern in her eyes. He didn't even get the chance to ask what was wrong before Momo suddenly asked, "Could you lend me a few minutes of your time?"

He nervously gulped down air.

"S-Sure. L-Let's start walking back to the station together."

Momo nodded in approval.

They both walked at an even pace and headed away from the U.A gates, with Izuku feeling his eyelids dropping. He shook his head side to side and slapped his cheeks to keep awake.

_"I really don't have much stamina left because of Recovery Girl..."_

The two didn't get far from the gates before Izuku suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh?" He turned around and saw Iida and Ochako standing behind him, discovering that it was Iida's hand that held him

"Hello, Midoriya. Is your arm alright?" the engine boy asked.

"Y-Yeah it's fine!" Izuku quickly answered, his body stiffening from the sudden shock of the two being there.

"Are you sure? It looked painful when you broke it... again." Ochako asked as well, looking up as she remembered her hero jump up to the giant robot and smash it not long ago.

"Y-Yeah! Really, I'm okay!" Izuku reassured them.

"Um..." The three turned to Momo, who was curiously examing the two newcomers. "Tenya Iida and Ochako Uraraka, correct?"

"Yeah! You're Momo Yaoyorozu if I remember. That was amazing when you made an _actual_ cannon and blasted the softball out of it!" Ochako told her with a happy smile.

"Thank you. You were rather impressive yourself to have gotten a score of infinity on that softball throwing exercise. That is quite a quirk you have." Momo said, forming a small smile back.

Ochako rubbed the back of her own head in embarrassment, chuckling with a small blush, "Aw, that was nothing."

"Midoriya! I must say your performance today was outstanding!" Iida praised Izuku, moving his hands around in absurd gestures.

Ochako turned to Izuku, "Yeah Deku! You were so cool! Especially when you completely sent that ball flying with all that power! That was amazing!"

Momo's eyes widened, and she looked rather confused. "Deku? I heard you call him that name before. Are you insulting him?"

"N-No Momo! The nickname isn't as bad as you think! She's speaking it in a way of saying, 'you can do it!'" Izuku frantically explained.

Iida raised an eyebrow when he heard Izuku call Momo by her first name.

"Yeah, like dekiru!" Ochako added on, looking worried that she may have made Momo angry.

"But... Bakugo called you the same thing..." Momo said to Izuku, looking rather doubtful.

"Th-That was, U-Um..." Izuku scratched his chin, unable to lie about what Bakugo clearly meant when _he _called Izuku by that name.

Knowing that something was wrong, Momo turned to Iida and Ochako with a serious look, "If it isn't too much trouble, I have to discuss something important with Izuku here."

Iida's eyes widened in a look of realization after hearing Momo refer to Izuku by his first name as well. "I see! We're sorry for interrupting your time together!" he turned to Ochako, "Come Uraraka, we have intruded on them long enough! Let us leave these lovers to have their personal time together!"

Momo went from calm to completely red in no time. Her eyes widened and her mouth becoming agape from the sudden claim. "What!?"

Izuku also turned completely red, but he took it a step forward by having steam literally erupted from his head by how flustered he was.

Ochako blinked with a look of surprise on her face, her cheeks turning a shade of red.

Izuku flailed his arms in panic as he attempted to speak, "N-N-N-No! It isn't like that Iida!" he blurted out rather quickly.

Iida put his hand on his chin with a confused look, "It isn't? But you both seem so close that you're both referring to each other by first names, so I assumed-"

Momo, still looking rather embarrassed, managed to keep herself composed enough to explain, "There were some special circumstances that led up to that. He saved me one time, then one thing just led to another..."

_"That sounds exactly like an explanation you would give if you were both going out!" _Ochako thought, looking dumbfounded.

"I-In all honesty, I don't really know how i-it started happening..." Izuku stammered, fiddling his fingers in embarrassment.

"So, you're not together then?" Iida asked, still rather confused.

"No!" Momo and Izuku blurted simultaneously, both still red.

"I see! Then I must deeply apologize for my assumption!" Iida shouted, bowing in a ninety-degree position and getting a few weird looks from students passing by.

"Y-You don't have to apologize Iida! I-I call Ochako by her first name as well! I just refer to people that way out of a habit!"

Ochako lightly blushed.

"But... you didn't refer to me by my first name." Iida said, getting back up and looking puzzled.

"U-Um." Izuku awkwardly scratched his own chin, avoiding to look at Iida. "I-In all honestly, calling people by their first names was just a bad habit I picked up and I've been working on stopping that. Y-You looked a little scary to me so I was extra careful not to call you 'Tenya' and risk making you mad." Izuku explained.

"I see! I apologize for looking the way I do!" Iida shouted.

"Don't apologize for that!"

"We should be on our way." Momo urged, not wanting this conversation to get more awkward than it already was.

"Y-Yeah! W-We'll be off now! Bye guys!" Izuku stammered before walking off with Momo next to him.

Iida and Ochako watched the two walk away together, the sun making their figures appear as silhouettes in the distance.

Iida had a somewhat serious expression on his face as he went into thought, "Quite peculiar. I wonder how he picked up a habit of referring to others by first names."

Ochako chuckled, "I find it kind of cute. It makes him seem really innocent."

Momo and Izuku walked down the street now completely alone, both of them quiet and in an awkward atmosphere due to what Iida had said before. It wasn't until they were turned a corner when one of them spoke.

"I-Iida sure is e-earnest isn't he?" Izuku asked nervously, trying to start a conversation to break the awkwardness.

"Yes, he sure is. It's not really a bad thing." Momo replied, her gaze remaining forward.

Both teens continued to walk in silence.

_"What do I say now?!" _Izuku frantically wondered, sweating nervously. _"Wait, Momo did say that she wanted to talk to me before, so..."_

"U-Um-" Izuku looked down, still embarrassed. "-y-you said that you wanted to t-talk to me, right?"

Momo stopped walking.

Izuku stopped a couple of steps ahead and looked back at her, flinching when he saw a serious expression on her face.

_"Is she mad!?"_

She walked closer to the boy, her head looking down at him. "Izuku, how many times have you hurt yourself when using your quirk?" She finally asked.

"Huh?" Izuku looked perplexed.

"Your arm... You broke it so suddenly in just one throw. How many times have you done something like that? How many times have you ended up hurting yourself that much from the drawback of your quirk?"

Izuku avoided eye contact at Momo as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"W-Well at first, I kept breaking all of my fingers and my arms whenever I used my quirk..."

Momo cringed when she heard that.

Izuku saw her reaction and flailed his hands in front of him, "B-But don't worry! I've learned how to control much more of my quirk so my body only hurts if I push it over the limit!"

"Okay." Momo said, crossing her arms and looking rather unconvinced. "Then how did you destroy that giant robot at the exam?"

_"Urk!"_

Izuku started sweating nervously.

"Th-Th-That was one time to save Ochako! A-And it wasn't even because I couldn't control my power! I knew I had to use all of it in one punch in order to save her! Besides, I've been used to pain long before that!"

Momo's eyes widened with a small look of fear, "What... What do you mean by that?"

_"Crap!"_

Izuku took a deep breath, calming himself down. _"Okay Izuku, I know your TERRIBLE at lying, so you have to say something that's technically true if you want to get Momo to believe you."_

Izuku looked up to her with a more serious, yet nervous look, "M-Momo, I know what I said sounds concerning, but it's nothing to worry about. The reason I've been used to pain before was... well, because it was necessary for me to experience it to be able to use my quirk."

Momo blinked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Izuku stared down at his bandaged arm with a sad smile, rubbing it with his hand. "You see, when I first manifested my quirk, there was no way my body could contain the power I used. I broke my arms and fingers several times just _trying_ to learn how to control my power."

Izuku tightened his grip around his own arm, "But I ended up getting a trainer... He told me that if I wanted to be able to use my quirk without hurting myself, then I had to rip apart my muscle fibers _and _grow my muscles so that my body would be able to handle using my quirk, even if only a part of it. To break my muscle fibers, my trainer had me go through some... 'painful' exercises."

"Oh my..." Momo started to understand now. "That must've been quite painful." She shivered as she thought of so many painful ways Izuku could've ripped his muscle fibers. But she did let out a breath of relief, head looking down, "But at least I know it wasn't because of someone else inflicting pain to you with ill intentions."

"Y-Yeah, now I could use different amounts of my quirk just fine!" Izuku reassured her.

"Alright, but another thing." Momo said raising her head up with a serious look once more.

_"What now!?" _Izuku shouted in his head, feeling nervous again.

"Our classmate with the explosive quirk, Katsuki Bakugo, he's the 'Kacchan' that you've been telling me about, isn't he?"

Izuku looked rather confused, "Y-Yeah, he is."

Momo narrowed her eyes.

_"She's angry!?"_

"What did Bakugo mean when he demanded that... 'you tell him what was going on?' And what kind of meaning did he have when _he_ called you Deku?"

_"Oooooooooooooh boy, I don't think I could talk my way out of this one."_

Izuku fiddled his fingers, head shooting in all directions, "U-Um, w-well you see… the reason Kacchan asked me that w-was…"

He got quiet for a moment, Momo waiting patiently for him to answer.

He sighed and held his hands up in surrender, "Alright, I'm going to be completely honest. Wh-When you feared that someone inflicted pain to me..." Izuku looked down, his eyes shadowing. "Th-That was true."

Momo's eyes widened, "What?"

"It had to do with my quirk, or rather... when I didn't have it."

"Didn't... have it?" Momo repeated.

"Y-You see Momo, for most of my life..." Izuku's hands clenched into fists.

"I was quirkless."

Now there was something Momo didn't expect, she gasped. "You were?! But you said someone trained you to use your quirk? And what does that have to do with Bakugo!?"

He partially turned his body away, "It wasn't until a few months... before I met you that I somehow manifested my quirk late. That was when I also started doing those exercises to help me be able to use it."

Momo listened eagerly.

"But..." Izuku's hands clenched into fists. "When I was four, Kacchan manifested his quirk. But that was the same time people found out that _I_ didn't have a quirk... They all thought I was quirkless, I did too. But from that day on... I finally learned _exactly_ what it means to be quirkless in our world."

Momo saw the boy slightly shaking.

"Izuku?" Momo faintly called out, getting closer to the boy and looking more worried than ever before.

"Ever since that day, my whole world changed, my life turned upside down… Kacchan went from being my best friend, to my worst bully. All of my friends in class, they acted as if I had become some sort of... creature."

Momo felt her heart break.

"Kacchan called me Deku, calling me worthless, and it didn't take long for the rest of the class to start calling me that too. That was what I was known for, that was what I _became_ known for..." His voice started cracking, "The quirkless _freak_ that was still trying to become a hero... Despite not having the one thing a hero should have..."

"Izuku, I'm... I'm so sorry..." Momo said, staring shakingly at the boy.

"That was only the beginning." Izuku continued.

Momo's eyes grew in shock.

"Seeing what kind of an amazing quirk he got, Kacchan abused it. He started using it to hurt others, to show them that he was the strongest person. H-He... He used his quirk on me the most. Because I always tried to stop him from hurting anyone else. His explosions burned me, bruised me, and knocked me back over and over again."

Momo looked horrified, "This was all when you were four?!"

Izuku nodded in confirmation, still keeping his head down and eyes hidden in shadows. "This went on all the way until... Well, until I attended U.A."

_"That long?! That's nearly his entire life so far!"_ Momo shouted in her head, too shocked to even speak and struggling to keep herself from tearing up.

"All of those experiences did teach me one thing though... If you don't have a quirk in this world, then... well, you're screwed. Everyone treats you as something different, they think you're a failure of a human being, but it's not even because of anything you did... It's only because of something you don't have..."

Momo heard about enough, she dropped her school bag and stepped forward, putting her hands on each of Izuku's shoulders.

"Wasn't there anyone that helped you!? Was there no one that you talked to!?" By this point, she was nearly yelling.

Izuku was momentarily silent, before letting out a sigh.

"Help, huh?"

Momo was surprised by this response.

"My class didn't care, in fact, they just joined in with Kacchan's treatment towards me. Calling me Deku... joining in with the physical bullying... or just straight-out avoiding me. I know that my teachers saw what was going on, but I guess they saw me as a lost cause... "

Momo could feel water forming in the corner of her eyes. "Was there no one you tried talking to!? What about your mother or father!?"

Izuku was silent, feeling amounts of shame build up.

"Izuku?!" Momo asked louder this time, desperately wishing to hear an answer.

Izuku was still shaking, turning his head away, "I didn't tell anyone..."

Momo couldn't believe it, her hands gripped tighter on the boy's shoulders, nearly shaking him right there. "Why!? Why wouldn't you!? Why would you just keep putting up with all of that?!"

Izuku sniffled, head looking down at the ground. "B-Because even after all of that, I-I didn't want Kacchan to get in trouble."

Momo froze, a look of disbelief and horror planted on her face. "Why... Why would you let him keep doing this to you?" She whimpered.

She then saw a few droplets of water fall down from under Izuku's face.

Izuku then chuckled.

"A-A part of me knew that I really should've just said something, but I guess I didn't because... because I hoped that maybe, just maybe, Kacchan and I could become friends again. Even now, I'm still thinking, _hoping_, that we could go back like before."

Momo let go of him, taking a step back with her still horrid expression. "Why... Why would you want to become friends with someone like him!? Someone so... vile!?"

Izuku lifted up his head, finally revealing to Momo his waterfalling eyes. "I-I've looked up to him for my entire life. E-Even before getting his quirk, he always did so many amazing things that I couldn't do. He was never afraid of anything and always kept a smile on his face whenever we went anywhere. Even after he got his quirk... I-I still saw the part of him that I admired so much. He was strong, determined, and so amazing. I wanted to be just like him! E-Even now... I-I still want to be as strong as him!"

Momo was in utter disbelief.

Despite everything that happened, despite everything that Bakugo did to him, Izuku still had hope. He still had a blind hope of friendship he wanted to attain with his former bully. Momo wanted to straight-out tell him to abandon all faith of becoming friends with such a person, she wanted to tell him that Bakugo was no longer the same person that Izuku knew so long ago.

But... That hope in his eyes, despite crying and looking so miserable, he still had such a pure hope shining off his emerald green eyes.

There was no way Momo could put down those hopes of his.

She looked down with a saddened expression, she still knew that she had to at least warn him.

"Izuku, I... Bakugo isn't the same person you've looked up to before. His major strengths are still there, but he gained new traits. Terrible traits. I honestly don't think that you should be friends with someone like him. But if you still believe you could... Then I can't stop you from thinking that. But you can't let him keep pushing you around the way he has done before! You have to stand up for yourself!"

Izuku sniffled and used his arm to wipe his eyes, "I-I know that I should show him, b-but whenever Kacchan shouts at me, I always... I always just flinch."

Izuku then felt two arms wrap around him.

"E-Eh?" His eyes shot open and he saw Momo's spiky-ponytail near his face. It didn't take long to realize what was going on.

Momo was hugging him. She held him in such a tight and emotional embrace, saddened after learning everything Izuku had faced for so many years.

She took a deep breath and spoke softly. "You don't have to be scared of him. You're strong Izuku. But not just that, you have me. You have _us._ Uraraka, Iida, Enso, you have people that can protect you. But you also need to know that you're strong enough to protect yourself."

The sorrow feeling Izuku had been feeling was replaced with embarrassment, as this was the first time that a girl other than his mother had ever given him such a hug, such an intimate hug at that. It felt soft, warm, and as Momo's pony-tail neared his face, Izuku was able to detect a pleasant smell.

It calmed him, warmed his body, and he slowly began to get less tense, closing his eyes in rest.

He unconsciously hugged her back, his arms wrapping behind Momo as he felt the most relaxed than he's ever felt in his life.

He still had tears going down his eyes, "Thank you..." He hugged her tighter, "Thank you Momo... I'm really glad to have you here to encourage me. I'm so happy to be friends with you..."

Momo encouragingly pat Izuku's back with a small smile, keeping her eyes closed.

"Just don't ever be afraid to ask for help." Momo whispered to him.

They stood at what felt to be an everlasting silence, only acknowledging the presence of each other, feeling each other's warmth to calm down, and savoring the moment as long as they could.

They were so in the moment that they didn't even notice someone short walk pass them until she spoke.

"Ah, to be young again." Recovery Girl chuckled as she passed by the two with her syringe cane.

Momo and Izuku's eyes shot open comically, as hearing Recovery Girl's voice snapped them back to reality. They both blinked twice before realizing that they were out in the open road, even if it was basically empty.

They both released each other from their arms, with Izuku being the first to shout.

"Recovery Girl!? Wh-Wh-What are you doing here!?"

Recovery Girl stopped walking and turned back at him, "What does it look like sonny? I'm going home. I know you two are rather passionate, but at least wait until you're alone before you get all chummy."

Momo's face turned red and she got rather flustered, but she managed to keep enough composure to prevent herself from freaking out. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. _"Calm down Momo. It was only a hug. The very first hug that you've ever given to a boy..."_ Her cheeks reddened even more.

Izuku on the other hand, was the complete opposite of alright.

He laid on his side against the ground while hugging his legs tightly, facing away from the two and to the brick wall next to the street. Every visible piece of his skin was bright red from embarrassment and his whole body was emitting steam off of it, as if he turned into a steaming potato.

"I-I-I hugged a girl. And Recovery Girl saw us. I hugged a girl, I hugged a girl..." He kept repeating over and over again in a constant mutter.

"Oh dear me, will he be alright?" Recovery Girl asked as she titled her head and glanced at Izuku.

Momo instantly forgot her own embarrassment and preciously smiled with some teeth showing as she stared at Izuku on the ground, letting out a chuckle.

"He'll be fine."

* * *

Enso jumped from wall to wall within an alleyway, going all the way up onto the rooftop of a city building. Not too tall to rush to the top but not too short to easily reach without being noticed if you weren't careful jumping up. With one last jump from the wall, he performed a graceful frontflip and perfectly landed in a crouching position.

Now on the roof, Enso stood up and stared at the sun on the horizon, pulling out sunglasses from his shirt pocket and putting them on to examine the colors of the sunset. He didn't have a particular reason for heading up on the building, he only chose it as a spot to reflect on his first day of school. He thought about many things, ranging from the people of his class, to the staff he saw, to wondering what future days could offer to him.

_"U.A is indeed not like any other school, their policies are lenient... for teachers that is. That opens many possibilities teachers could choose students to do to make them get stronger."_

He sat down on the very edge of the building, letting his legs dangle over the side.

_"To think that Izuku's vile acquaintance, Katsuki Bakugo, is actually in the same class as him. I thought U.A would be smarter about accepting people with the right characteristics of a hero." _At that thought, Enso realized that he was being a hypocrite. "_But then again... I'm in that class as well..."_

He let out a sigh, _"That rodent of a principal may just be giving those kinds of people a chance..."_

His watch suddenly beeped white, making Enso raise an eyebrow.

_"Someone that isn't Izuku or All Might is calling me? That shouldn't be possible."_

Despite the unnatural call to him, Enso still felt as though he had no choice but to answer, using his finger to tap the screen of his watch and raising it near his ear.

"Who is this?" He demanded to know.

"You weren't thinking anything bad about me just now were you?" A certain principal's voice asked over the call.

"..."

Enso hung up.

"Not even going to bother." He said, staring off into the distance.

His watch immediately started blinking again.

"Oh for the love of god..." he grumbled. He lifted up his watch and answered once more.

"Quite rude of you to hang up on your lord and savior."

"How did you get my contact?" Enso immediately asked him.

"With magic!" Nezu laughed on the other side.

"..."

He heard Nezu sigh in disappointment, "I managed to obtain a signal from that device on your wrist and got the precise code that acts as your 'number' from All Might in order to be able to contact you through my own phone."

"Well... I do have to admit, I'm impressed." Enso responded.

Nezu laughed on the other side of the call, "Good to know! So how was your first day of school?"

"It wasn't anything particularly special, the quirk assessment test did give me a good idea on the level of strength each person in the class is at and if their abilities would be useful."

"Why are you making it sound like your planning on recruiting some of _my_ students?" Nezu asked him rather suspiciously.

"Think whatever you like."

"Didn't even try to deny it!" Nezu laughed on the other side. "Don't get too carried away now, they're only children."

"I know very well that they're only children, not strong enough for me to even bother with."

"You make it sound like none of them are worth keeping interest."

"I didn't say that all of them weren't interesting... There are a few students that I'm rather curious about their 'quirks'."

"I see, then why not try to get along with the students and learn more about them?" Nezu suggested.

"No."

"No hesitation I see. There must be a reason why you're choosing to push others away despite keeping interest in them. I'm sure that whatever it is, you'll get over it someday. I guarantee it."

"Did you actually have a good reason to call? Or do you wish to keep saying these pointless things?"

He heard Nezu sigh on the other line, "I just wished to know how your first day was. I'll get out of your hair now if you so wish. Hope you'll have fun tomorrow."

"Goodbye." Enso hung up the call immediately.

He put his arms down and looked down at the city below, paying attention to the civilians who were all so clueless about what would be happening to their world soon.

He looked up, the words in the conversation he just had echoing in his head.

Nezu's voice echoed. _"Then why not try to get along with the students?"_

Enso's hands gripped tightly on the edge of the building and his eyes narrowed, "Never again."

* * *

After Recovery Girl left, it took several minutes for Momo to get Izuku up off the ground, but she managed to succeed in bringing the boy back to his feet, even though he was still more than just embarrassed. They both continued to make their way towards the station, Izuku walking behind Momo with his head down.

Izuku's head was still steaming as he walked, tightly holding onto the straps of his yellow backpack. _"I hugged a girl, I hugged a girl, I hugged a girl..."_

He didn't notice, but he unconsciously mumbled this over and over again, to which Momo listened to and watched him from the corner of her eye. _"He got so flustered from just that hug..." _She smiled, _"How adorable."_

She slowed her walking speed, allowing her to walk side by side with the boy. She did, however, also form a small look of embarrassed as she remembered another matter that had remained on hold.

She put her hand to her mouth and cleared her throat, "Ahem, Izuku?"

Izuku snapped out of his muttering spree and nervously turned to her, "Y-Yeah Momo?"

Momo suddenly stopped walking and bowed to him, "I'm sorry for how I behaved today."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked, then he reeled back. "EHHHHH!?" He shouted, shocked to see the girl bow to him.

Momo stood back up straight, looking rather embarrassed, "I knew that what had-" Her eyes went off to the side, "-*ahem* 'happened' on the train was an accident, yet I overreacted and acted rather cold towards you..."

Izuku remembered the train incident and immediately sprung his hands up, flailing them in embarrassment. "D-D-Don't be sorry! Y-You had every reason to react the way you did! I-I should've been more careful and held onto the pole of the train so that I wouldn't have f-fallen on you!"

Momo gently grabbed Izuku's hands to keep him from flailing them all over the place, also giving him a precious smile. "Well, I still felt that I should've apologized regardless."

She let go of his hands, with Izuku recalling the feeling of the girl's hands at the moment, _"Soft and warm..."_

"I wasn't truly mad at you about- 'the contact'." She blushed harder as she said this. "I just felt... embarrassed."

Izuku moved his head down and refused to remember the soft, round feeling his hand had grabbed on the train.

Momo did a small wave with her hand, "Let's move on from that. More importantly..." Her smile faded away into a concerned look once more, "Do you think you'll be alright? I'm worried that Bakugo may continue to cause trouble for you."

Izuku looked up to the sky and took a moment to think about it, looking rather calm. "I'm sure I'll be fine. Kacchan must've learned _something _today about not lashing out at everyone. I hope he'll behave himself during classes from now on." He looked to her, "Worst-case scenario... He might end up getting angrier at Enso and try to fight him instead of me..." he sweatdropped, picturing the event perfectly in his head.

Momo looked rather curious when she heard Enso's name. "Ureshi's abilities were far greater than I expected, especially when he took down Bakugo with ease. I could see why he was the top scorer of the entrance exam."

Izuku suddenly had stars in his eyes, shouting with growing excitement. "I know right?! His abilities are so cool! There are so many techniques from him that I haven't even seen yet!"

"So many techniques?" Momo repeated in interest. "I didn't get the chance to ask, but what is his quirk exactly?"

Izuku flinched, but instinctively rambled out the explanation he was told to use, "H-His quirk lets his body produce energy that he can use to release into attacks of different kinds! I-I'm sure you saw the different colored auras around him, it indicates the amount of energy he uses and how he's using it!"

"Oh! That sounds rather powerful." Momo said, looking rather intrigued.

"Y-Yeah! Did you hi to him today?"

Momo nodded in confirmation, "Yes, I did introduce myself to him. But he already knew who I was." She smiled in satisfaction, "Said that _someone_ spoke rather highly of me."

Izuku realized what she meant and blushed, avoiding a direct gaze and fiddling his fingers, "U-Um, I-I-It was really easy to tell Enso about you, y-you're just amazing..."

Momo felt her heart throb.

_"Eh?" _She instinctively put a hand over her heart, feeling her heartbeat quicken. _"Why did that-?"_

"L-Look! The train is arriving!" Izuku suddenly blurted out, pointing at the train just appearing at the station ahead.

Momo blinked and snapped out of her thoughts, realizing that she and Izuku had to get on quickly or they would miss the train.

"Let's hurry!" Momo rushed him, running ahead of the boy.

"R-Right!" Izuku followed her. Or so he did at first, but with his intense training, he easily passed the girl and made his way to the train.

They both rushed onto the train and discovered that it was nearly empty, which was rather surprising since the sun was already out on the horizon. The two sat on two seats near the door, both in a more cheerful mood than before.

Izuku stared out the window as the train started to move, examining the beautiful colors of the sunset. The warmth of the sun on his face made his exhaustion begin to kick back in, resulting in a loud yawn that caught Momo's attention.

She turned to the boy and raised an eyebrow, "Izuku, have you been getting a good amount of sleep?"

Izuku rubbed his eyes sleepily, "It isn't that I haven't been getting sleep... _*Yawn*_ Since Recovery Girl healed up my arm, it took a lot of stamina from me. I was fine during our conversation earlier, but now it seems to be... kicking in."

He sleepily turned his head and looked up at Momo with a sluggish smile, his eyelids partially dropping.

"Don't worry about it though. I'll just take a... small… nap". Izuku's words trailed off to silence as he closed his eyes and leaned back on his seat, completely dozing off.

Momo watched the boy peacefully take small breaths, his chest puffing up and down as he slept.

_"He looks so much more relaxed than he was before. I"m glad... To think he's been through soo much... "_

Momo pulled out her phone, looking down at it to text someone. But as the train moved, so did Izuku's head, leaning to the side as the train went forward. Momo didn't notice Izuku's head move until it had already moved right atop her shoulder.

"Eep!" she squeaked, nearly jumping from her seat. She did manage to keep herself composed enough to make sure to keep still so that Izuku didn't wake up from her sudden movement. She didn't want to wake the boy right after he had just gone to sleep.

She slowly tilted her head to look down at Izuku, feeling some of the boy's messy green hair tingle her neck. Her cheeks warmed to an intense blush as her gaze focused down at him, clearly seeing the pure expression he had on his face.

He was smiling, smiling calmly without any sign of pain or worry. He just seemed so relaxed there, even snuggling his head closer against Momo's shoulder.

Momo was completely mesmerized by his expression, she couldn't take her eyes off just how peaceful he looked there.

Just how vulnerable he looked.

She stared at his fluffy green hair, the light from the sinking sun lighting it up in a beautiful bright green.

She watched him sleep for what felt like forever, wondering what she should do and feeling his head move with each soothing breath he took.

She unconsciously dropped her phone into her lap, feeling a new urge building up within her as she stared at the patch of green on her shoulder. She slowly raised her hand, shaking with a nervous expression on her face as she reached over.

_"What are you doing Momo?" _Her hand got closer to his head._ "Do you think he would be okay with this!?" _Her body didn't seem to listen as he hand kept moving.

Her hand did stop an inch away from the bundle of green, hesitating for a moment.

_"I shouldn't, but it just looks... so... so..."_

She gave in, placing her hand atop the green patch of hair.

The instant Momo felt Izuku's hair, she felt just how incredibly soft it was, completely stunned and flustered by it. She let it go through her fingers as she gently caressed it, moving her hand all over the place. Izuku made small sounds of enjoyment as Momo did this, visibly enjoying the feeling despite being asleep.

Momo savored the moment, only one thing on her mind.

"Fluffy." She squealed.

A few seats away from them, hiding behind a newspaper that nearly covered her entire body, was the school nurse Recovery Girl once more. She had gone ahead of the two while Momo was trying to get Izuku calmed down from his experience, getting on the train first before coincidentally seeing the two get on as well.

She formed a smug grin.

"Passionate indeed."


	12. The True Start Of Hero School

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{Second Day Of School}~

Izuku stared up at the U.A gates once more, shaking in excitement with his eyes completely opened and slightly sweating.

_"I still can't believe that I'm actually going to U.A... The U.A!"_

"Izuku, something wrong?"

Izuku blinked repeatedly and looking ahead to Momo who was staring back at him with a perplexed look.

Izuku smiled, "Sorry, a part of me just can't believe that I'm actually here."

Momo gave him a heartwarming smile as well, "You came here out of your hard work, be proud of it."

The two smiled in each other's delight as they made their way up to their classroom, imagining what kind of class they'll have this time.

When they got to the door, Izuku quickly slid it open for Momo.

"Why thank you." Momo acknowledged as she stepped through the door, with Izuku then following from behind.

Everyone else was already in the class standing around and talking to one another. But when a few of them saw Izuku come in, they immediately went over to him.

A spiky, red-haired boy with jagged teeth was the first of the class to actually introduce himself to Izuku.

"Yo, I wanted to talk to you after school yesterday but you were getting yourself fixed up!" He pointed his thumb at himself with a toothy grin. "I'm Eijiro Kirishima! I can't believe you launched that ball with that much brute force! That was amazing!"

"Th-Thank you." Izuku responded meekly, blushing from the praise.

A yellow-haired boy with a black lightning bolt design in his hair was beside him, supporting himself on a desk. "I'm Denki Kaminari, I was right next to you when you crushed that grip machine. I was honestly pretty shocked. _Pun intended._"

Izuku remembered breaking the machine and averted his eyes in embarrassment, "N-Nice to meet you Denki and Eijir- I mean Kaminari and Kirishima!" Izuku immediately corrected himself in a frantic panic.

"Whoa, chill out man. You don't have to be so tense, we don't bite." Kirishima reassured him with a toothy smile.

_"You sure look like you could bite me though!" _Izuku shouted in his head.

He managed to calm himself down, "I-I hope we get along."

"Yeah!" Kaminari said, giving him a thumbs up.

Momo smiled happily to see Izuku already speaking with the other students, like an older sister who was happy seeing her brother making friends.

"Hey, hey! Does your arm always explode when you use that much power?!" A pink-skinned girl with horns asked excitingly.

"I'm pretty sure his arm didn't 'explode' Mina." An invisible girl wearing a uniform next to her pointed out.

Izuku sweated more nervously than before, "M-M-My arm doesn't always e-end up th-that way!"

_"It seems that he really is more vulnerable around females... This might take a while."_ Momo sweatdropped.

The sound of something opening was heard, along with a "Good morning Izuku."

Izuku recognized that voice as Enso, making him turn his head in the direction of his voice, "Good morning Ens- WHY ARE YOU COMING IN THROUGH THE WINDOW!?"

Izuku's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he watched Enso currently crouched on top of the window frame with his hair blowing to the side from the outside breeze.

"I saw Bakugo walking ahead of me and wished to avoid him." Enso said as he hopped inside.

"That's too much of a stretch to go through!"

_"What the hell?" _All of their classmates sweatdropped.

"Be respectful to the adults for creating stairs and take them next time!" Iida shouted in a karate-chopping motion.

"He really is a bit of an oddball isn't he?" Ochako chuckled as she walked next to Momo.

"Yes, I suppose he is rather mysterious." Momo responded, turning to her.

"I heard that."

_"Urk." _Momo and Ochako flinched.

The school day then officially began.

**~{Home Room}~**

"Make sure to take your academic classes seriously. U.A will not tolerate anyone slacking off." Aizawa told all of his students of Class 1-A.

"Also-" he glanced over at Bakugo, "-be sure to _behave_ yourselves in all of your classes, including your hero lesson today."

Crossviens emerged on Bakugo's head.

_"At least he already figured out the troublemaker from that first impression..."_ Enso thought from his seat in the back of the class, spinning his pen in his hand.

"And next time let the teachers stop and punish the students." Aizawa added, clearing intending that for Enso.

Enso stopped spinning the pen, _"Figures..."_

**~{First Period: English}~**

Everyone sat in a bored silence as the English teacher, Present Mic, the same teacher who had instructed the students taking the practical exam, wrote down four different sentences on the board.

"Now, which one of these four sentences is incorrect?" Their teacher asked in a rather bored tone.

_"So boring..." _Most of the class thought.

A few students raised their hands.

"Yeah! You in the back!" Present Mic shouted with a smile, pointing at Enso.

"Sentence three is incorrect."

"Buzz! Wrong!" Present Mic shouted, mimicking a buzzer.

"I beg to differ, you can't_ burn_ water on a stove, it will just evaporate."

Present Mic had a blank look on his face as he turned to the board, examined the third sentence, then turned back to Enso.

"Which one of these sentences is _grammatically _incorrect?!" He suddenly shouted with a smile.

_"He just moved on!"_ The class sweatdropped.

**~{Second Period: Math}~**

"And that is how you get X." Momo said, finished using over half the board to complete a math problem.

"That is correct, good job." Ectoplasm the cloning hero and math teacher, praised her.

Izuku stared at the board with bulging eyes, _"She's amazing!"_

He heard some heavy panting behind him and partially turned around to see the short, purple-haired boy behind him drooling with widened eyes. "She's... amazing..." he also said, although for different reasons.

Izuku shivered.

At the same time, Enso raised an eyebrow in interest at Momo's demonstration of intelligence, pulling out a pocket notebook and writing down her name.

**~{Third Period: Modern Literature}~**

"You'll need this book for our first few assignments." The cement hero Cementoss, a humanoid block of cement, said as he showed the book that he expected the class to buy or at least read.

"AH! Reading!" The pink-skinned girl and the invisible girl both uttered in dismay, hands on their heads in stress just thinking about it.

_"Idiots."_ Enso thought as he was already reading a copy of the book Cementoss just instructed the class to obtain.

_"How did he get it already!?" _Izuku wondered in pure confusion.

"I hope the book is cheap..."Ochako muttered under her breath as she looked into her wallet with a worried look.

**~{Fourth Period: Modern Hero Art History}~**

"And that is a brief introduction to the 'Regulations For Exposed Skin in Costumes' bill. Because of this bill, the types of styles that female heroes could have in their costumes became more restricted. " The R-Rated hero, Midnight, said with a smile as she pointed her whip to the information she wrote down on the board.

A few of the boys in the class blushed as they saw Midnight bounce in her erotic costume.

"If you ask me, they should've let youth shined in the way they wanted! You gotta express yourself in any way you can, show the world the power of your youth!" As she said this, Midnight breathed heavily with a big smile.

"And look how that ended up. You made the law change faster than people's thinking did." Enso remarked in the back of the room.

"Now, now, certain people just handle the blooming us youthful people have. Don't you agree?" Midnight said, winking at the class.

"Yes!" Some of the boys in the class shouted immediately.

"Are you implying that you're still on your youthful phase?"

The class got quiet and Midnight visibly tightened her grip on her whip, cross veins forming.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, a menacing purple aura forming around her.

A lot of the class shivered.

Enso thought better than to press on.

"Nothing..."

Midnight smiled again, "Good! Moving on!"

**~{Lunch}~**

Izuku, Iida, Momo, Enso, and Ochako stood in line together, excited by the many items they saw on the lunch menu.

"I heard that this is all gourmet food made by the Cook Hero: Lunch Rush, himself!" Izuku said in excitement.

"All the food is made by one person!?" Ochako exclaimed with eyes the size of pie-plates.

"No one can match Lunch Rush's culinary skills in speed, quality, or variety after all." Momo added in.

_"Interesting..." _Enso's eyes flashed intensely, yet the others didn't notice.

"Sounds amazing! I would be honored to try his food!" Iida declared.

"I can't wait! What about you Ens-?" Izuku turned around but saw that he had disappeared.

"Huh? Where did he go!?" Izuku frantically looked side too side.

"Ureshi was here just a moment ago, wasn't he? Where could he have gone?" Iida wondered, rubbing his own chin in curiosity.

~{In the kitchen}~

"Oh? You're approaching me?" Lunch Rush asked, pointing a spatula at the boy walking towards him. "Instead of sitting down and eating, you're coming right to me?"

"I can't challenge you to a cook-off if I don't get close enough to do it formally." Enso responded as he walked closer to the Cook Hero.

"Oh ho! Then come as close as you like." Lunch Rush responded confidently, holding his hands out.

Enso dramatically walked towards Lunch Rush, a yellow aura forming around him.

* * *

**~{Fifth Period: Hero Basic Training}~**

"Where did you go during lunch?" Izuku asked Enso curiously as they got back into the classroom.

"Nowhere particular. But I believe I've met my match." Enso responded with narrowed eyes and a tight fist.

"Where the hell did you go!?"

It was now the fifth period, the class that nearly everyone was excited about. With no teacher currently in the classroom, the students talked among themselves about what would happen.

"Hey Deku! Are you excited? Do you really think All Might is gonna be a teacher like the news said?" Ochako asked Izuku.

"Y-Yeah, I think he is." Izuku responded nervously, knowing fully well that All Might would be coming.

Enso looked down at his desk, writing down more descriptions of people in his small notebook, before sighing and shutting it. _"My judgment isn't good enough to determine if some of the people here are actually capable enough, the only one who could actually determine that is-" _His eyes looked up towards Izuku, focusing on him. _"Hm, I may have to wait to tell him though."_

Then everyone heard 'him'.

**"I AM-"**

Izuku perked his head up with happy eyes to the door.

**"-coming through the door like a normal person!"** All Might yelled as he slid open the classroom door and thrust himself in.

"What part of that entrance was 'normal'?" Enso asked.

Everyone was stunned to see All Might there.

"Whoa, its All Might!" exclaimed Kaminari.

"Wow! He's our teacher for this class?" remarked Rikito Sato, a brown spiky-haired and full-lipped tall boy.

"That's a costume from the Silver Age isn't it?" Asked Tsuyu Asui, a short girl with frog-like features, putting a finger on her chin.

"Its style is so different, it's giving me goosebumps." Said Mashirao Ojiro, a blond-haired teen with a large tail with a furry tip.

_"No one is really going to question that entrance?"_ Enso's eye twitched.

All Might proudly marched to the front of the room and turned to the students.

**"I teach Hero Basic Training! It is a subject where you train in different subjects in order to learn the basics of becoming a hero! You'll take the most units of credit from this very subject! It's why you all came here to this school after all!"**

All Might crouched down and flexed his muscles, **"Let's get right into it! This is what we'll be doing today-" **All Might then stuck his arm up in the air with a card that read 'battle' in hand.** "-combat training!"**

An evil grin grew on Bakugo's face the second he heard this, "Combat-" he started to say.

"...Training!?" Izuku finished, looking slightly pale.

_"He really completed his sentence..."_ Enso thought.

**"And to go with that, are these!"** All Might shouted out as he pressed a button on a small remote.

Tall drawers on the side of the classroom slowly slid out to reveal many cases in them, each case with its own number.

**"These are the costumes you made based on your quirk and have requested before school started! Everyone get dressed and gather on Ground Beta afterword!" **All Might finished in another pose.

"Yes, sir!" The class shouted.

* * *

All Might stood just within Ground Beta, one hand on his chin and the other holding what appeared to be a notepad of notes.

**"Let's see... I got the boxes needed to randomly assign the teams, I picked a good location for this activity, things appear to be going well."**

"You're actually using notes to keep up with your teachings?" A voice rang behind him.

All Might flinched and turned around, hiding his notes behind him. He saw Enso standing behind there, currently straightening out his red tye.

**"H-How did you change so quickly!? And for a suit at that!?"**

"I didn't change." Enso finished fixing his collar and tapped the screen of his watch, causing his suit to fade into the U.A uniform colors.

**"Nani!? Has your suit always done that!?"**

"Yes, but I never found it necessary to use it." Enso said as he tapped his screen again to turn the colors of his suit back to black.

**"I see, quite amazing! But let me ask you young Enso-"**

"I'm just warning you now, but call me Ureshi while we're at school. We don't need other students asking questions."

**"*cough*, Of course. But as I was asking, are you excited for your very first hero class?"**

"Not particularly."

**_"No hesitation!?"_**

**"Come now Ureshi, you should be more excited about these things! Enjoy your youthful life to the fullest!" **He said, giving him a thumbs up with his teeth sparkling.

Enso stared at him with a blank stare.

All Might stared back, eyeing Enso up and down.

**"Wait, hold _old_ are you exactly?"**

Enso crossed his arms. "I don't know."

**"Is it because you woke up without knowing your history?"**

"Yes, but based on the average age of these first years and how much time I've spent in other worlds, I'm confident to say that I'm older than these other students."

**"I see. Well, even if you're older, you still look very young!" **All Might laughed.

"If you're the one saying that, then you must think you're getting old."

**"You really don't hold back at all do you?" **All Might sweatdropped.

All Might then perked up when he saw shadowy figures coming from the entrance of the area.

**"Looks like our new heroes have arrived!" **he grinned.

Enso turned around and saw the students all dramatically walking towards them, each wearing a unique costume that appealed to their quirk.

_"Some do look rather interesting-" _He thought as he examined Iida's engine-looking suit. _"-others look rather... 'unique'." _he thought as he saw Momo's rather revealing costume.

He looked side to side, but see a specific person.

_"Where's Izuku?"_

He then caught sight of someone green run out as the last person.

Enso squinted his eyes, "You can't be serious..."

Izuku had a full-body light green jumpsuit elbow pads, knee pads, and his usual red boots. But what really stood out in this costume, were long ear-like protrusions and a respirator with a makeshift smile that looked oddly familiar to a certain hero.

All Might noticed this too and couldn't help but cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

Enso's eye twitched as he marched over to Izuku.

Izuku smiled behind his mask, "Hey Enso, what do you think of-"

"It looks stupid."

"I didn't even finish asking!"

Enso pointed to Izuku's ear-like protrusions and then to the makeshift smile, "Who do you think you're trying to be?"

Izuku flinched, "N-No one in particular..."

Enso sighed and rubbed his own face.

Ochako noticed Izuku arrive and went over to him with a smile, "Hey Deku! Your costume looks cool!"

Izuku turned to her, "Ochak-" His eyes widened and he couldn't help but stop talking and shake in stimulation once he saw her costume. _"What is that!?"_

Her costume consisted of a skin-tight suit with detached sleeves, knee-high boots, boots, a belt, helmet and thick round bracers with handles attached to them.

Ochako noticed his stare and embarrassingly rubbed the back of her head, "I should've written what I wanted. I ended up getting a skintight bodysuit..."

"U-Um, I-I think y-your costume looks… It looks c-cute on you!" Izuku stammered.

Ochako blushed harder hearing that from him, "E-Eh?! Y-You think so? It is a l-little tight though…"

Enso eyed Ochako's costume with a blank look of disappointment, _"What is the hero course thinking?"_

Momo went next to Izuku and saw his costume, smiling at it. _"It makes him look like a bunny... cute."_

"Your costume looks nice Izuku." Momo said to him.

Izuku turned to her, although still recovering from seeing Ochako's costume, "Th-Thank you, you're looks-" Izuku nearly choked on nothing when he saw Momo's revealing costume consisting of a sleeveless crimson leotard that was open from her neck to just below her navel. _"What is it with both of their costumes!?" _

Momo noticed Izuku reaction and slightly blushed, "I believe I told you this before about my quirk, but I need to reveal skin to create items from it."

"I-I know. It does work to help you create large objects from those open areas without ending up ripping your costume, i-it looks g-g-great." Izuku said, trying not to stare so hard.

Momo couldn't help but smile.

Enso's eye twitched again as he saw Momo's costume, _"That must've barely passed the Regulations For Exposed Skin in Costumes bill... Jeez, how much more revealing would she have made if the bill didn't exist?"_

All Might proudly put his hands on his hips and started to explain the exercise, **"For this class, you'll be split into teams of villains and heroes and fight 2-on-2 indoor battles!"**

"Without any training?" The frog-like girl asked with a tilt of her head.

**"This_ will_ be your basic training! A real battle to understand those basics! There won't be any robots you can just pushover this time!"**

"How will wins and losses be recorded?" Momo asked.

"Can I beat up everyone here?" Bakugo asked, Kaminari then giving him a weird look.

"Will there be a punishment of expulsion like with Mr. Aizawa?" Ochako asked in worry.

"How shall we be spilt up!?" Iida shouted.

"Isn't this cape crazy?" A blonde hair, fabulous looking boy added.

"Can you all shut up?" Enso added.

**"I'll answer all of your questions!" **All Might shouted, feeling slightly pressured. **"Now listen here, um..." **He reached in his pocket and pulled out the notes he had before.

_"A script!?" _Izuku thought in shock.

**"The situation is that villains have hidden a nuclear bomb somewhere in the building behind me. In order to win, the heroes have to either catch the villains using a special capture tape or to get to the nuclear bomb before the time runs out. Villains have to either capture the heroes with the same capture tape or keep the heroes away from the bomb until time runs out!"**

He then magically pulled out a yellow box, **"Teams and opponents will be determined by drawing lots!"**

This made Izuku shiver and glance at Enso, _"Man, I really hope I don't go against him!"_

Momo raised her hand.

**"Yes?" **All Might asked, pointing at her.

"Sensei, you said that the teams will be 2 on 2, but there are exactly 21 students here. Won't that mean that someone will be left without a partner?"

**"You are correct Yaoyorozu! Which is why the one who got the highest points in the exam will have _one_ partner and go up against a team of _three_!"**

"Eh? So Enso and someone else will be going against a team of three?" Izuku asked, sounding surprised.

"Isn't that a little unfair?" Ochako asked with a worried look.

**"On the contrary, I think this is completely fair since he got the highest score on the practical exam _and _the quirk assessment test!"**

Everyone turned to Enso, almost as if asking him what he thought about it.

"So be it…" Enso responded with his arms crossed.

**"All right, moving on! Let us make the teams now!" **All Might shoved his hand into the box and pulled two names. **"First up on team A, Izuku Midoriya! And-" **He looked at the other slip of paper he pulled out.** "-Mina Ashido!"** he yelled out.

Izuku looked confused, turning his head around to look for his teammate as All Might continued to call other teams.

_"Mina... Ashido? I haven't really learned many of my other classmates' names yet. It may be hard to find-"_

A sudden, upbeat voice rang behind him.

"Oh man, I got paired with you!? That's great! We'll be sure to win then!"

"Eh?" Izuku turned around to see a rather unique girl behind him.

She had tinted pink skin, her eye color was yellow and her scleras were black. She had short pink hair with yellow horns and was a little shorter than Izuku, although her body looked quite developed. Her hero costume consisted of a purple and turquoise camouflage skin-tight bodysuit with a tan vest that had white fur on the collar. She also wore a plain white mask over her eyes along with yellowish custom boots.

She had a big, toothy smile on her face and bounced rather excitingly in front of Izuku, her curves bouncing along with her.

_"WHAT IS WITH THE HERO COURSE AND THESE COSTUMES!?" _Izuku screamed in his head, madly blushing from how tight the girl's suit looked on her. He was glad that his masked covered his face, otherwise, people would've noticed his completely red and embarrassed face.

"M-M-Mina A-Ashido?" He mustered.

She put her hands on her hips with and maintained her grin. "Yup! That's me! You're the guy that one punched that giant robot! Just like how that cool caped baldy does from an anime I watch!"

"U-U-Um, th-thank you?" Izuku responded, wondering who she meant but taking the compliment.

"Am I lucky to get paired up with you! I hope we get along Midoriya!" she said, putting a fist in the air and completely pumped up.

"I-I-I hope we get along as well!" Izuku responded, instinctively putting a fist in the air as well, although very nervously.

Ashido seemed to notice just how nervous he was, putting on a perplexed expression. "Hey, you alright? You're shaking."

Izuku flinched, then fiddling his fingers and avoiding a direct look at the girl, "I-I'm fine."

_"I thought he would be some cool, confident dude, but he seems really shy." _Mina thought as she eyed boy. She then grinned, _"He seems like he'd be fun to mess with though. Toru would think so at least."_

All Might had been pulling out more names in the meantime. There was hardly any names left in the box by this point. **"Katsuki Bakugo and Hanta Sero on team H!"**

The boy presumably named Sero turned to Bakugo, "Hey! Guess we'll be working together."

"Whatever flat face." Bakugo snapped in the form of a growl.

_"So rude!"_

**"Tenya Iida and Enso Ureshi on team I!" **All Might went on, then pulling out the three remaining names in the box. **"The remaining three names are Ochako Uraraka, Eijiro Kirishima, and Yuga Aoyama! They will be team J and be going up against team I!"**

Kirishima grinned, revealing his jagged teeth, "Awesome! I get infinity girl and lazer guy!"

Iida turned to Enso, "I will be counting on you Ureshi!" he shouted, bowing once more in a 90-degree angle.

"Do you always bow like that?" Enso asked, staring intensely at the teen.

"Yes!" Iida shouted.

"Stop shouting like that and quit that habit of bowing so low. It makes you look ridiculous, no offense." he turned away from him.

Iida stood back up straight and put his hand on to his head in a salute manner, "None taken Ureshi! I apologize for appearing foolish! I will work on appearing more normal to others!"

Enso paused for a moment before glancing at Iida from the corner of his eye.

"..."

Iida noticed his stare, "Is something wrong?"

"No, just..." he looked back forward. "Refer to me as Enso."

"Nani!? First name?!" Iida exclaimed in shock, even recoiling a bit.

"Yes, I feel more comfortable getting addressed that way."

"I see! I will proudly call you by your given first name then!" Iida said in confidence.

"You don't really have to get worked up over it..." Enso sweatdropped.

All Might then magically pulled out two more boxes labeled as 'Hero' and 'Villain'.

He shoved a hand in each of the boxes, **"The first teams to fight will be-"** he then pulled out his hands, taking out two balls in the process.

Momo and Izuku widened their eyes in shock as they saw the teams, while Enso simply narrowed his eyes at the result.

**"Teams A and H! With team A being heroes and team H being villains!"**

Izuku was shocked, distraught, and straight out terrified. Out of all the teams to go up against, he had to go up against Bakugo, the one person he was actually scared of.

Well, other than maybe Enso.

He glanced over his shoulder and was met with an evil scowl from his bully, glaring at him with intense red eyes, who mouthed. _"Your dead" _to Izuku.

**"Everyone else, head towards the monitor room! Both teams will have a few minutes to plan out their course of action! Keep in mind that if any battle goes too far, then I will put a stop to it!"**

Everyone started to head over to the monitoring room.

"Good luck Deku." Ochako said with an innocent smile, not knowing just how horrid Bakugo had been on Izuku before. She then hurried off with everyone else.

Izuku just shivered.

When Enso passed by Izuku, he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him closer as to whisper in his ear. "I know that we haven't done anything to improve your confidence, but don't that explosive boy intimidate you. I'm confident to say that you're stronger than him, One For All is strong enough even at just 5%, you can do it."

Izuku gulped nervously before nodding, "I've never really fought him before... B-But I'll do my best!"

"You better." Enso let go of Izuku's arm and followed the class.

Momo stood there with a clear look of distress on her face. She had _just_ learned about Izuku's terrible history with Bakugo yesterday, but now he'll be fighting against him so soon. She knew that because Bakugo actually had an excuse to fight Izuku, he would not hold back on inflicting as much pain as he could to the innocent boy.

She had pondered what to say for so long, so long that nearly all of her class had already gotten to the monitoring room.

But she knew she still had to say something.

"Izuku!" She rushed over to him.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked and turned his head just as Momo went up to him.

She put her hands on each of his shoulders.

Izuku turned red behind his mask, "Y-Y-Yes!?"

"Remember what I said yesterday, don't let him push you around. This is your chance to prove to him that you aren't the same boy from so long ago. You won't have us to help you out, but I know you can beat him! Promise me you won't lose!" Momo said with a serious look.

"I-I-I"

"Promise me that you'll beat him!" Momo asked once more.

"I-I promise! I'll beat him for you!" Izuku exclaimed from pressure.

Momo smiled, "Good. Keep thinking that way. Beat him... for me."

She then released Izuku and hurried off to the class, yelling, "Good luck!" behind her.

Izuku shivered nervously, _"She was so close!"_

"Well, well, well..." He suddenly heard behind him.

Izuku slowly turned around to Ashido, who had a rather smug grin on her face. "It sounds like you've nailed yourself quite the girl."

Izuku's ear-like protrusions stiffened up straight and he flailed his arms in front of him, "N-N-No! W-W-We arent like that!"

"Oh really?" Mina got closer to him with her hands on her hips. "Then what was that just now?"

"W-We just know each other and-" Izuku remembered Bakugo, then looked down nervously, "-she knows... what type of person we'll be fighting against..."

Mina's smug grin was wiped away when she noticed just how worried he sounded. "Eh?"

At the same time, Bakugo and Hanta Sero had already gone inside and placed the bomb somewhere in the building. They had gone to the upper floor of the building and placed the bomb around the back of the room, with Bakugo staring at the double doors with a killer gaze

Sero smiled at Bakugo and gave him a thumbs-up, "We got this man! You may have to take care of the acid girl, Ashido I'm sure her name was. You see, my quirk lets me send tape out of my elbows and retract it. I could use it to wrap around people, but I remember during the quirk assessment test that Ashido can make acid on her skin, so my tape won't really affect her."

Bakugo simply stared at the door with his back facing Sero, "Hey… Deku has a quirk right?"

"Eh? Deku? You said that to the green-haired kid who one-shot that robot right? Of course he has a quirk! I mean, didn't you see that power during the quirk assessment test?" Sero asked as he wrapped his tape around the pillars surrounding the bomb, creating a layer to protect it.

Bakugo tightened his hands into fists.

"Man, you really do seem pissed off when it comes to him, what happened between you guys?" Sero asked curiously.

Bakugo wasn't listening now, as he was deep in his thoughts, _"Did he dare trick me for so long? That damn fucking nerd lied to me! He's just a damn pebble, he shouldn't be here, so... why is he here?!"_

"Um, you alright dude?" Sero asked, seeing a menacing aura from Bakugo.

_"I'll show him... I'll show him not to make a fool out of me!" _Blood red veins were in his eyes.

~{Five Minutes Before Start}~

"Man this is hard to memorize! Why do we even need to remember this anyway?" Ashido complained about some blueprints in her hand.

"W-Well, heroes need to know the place that they'll be infiltrating for villains. Otherwise, they'd be at a disadvantage for not knowing the layout." Izuku pointed out.

"Well, I guess that makes sense... But it's still annoying to remember this- Hey, why are you still so tense?" Ashido suddenly realized.

Izuku was sweating nervously while shivering, "U-Um, i-its because we're going up against Kacchan…"

"Kacchan? As in Katsuki? I guessed that you two knew each other, but why does he seem so angry around you? He even tried to come at you during the test we had yesterday." Ashido asked him.

Izuku sighed, putting his blueprints down, "He's a real piece of work… But his goal, confidence, and even his skills with his quirk are much more amazing than mine… He always thought himself stronger than anyone. But he seems to hate me because he thought I was always weak and quirkless, even telling me not even try to attend U.A. But here I am now, basically going against everything he's ever said to me..."

Ashido pouted at his lack of confidence. "I know his explosion quirk is strong and all, but come on Midori! Have more confidence in yourself! Not even Bakugo was able to take down that big robot at the exam! You even got better results than him on the tests we've had so far! You're way more amazing than him!"

Izuku turned red and nervously shivered, embarrassed by the praise.

"I… Th-Thank you-" But he realized something about Ashido's speech, the game she gave him specifically.

"Wait a minute, _M-Midori_!?" he suddenly shouted, turning to the girl with bulging eyes by the sudden name she gave him.

Mina smiled, "Yeah! Calling you Midoriya sounds pretty plain, even if you look the part."

_"That... kind of hurts…"_ Izuku thought.

"So thought I would give you a cute nickname instead!"

"B-B-But... Wh-Why Midori?" Izuku asked in a mixture of curiosity and nervousness.

Mina proudly put her hands on her hips, "Be prepared to be amazed by my nicknaming skills! Your name sounds like a drink that my dad likes, exactly called 'Midori'! It's sweet and literally means green in Japanese! Just like you and your hair! It's perfect for you!"

Izuku could feel the warmth in his cheeks go up, _"S-S-Sweet l-like me!?"_

Izuku fiddled with his fingers, mumbling meekly, "I-It's a g-good n-nickname..."

Ashido grinned, _"Aw, he's flustered, makes me want to tease him more."_

She leaned slightly forward to him and said, "You could call me Mina in return."

"O-Okay Mina..." Izuku mustered.

The now named Mina was caught off guard, _"I didn't expect him to agree to that so easily! I thought he'd get super flustered and say 'B-B-But it's too embarrassing to call such a beautiful and majestic goddess by her first name'!... But then again, isn't he referring to infinity girl and creation girl by their first names?" _Mina curiously eyed him, _"He doesn't really seem the type to be a playboy, maybe they just really trust him? I guess there's no harm in actually letting him call me Mina, just makes it easier to tease him."_

Deciding to let it go, she stood in a proud, tall stance, "Alright! I'll be counting on you Midori!"

"L-Likewise Mina!" Izuku stuttered.

**"Now, let us begin with the indoor person to person combat training!" **All Might yelled over the intercom.

"Eh!? We talked for so much that we didn't come up with a plan!" Izuku realized in panic.

"Don't worry! I have an idea!" Mina reassured him, flexing her arm with a grin.

"Huh? What is it?" Izuku asked her.

"How about we go to the roof?" She suggested.

Izuku put a hand on his chin in thought, "Knowing Kacchan, he'll leave his teammate behind to guard the bomb in order to head out and go after me. It may be the best place to plan, but how would we get up there? I could use my quirk to jump up but as for Mina..."

Izuku turned to her, "What _is_ your quirk, Mina?"

Mina stuck out her arm and sprayed a substance from her hand onto the floor, "My quirk allows me to shoot acid out of my body. I could control how strong the acid is when it comes to dissolving things!"

"Can your acid come from any part of your body?"

"Yeah! I mainly use it for my arms and feet." Mina said.

"Could you climb up walls?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Well, I mean I can, but it's kind of scary climbing a tall building and I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to damage it..." Mina said rather discouraged.

"I see... But we don't have much time. I'm sure Kacchan is looking for us right now." Izuku said in some frustration.

Mina thought about it for a moment before a lightbulb emerged over her head, "I know! How about you carry me onto your back and you could jump to the top with me!?" she asked in a fit of excitement.

Izuku's eyes seemed to bulge out his sockets and his entire skin color turned red from the thought of carrying a girl.

"Eeeeehhhh?! C-Carry you!? Th-There's no way I could do that!" he blurted out.

"Why not? Are you calling me fat?" Mina asked, glaring at him.

"N-N-No of course not! It's just that- Um-" Izuku thought up of an excuse, "I-I've n-never c-carried anyone on my back when u-using my quirk! I may end up dropping you."

Mina went behind him, "Don't worry, I'll hold on tight! Plus, you seem strong enough to me!"

Izuku was too nervous, "B-But, I-"

"Come on Midori! Bakugo is gonna get here any moment!" Mina warned him.

Realizing this, Izuku had to give in.

"A-Alright! Just h-hurry and get on!" Izuku said, squatting down with his arms behind him.

"Yay!" Mina happily jumped onto his back, with Izuku holding her in a piggyback ride position, "Now Midori! Onward!" she yelled out, pointing her finger upwards.

"R-Right." Izuku stood up, but the second he felt something press up against his back, he completely froze. _"This sensation..."_

His pupils shrink, _"Th-They could only be one thing..." _He started steaming up, _"Her b-b-b-b-"_

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Mina shouted, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts.

"R-R-Right!" Izuku blurted, desperately trying to ignore the feeling on his back as he focused One For All in his legs.

Meanwhile, within the monitoring room, everyone had been watching them, although not listening. Some of the students snickered but one student, the purple-haired boy, Minoru Mineta, began to cry with jealousy as he saw what Izuku was experiencing.

Enso wasn't staring at the screen. Rather, he was in the back of the room staring down at his watch, which had projected a small diagram of Izuku and his current health conditions. To which he noticed the rapid increase of heartbeat and simulation.

_"Don't let your hormones get the better of you..."_

Now back to the two heroes in the making, Izuku's legs glowed once more with red, orange, and green colors emitting from One For All.

_"Here goes…" _he squatted his legs before pushing enough force to launch Mina and himself into the air.

"Full Cowling!"

"Weeeeeeeeeee!" Mina shouted, feeling the wind blow against her face.

Izuku soared through the air with Mina on his back, flying all the way up to the top of the building. He then carefully pointed his legs down and stuck the landing perfectly, landing in a crouching position. Mina jumped off of his back and clapped her hands.

"Man, that was fun! Let's do it again sometime Midori!"

"P-P-Probably not…" Izuku stuttered, still remembered the feeling of Mina's assets on him. "L-Lets just focus on the objective for now…"

"Oh right. So what now?" Mina asked him.

Izuku stood up and put a hand on his chin looking down, "Well, from what I've seen of Sero's quirk yesterday, he can shoot tape out of his elbow and retract it, so he could cover good distance with that and be able to capture me. But with you Mina, he won't be able to do much due to your acidic quirk. And since Kacchan is most likely ono the lower floors to get me, we could safely go down from the roof so that we can avoid him and try to find the bomb at the same time. Since Sero will most likely be guarding the bomb alone, you and I could ambush him and he won't stand a chance with your acid. We'll only have some time before Kacchan notices we're not on the lower floors so we'll have to move fast and-"

"Hey, has anyone ever told you that your pretty scary when you mutter?" Mina asked him, bewildered by all the information he was processing out loud.

Izuku flinched, "Eh!? I didn't realize I was muttering! I'm sorry, a lot of people have mentioned that before. Its a habit of mine. Does it bother you?"

Mina smiled. "No, not at all! I find it kind of cute!"

_"C-Cute!?" _Izuku steamed.

"Th-Thank you..."

"I manage to understand the important stuff! So we should get going downstairs and jump the one guarding the bomb!" Mina said in a determined manner.

"Y-Yes! L-Let's go!" Izuku agreed. And with that, he and Mina went downstairs.

In the meantime, Bakugo had arrived on the first floor of the building, a few moments after Izuku and Mina started to head downstairs from the roof. He looked around the entrance and then looked at the top of the building with an evil glare.

_"Shit! Did that fucking nerd jump to the top?!"_ He then reached to his earpiece, "Flat face! Pull me up through the window now!" he demanded.

"Its Sero!" Sero yelled in annoyance as he ran to the window and shot tape out of his elbow all the way down to Bakugo. Bakugo grabbed the tape and Sero reeled him up to the same floor as him.

As Bakugo landed in the room, he ran out of the room yelling, "Stay here and guard the bomb! I know where they're coming from!"

"Eh!? Me all alone!?" Sero cried out in disbelief.

Bakugo dashed down the hall and had an evil grin on his face as he ran up the stairs of the building, _"You think you could outsmart me Deku!? In your dreams you piece of shit!"_

In the monitoring room, Enso narrowed his eyes, _"He seems to already know where they went... He's actually smarter than I expected."_

Momo was also heavily inspecting this training, especially when she saw Bakugo beginning to head up closer to Izuku and Mina. _"You'll have to fight him Izuku, but I know you can do it."_

All Might held a pen and notebook in his head, watching intently at the screen, **_"It doesn't matter if you're my successor or not, I will heavily grade you accordingly."_**

Mina and Izuku carefully sneaked their way through a series of corridors, with Izuku leading the two in silence. _"There's no doubt that Kacchan realized that we're not on the lower floors, but that doesn't mean we could just run everywhere. Sero could hear us coming and Kacchan will know where we are sooner."_

Izuku stopped at the corner of the hall and raised a hand up to halt Mina, peeking down the corridor, then motioning her to keep going.

"You think we're getting closer Midori?" Mina whispered to him, glancing behind herself to see if anyone was following them.

"We should be getting somewhat closer, we've searched the top upper floors and found nothing. Kacchan wouldn't place the bomb at the lower floors, so I know we're getting closer."

"What if we run into him though?" Mina asked.

"Then I'll fight him to keep him busy while you go for the bomb and-"

Before he could finish, Izuku saw Bakugo suddenly appeared from around an opening in the corridor right in front of them, reaching out his hand with sparks emitting from his palm.

"DIE!"

Izuku didn't hesitate and tackled Mina, pushing her out of the way of Bakugo's explosion just as it came from his hand. This resulted in Mina landing on her back, with Izuku landing on top of her as to cover her from any falling debris.

He slightly lifted himself off the ground, "Are you alright Mina?! he asked, turning his head behind him to look out for any more attacks from Bakugo.

"Y-Yeah…" Mina was currently blushing with a pretty lilac color in her cheeks, looking at how close Izuku was to her. Not only that, but he looked much more... manly than before. Half of his mask had been ripped from the explosion and there were some burn marks on the rest of Izuku's costume, yet he had asked _her_ if she was alright.

Izuku didn't seem to notice just how close he was to Mina, he simply got back up to his feet and got in a fighting stance as the smoke began to clear up.

_"Damn! How did he get up here so fast!? Did he figure out what we were gonna do and went up the stairs, not even bothering with the first floors?!"_ Izuku thought to himself. But he had no time to find the answer to that question, as Bakugo was here and trying to murder him.

"Come on Deku, don't dodge." Bakugo said, clearly irritated at the boy.

Izuku grit his teeth, "Mina! You have to find the bomb! Sero won"t stand a chance against you, I'll distract Kacchan until then!" He yelled with a serious expression on his face.

"But, will you be alright!? Don't you want me to help?" Mina asked as she got back to her feet.

Izuku looked back to her with a confident smile, "I wouldn't want you to get hurt. I'll make sure he doesn't get in your way!"

Mina's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat, her blush getting deeper. _"It's as if his whole personality changed..."_

She then nodded with a smile, "Yeah! I'll leave this to you Midori!"

She then ran off, continuing down the corridor with a newfound feeling in her chest. She placed each of her hands on her cheeks and formed a giddy smile.

_"He was... so cool!" _

After Mina left, it was just Izuku and Bakugo alone, with Izuku shaking nervously in his stance. "Y-You really went to go for me Kacchan?"

Bakugo formed an evil grin, "Of course. I'm gonna beat you to a pulp, but don't worry, I'll make sure that it's only enough to make sure that they won't stop this fight!" he stated, sparks coming from his hands.

Momo and Ochako both looked rather nervous.

"Here it is..." Ochakoo said.

"The moment we knew would happen..." Momo added.

Enso was now invested in the screen, watching his student put on a fighting stance.

"Show him what you're meaning of _your_ Deku is." Enso muttered under his breath.

Izuku hands gripped tightly into fists. "I-I won't let you push me around anymore! I'll show you how much stronger I've gotten!"

Bakugo felt his anger building up, holding his hands close in a stance of his own. He saw Izuku shaking, he saw the nervous look on his face, yet he dares chose to challenge him.

"Deku..." He said in a menacing voice. "Even though you're scared, you still choose to go up against me?"

Two blasts came from each of his hands, "I'LL KILL YOU!" He bolted forward towards him.

Izuku grit his teeth, _"Knowing Kacchan all these years, the first move should always be-" _Bakugo pulled his right arm back.

_"-A right hook swing!"_


	13. Izuku VS Bakugo

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Izuku took a deep breath as Bakugo swung his arm at him, sparks flying from the explosive boy's palm.

_"Kacchan always starts with a right hook swing, so to counteract that I need -" _Izuku's mind mentally flipped through three different notebooks about close-quarters fighting, Bakugo, and tips that Enso gave him before, finding a method to counterattack.

_"Grab him by the arm!" _Izuku dashed forward and used both of his arms to grab Bakugo's moving right arm.

"What the-!?" Bakugo's smile was wiped into a look of shock, not expecting Izuku to rush forward.

Izuku then swerved his body so that his back faced Bakugo, One For All lighting his body.

"Wow, he's like a martial arts master!" Ochako explained in the monitoring room.

Momo's eyes widened and she smiled when she saw Izuku's movements, _"It's the same as in the parking lot!"_

Bakugo was just as shocked, _"What the hell is up with him!? He read my moves!?"_

Izuku grit his teeth, _"One For All, 5%!"_

"SLAAAM!"

Izuku focused more of his power into his arms and yanked Bakugo over his shoulder, slamming the boy to the ground with a powerful impact. The ground shook and Bakugo coughed, all the wind suddenly knocked out of him.

Many of Izuku's classmates put on looks of shock from the demonstration of skill.

"Whoa! Look at Midoriya!" yelled Kaminari.

"Impressive power…" muttered Fumikage Tokoyami, a boy with a bird-shaped head.

Bakugo laid sprawled down on the ground for a moment, far from out and rising back to his feet with his teeth gritting in anger. He shot a menacing look at the boy.

"Deku..." He growled.

Izuku gulped nervously as he back up, "I-I've spent all these years training and analyzing anyone that I saw powerful Kacchan! Don't think that you could easily blow me away!"

Hearing this made Bakugo even more pissed, "I'll fucking kill you... You really think you could just do that to me!?"

* * *

"What's Bakugo saying? I can't really tell with the fixed camera position and the lack of sound." Kirishima commented with his eyes fixed to the screen.

"It looks like the two of them are saying something to each other." The invisible girl said.

Momo could already guess what they were saying, a hand over her heart in sadness.

Ochako noticed her gaze and glanced up at her, somehow already getting a feeling of what was going on.

"Is this... A battle between men?" Ochako asked her.

Momo looked down and gave her a sad smile, "Yes... Something like that."

"I see... Well, then let's cheer for Deku to do his best!" Ochako said, putting on a smile.

Momo nodded, "Of course."

All Might and Enso stood beside each other, both looking rather impressed.

**"So this is how much young Midoriya has grown."** All Might exclaimed in a proud voice.

"Don't get too emotional, it's only just beginning." Enso interjected.

* * *

Now completely up, Bakugo pointed his left palm behind him and blasted forward.

At the same time, Izuku dashed towards him with Full Cowling.

Using another explosion from his palm, Bakugo spun mid-air and added momentum to his leg, then swinging it for a heavy kick once close enough.

Seeing the kick coming, Izuku fell to his knees and leaned back rather flexibly, sliding on the ground as Bakugo's leg went just above his head.

Both passed each other dramatically, with one's glare gazing at the other's nervous stare.

"Oi, fabulous!" The caped laser teen, Yuga Aoyama, remarked about their forms.

Bakugo didn't even land on his feet before sending an explosion forward to propel himself back to Izuku once more.

"DEKU!"

Izuku got up and turned back to see him coming again, _"He's so aggressive!"_

He raised his left arm just in time as Bakugo swung his right arm down over him.

Their arms collided in a powerful impact, Izuku's forearm parrying Bakugo's gauntlet.

_"I gotta hit him before he blasts me with his other arm!" _Izuku took advantage of his free right arm and thrust his palm up, slamming it under Bakugo's chin and forcing his head to look upward.

Bakugo felt pain in his jaw, _"Nngh! His stupid quirk is making his movements faster!"_

Despite the pain, he still didn't hesitate to point his other arm down at Izuku.

Izuku already knew what Bakugo was doing even before the explosions came out, pulling his arms back and retreating before narrowly avoiding a blast. _"Even though he's getting hurt, he'll still try to be on the offensive!" _

A cloud of smoke covered the area in front of Izuku as he landed a few feet away, slightly bending his knees.

_"The moment he gets the chance, he'll try to leap at me again!" _Izuku brought his arm up and positioned his fingers, having his thumb grip his middle finger.

_"Time to try out my new technique! There's no way Kacchan will expect this!"_

He aimed his hand to the smoke and used his other arm to support his held up arm.

All Might raised his head as he saw the boy aim his fingers. "**Don't tell me he's going to break his finger!? That would heavily damage the building!"**

"Relax, he's not _that_ stupid." Enso reassured him.

All Might sweatdropped.

_"Wait for it, wait for it..." _Izuku's arm shook nervously,

He saw a shadow move in the smoke for a split second before Bakugo emerged from it, blasting forward.

_"There!"_ Izuku charged up his power and aimed directly at Bakugo.

Bakugo's eyes widened as he noticed this, _"What the-!?" _

_"5%..."_

"Delaware Smash!" Izuku shouted as he flicked his middle finger. Delivering an unintentional message along with a powerful wind-pressure shockwave directed right at Bakugo.

Bakugo pointed both of his palms forwards at the incoming force and released two explosions together, colliding it with the shockwave and creating an even larger explosion that's force sent the two teens in opposite directions.

Izuku grunted and used his arms to cover his face as he was sent flying down the corridor.

Momo gasped.

_"Bakugo is... stronger than I anticipated. His reactions are on point and he really has a good grip on his quirk."_ Enso shamefully admitted.

Izuku rolled on the ground as he landed but spun back up to a crouching position, looking ahead at the smoke-covered area.

_"Kacchan must've been sent back, now is my chance to run and regroup with Mina!" _He got up and bolted away from the smoke using Full Cowling's speed, then jumping from wall to walls until he went around the corner.

Bakugo jumped through the smoke, ready to fight once again.

Only to see Izuku no longer around.

His hands clenched into fists, "COME BACK HERE DEKU!" he screamed as he started to run down the path he thought Izuku took.

Izuku took sharp corners and jumped along the wall to make sure he wouldn't waste his head start, putting a lot of distance between himself and his bully. When he was sure that he was no longer following him, he hid behind a corner of the hall, deactivate Full Cowling, and continued to run normally down the different corridors.

_"If I use Full Cowling, then no doubt Kacchan will hear me zooming around, his senses are too sharp! He might already know the direction I took. Not only that, but there's no doubt he'll be fighting me more cautiously after seeing what I could do!"_

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU LIE TO ME!?" He suddenly heard Bakugo shout from the top of his lungs.

Izuku stopped running, head freezing with a staggered look by what he heard.

"YOU GOT A FLASHY QUIRK ALL THIS TIME?! SO WHY DID YOU LIE ABOUT IT!?"

Izuku heard explosions in the distance, prompting him to run again, although looking down with a new feeling of guilt.

_"I'm sorry Kacchan..."_

"FIGHT ME WITH YOUR DAMN QUIRK! YOU OWE ME THAT MUCH AT LEAST! COME AND GET ME! OR DO YOU KNOW THAT I'LL BEAT YOU!?"

Izuku looked down with a sad expression, _"It wasn't that I was lying... I would never lie to you Kacchan. I just never told you when I did get my quirk..."_

* * *

"Wow, Bakugo looks so angry that it's scary!" Kirishima said with a worried look.

All Might looked rather nervous as well, especially since he had listened to everything Bakugo said from the earpieces.

**_"I knew that Bakugo was rather full of himself after hearing it from Izuku, but this is ridiculous."_**

"Hm, he's keeping Bakugo busy. Baiting him to chase after him until his teammate completes the objective. Not a bad plan, since his teammate, Ashido, has a huge advantage over Sero because of her acidic quirk." Enso commented, snapping All Might out of his personal thoughts.

"And by running away, he can minimize the damage from Bakugo's and his own attacks, especially after seeing the scale of destructive power they both have." Momo added as well.

"But why do I feel like something bad is gonna happen?" Ochako asked, rubbing her hands together nervously.

"Go Mina!" The invisible girl cheered.

They glanced at the corner screen and discovered that Mina had found the location of the bomb, acting sneaky-like and striking poses as if she was in some sort of spy movie.

A few people sweatdropped.

"Hopefully she could get to the bomb before anything bad happens." Enso said aloud.

* * *

Mina peeked around the corner and saw a rather open room with multiple columns in it. But what made this room very distinctive about any other room, was the amount of tape wrapped around the pillars.

_"This must be where they have the bomb." _She grinned.

She tiptoed into the room, muttering the mission impossible theme, and hid behind a pillar. She peeked around it and saw some faint signs of a large and black object, surrounded by tons of white tape.

_"There it is!"_

She attempted to move closer, only to realized that every path she could take was covered with walls of tape.

She pouted, _"All of this tape is so annoying!" _She then flung a small portion of acid and dissolved the tape in front of her.

But the dissolving clearly made noise.

"There you are!"

_"Urk!"_ Mina realized what she had done and saw Sero come out from behind the bomb, spotting exactly where she was.

"She gave away her hidden position. How foolish." Enso remarked with a disappointed sigh.

"I knew you'd be here sooner or late!" Sero grinned.

Mina looked slightly embarrassed, _"I guess I did kind of expose myself..."_

Sero shot out some tape from his right elbow towards Mina.

"Don't think so!" Mina swung her arm and released a wave of acid in front of her, dissolving the tape that had attempted to render her immobile.

Sero retracted the remaining undissolved tape back into his elbow with a somewhat worried expression. "This may be a problem."

He put his hand to his earpiece and he stuck out his other elbow, sending tape out of it and wrapping it around a box.

"Bakugo! Ashido is here, I need some help!" he yelled as he pulled his elbow and swung the box at Mina.

Mina simply splashed another wave of acid in front of her and the box dissolved before it even had the chance to hit her. She then struck a dance pose with a grin. "Can't touch this!"

"Bakugo, where are you?! I need help!" Sero shouted in his earpiece, using his tape to throw more objects at Mina.

"Help yourself! I'm busy!" Bakugo shouted over the earpiece, then cutting off to eternal silence.

_"This guy!" _

Mina jumped to the side to avoid a barrel, then splashing more acid at another one that came at her.

She then heard Izuku's voice over her own earpiece. "Mina, have you located the bomb?"

Mina jumped behind a pillar and placed her back on it. "Yeah, Midori! I'm here three floors below from where we split up! I'm against tape guy now, but it should be easy!"

"Don't underestimate him! You never know what tricks he might have. Be careful!"

"For you Midori, of course." Mina said in a teasing manner.

She heard the boy fumble with his words, "Th-Then u-m, I'll leave it up to you!"

Mina heard the line cut off and grinned. _"So easy to tease him. I could enjoy this."_

She then saw some tape fly past her, "Eh?"

The tape went across from her and attached to a barrel, then suddenly yanked towards her position at fast speeds.

"Kya!" Mina dove out of the way and the barrel slammed into the pillar, forming a dent in itself.

She immediately got back up with a pout, "No fair! I was hiding!"

"How is that not fair? This matchup shouldn't be fair..." Sero sweatdropped, retracting his tape back.

* * *

Izuku jogged down several corridors, avoiding any path that had the sounds of an angry blonde boy coming from it. He managed to get to some stairs and went down them, but it only took him down one level. He continued going through many corridors, frantically searching for any more flights of stairs, but failing to find any and feeling rather frustrated.

_"Why was the building layout out this way!? I may understand that we have to learn to adjust to any situation indoors, but this is ridiculous! Why would the stairs not be together!?"_

Izuku stopped searching and sat down, catching his breath and rethink his strategy.

_"Kacchan must've realized the unique layout of this building, but he somehow managed to find Mina and me so quickly. He must've had Sero use his quirk to pull Bakugo upward the moment he didn't see me at the entrance, avoiding the hassle of searching for the stairs and also avoiding giving away his position if he would've just blasted his way to the lower floors."_

Izuku stood back up and took a deep breath, pacing himself through the corridors once more. _"I have to meet up with Mina to finish this as soon as possible, I don't think we have much time. With her and I against Sero, it should only be a moment before we get the bomb-"_

A sudden explosion blasted a part of the wall away in front of Izuku's path, catching the boy off guard and causing him to stumble back.

"N-Nani!?"

Bakugo stepped out of the large and smoking hole with eyes of murderous intent gazing at Izuku.

_"He found me already!?"_

"Stop fucking running Deku." Bakugo said, surprisingly not shouting it at this point.

Izuku got back up to his feet and backed up nervously, pulling out the capture tape from his pocket and unraveling some of it.

_"I could try to run again, but Kacchan may expect it and catch me this time. Based on the quirk assessment test, Kacchan may just be a bit faster than me if he constantly propelled himself forward with his quirk, I only beat him at that test because I used more than my 5% to jump! I may not be able to outrun him!"_

"Oi, where's that flashy light show now?" Bakugo growled, walking towards Izuku with his arms down. His eye dilated with red veins boldly showing his rage.

"You think you could beat me without using your quirk? Is that it!?"

"N-No Kacchan! I-" Izuku didn't get to finish before Bakugo blasted forward at him.

Izuku jumped back rather high to avoid an explosion sent to where he was just standing, the blast breaking apart some of the ground.

Bakugo had waited for this, _"There!"_ He blasted himself upward and propelled himself towards Izuku in the air.

Izuku saw him coming close, _"Full Cowling!"_ He shined in the air and pulled his leg back.

"DIE!" Bakugo stretched his palm out at Izuku, just about to fire.

But Izuku swung his leg forward in the air, the force of his swing giving him enough momentum to basically perform an overhead kick.

His body leaned back and his leg swung upward, kicking directly underneath Bakugo's gauntlet and forcing his hand to release the explosion upward rather than at him.

Bakugo's eyes widened, _"He did a backflip while stuck in the air!?"_

Instinctively, Bakugo pointed his other arm forward and blasted himself back, landing on his feet as Izuku flipped himself to nail the landing as well.

However, Izuku was sweating buckets with eyes the size of pie plates, _"What did I just do!? That was the first time I've ever tried something like that! I even stuck the landing! Oh god, I hope I'm not making Kacchan even angrier! He should've had me there!"_

Enso and All Might blinked multiple times.

**"Did you teach him that?" **All Might whispered.

"Nope." Enso said, sounding rather impressed that Izuku performed such a move.

Bakugo tightened his hands into fists, looking more serious than angry now. "Hey... Where did you learn to do all those moves?"

"H-Huh?" Izuku uttered nervously, getting into another fighting stance.

"I know damn well that your sorry ass could never teach yourself that! You couldn't do anything yourself! There has to be someone teaching you that shit!" Bakugo shouted louder.

Izuku gulped nervously, "Y-You don't need to know. N-Not right now at least."

Bakugo grit his teeth, "So after all these years of lying, you still choose not to tell me what the fuck is going on? Fine, then you can go to hell!"

He lifted up his right arm and pointed his gauntlet at Izuku, palm not even open.

Izuku was confused by this action, _"What's he doing?"_

Bakugo formed an evil grin, "From your stalking, there's no doubt you already know what my quirk does! But what you don't know, is that if the higherups up there made this thing here exactly as I asked, then it'll store the nitroglycerin sweat, which means..."

Izuku's eyes widened. _"A gauntlet that looks like a grenade. And based on what he just said-" _He formed a terrified expression, _"-NO WAY!"_

In the monitoring room, All Might figure out the same thing Izuku did, immediately pressing his microphone and shouting into it, "Young Bakugo stop! Are you trying to kill him!?"

Many eyes in the room opened in shock.

"What!?" Momo abruptly shouted.

Bakugo just continued to grin, "If I don't hit him, he won't die!"

Sure enough, even if not a lot of people noticed it, Bakugo had slightly adjusted the position of his gauntlet so the blast he'd fire wouldn't directly hit Izuku.

However, Izuku didn't notice and panicked, _"I gotta move out of the way!"_

Bakugo pulled the pin, making a clinking sound.

_"NOW!"_

Izuku focused his power into his legs, but just as he was about to jump-

*Crack*

-A part of the ground crumbled underneath Izuku's foot from all the force he and Bakugo had caused before.

With the ground more shallow than expected, and because of the fast speed he tried to go, Izuku's foot ended up going deeper into the ground, resulting in him losing his footing and falling forward.

_"Eh?"_

Everything happened in a split second, but the world felt much slower than that.

Bakugo's gauntlet unleashed its full power, a flash of light occuring with it.

Izuku noticed the entirety of his surroundings around him, his body moving in slow motion as he fell.

He noticed the giant explosion of flames and smoke already come out of Bakugo's gauntlet, he noticed the crumbled parts of the ground around him that caused his fall, and he saw the look Bakugo had on his face, slowly changing from a grin to a look of horror as he realized exactly what was happening.

Izuku was falling, falling right in the direction that Bakugo had already sent his gauntlet's explosion.

The most terrifying part of the moment for Izuku...

Was watching the large area of flames hurtling towards him, almost like a beast heading for the kill on its prey. But what was even worse, was knowing that this 'beast' was going to get him.

_"There's no way I can avoid that! No matter how I move while mid-air, it'll be a direct hit! Even if I use my arms to shield myself, I won't be able to survive..."_

Izuku could feel water coming to his eyes as the flames got closer.

_"No way... Am I really gonna die? After working so hard to get here? After doing all that I could to make All Might proud? After getting taught so much by Enso, it'll all just end because of a fluke!?"_

His life flashed before his eyes. Despite being a short story for him, he still remembered so many important moments from it, whether good or bad.

He remembered first seeing All Might saving dozens of people in a fire, he remembered finding out that he was quirkless, the pain he felt from getting bullied, getting saved by All Might and being told to inherit his quirk, meeting Enso and training with him, so many things he remembered.

_"Damn it... Damn it! Why!? I don't want to die! I... I just wanted to become a hero! I-I-"_

Izuku stared straight at the fire.

_"I want to live."_

The world moved at normal speeds the moment he finished that last thought, a black color forming around his eyes.

But then he completely disappearing in flames.

* * *

"NO!" Ochako screamed at the top of her lungs, hands on her cheeks and eyes wide open with a look of pure horror.

"IZUKU!" Momo screamed with her.

Enso narrowed his eyes, _"No way."_

The screens were covered in flames and the area violently shook in the monitoring room from the force of the explosion.

Everyone else was in complete disbelief, wondering if what they saw actually happened.

"D-D-Did Bakugo just kill him!?" yelled Mineta, tears in his eyes from fear.

"I thought this was supposed to be a class!? What the hell man!?" Kaminari yelled out in anger.

"Is he crazy!? There's no way he survived that!" Kirishima added in.

In the room where the bomb was, the whole area shook violently, causing Mina losing her balance.

"H-Hey!" She stumbled forward but used her arms to hold onto the pillar next to her.

Sero backed up onto a pillar as well, "What just happened!?"

When the shaking died down, Mina put her hand to her earpiece. "Midori! What happened over there!?"

There was only static.

**"Young Midoriya! Are you alright!? Please answer! Young Bakugo, what has happened to young MIdoriya?!" **All Might desperately shouted into his microphone. He received no response back from Bakugo nor Izuku, causing his fear to grow by the second.

Enso turned his back to the class and lifted up his watch, projecting a small diagram of Izuku's body on it and scanning all areas of it while the others had their eyes glued to the screen.

A lot of smoke had been created from the explosion, but it was now beginning to clear away. People were shaking as they watched more and more smoke disappear.

The first thing that was revealed was Bakugo.

He was now on his knees with a confused, fearful look on his face. Sweat dripped from him as he shook with widened eyes, staring ahead of him in disbelief.

Momo's eyes frantically shot from screen to screen, desperately searching for any sign of Izuku. _"Please be okay! Please be okay! PLEASE!"_

Ochako could only keep her eyes on one screen, the one that contained Bakugo with smoke ahead of him, waiting for it to clear up to see any sign of Izuku.

_"D-Deku's tough, h-he destroyed that robot in one punch! H-He must've survived this, he must!"_

The smoke cleared up.

_"He... must..." _When Ochako saw the hall ahead of Bakugo, her hopes shattered.

The entire hall in front of Bakugo was now completely black from being burnt and had been destroyed in the entire distance the blast had traveled.

But everyone's eyes were fixed on one thing.

Izuku, lying lifelessly on the floor.

He had no sign of movement whatsoever. Many parts of his hair and clothes were burned, there were visible layers of skin that had been burnt, and he was bleeding in several places. His head faced the ground, covering whatever face he was making at the time and his arms were spawled out. The entire wall behind the boy was completely obliterated, as there was now a giant open hole in it that showed the sky.

He was completely lifeless, some of the breezes from the hole blew some of his hair and there were some tiny flames around him burning patches of clothes laying around. He no longer had the mask or protrusions of his costume, as those had literally been blasted away in the explosion. His body was surrounded by black burn marks and even what appeared to be ashes.

Ochako fell to her knees, tears now forming in her eyes, "N-No... no..." Her voice cracked.

Momo covered her mouth, tears already going down her eyes as she whimpered.

Bakugo was frozen in place, still processing what had just happened. He was trembling, staring at what's left of his rival several yards ahead of him.

"You're… You're shitting me right?" He slowly got up to his feet, "Deku, get up…" he said in a low voice.

Izuku didn't move.

"You can't be fucking dead! I-I can't be a fucking murderer!" Bakugo said louder, taking a step forward. "Get... Get the fuck up Deku!" He yelled desperately.

Enso stared down at the holographic diagram of Izuku, eyes widened and stunned. _"No way. Body in critical condition, multiple third-degree burns, but..."_

"H-He's dead!" Mineta cried out.

All Might slightly lowered the mic, **_"Young Bakugo... What have you done?"_**

"Wait." Enso spoke.

Everyone turned to him, and he turned to everyone.

"He's alive."

Enso presented the holographic diagram to them. "I don't know how, or why he survived that, but despite the third-degree burns, internal injuries, and suffering a blow to the head... he's alive."

The diagram showed an outline of Izuku, his heart still beating.

Momo took the initiative the moment she saw that he was truly alive, taking a step forward. "Then we have to help him right away!" She turned to All Might. "Sensei! We have to get medical assistance right away!"

A sudden yellow exclamation mark notification appeared on the diagram of Izuku, beeping on and off and catching everyone's attention once more.

"Wh-What does that mean!?" Ochako screamed, fearing the worst again.

Enso actually looked surprised by this, "Wait." He starting tapping a few things and checked what was the problem.

He was perplexed.

"He's moving?" he muttered aloud.

Everyone's attention spun back to the screen with a newfound look of confusion.

Despite Izuku's body burned, bruised, and covered in ash, his body started to move. First, it was his finger twitching, then it was his arm slightly shifting, and then he had begun to move his legs.

Bakugo backed up, _"What the hell!? He's alive!?"_

Izuku had his head down, completely hiding his face from anyone, and slowly raise himself off the ground. He somehow was only using his legs to support himself up, slowly but surely getting back to his feet like some sort of zombie. As he got up, his body shook, his arms limply hung at his sides, and small pieces of rubble fell off of him.

But he didn't straighten his body all the way, suddenly stopping his movements with a hunched back and head hanging down. There was something clearly abnormal about this, especially after just getting hit by such a devastating attack.

Everyone was stunned. Izuku had taken the full impact of that blast, yet he stood back up, not even showing any signs of intense pain.

"Hey, hey, what the hell?" Kaminari remarked, an eye twitching.

"I-Impossible..." muttered Iida.

Bakugo didn't know what to make out of Izuku's recovery, seeing that he wasn't dead. But seeing the boy get right back up after that attack made him feel angry, remembering every instance of his life where no matter how many times he beat the boy to a pulp, he would always get back up later, whether to oppose him or to hang around him.

His hands clenched into fists, "Oi, Deku! You're fucking mocking me, aren't you!? You think you could just get up and look as if that was nothing to you?! Huh!? do you!?"

Izuku didn't say anything, he just remained still.

Bakugo took a step forward, "Answer me!"

"Sensei! Stop Bakugo before he does even more harm to Izuku!" Momo begged All Might.

All Might remembered his teaching position and snapped out of the stunned state he was in. **_"Oh, right!"_ **He turned on the mic, **"Young Bakugo, enough! Midoriya is in critical condition!"**

Bakugo gritted his teeth, "He looks fine to me!"

A triangular red danger notification with a black exclamation mark suddenly appeared over Izuku's diagram, beeping in a small alarm for Enso.

Enso immediately proceeded to tap certain areas and noticed the black spots around Izuku on the diagram change.

His eyes widened, _"What in the world?"_ he glanced at the screen and saw the ashes on Izuku's body begin to move. _"What's happening?"_

The invisible girl, Toru Hagakure, also noticed the sudden movement. "Whoa! Somethings happening to Midori!" she alerted the class.

The rest of the class looked closer.

Despite Izuku standing still, there was clear movement on him, or rather, around him. The black 'ashes' on different parts of his body suddenly started to move into a rather transparent and flame-like aura around the rest of his body.

Enso couldn't believe his eyes, he went down to his watch and immediately had it analyze the aura. He got a result he wasn't expecting, _"Those aren't ashes around his body! It's... It's..."_

His eyes widened at the realization.

_"Energy."_

Izuku visibly shook and clenched his hands tightly into fists, the aura around him starting to get so intense that the debris on the floor and the loose concrete on the walls began to violently shake.

Bakugo felt the building shake and glanced around his surroundings, noticing the sudden force.

_"What the fuck!? What's happening?"_ He turned back and looked in Izuku's direction, _"Is he trying to intimidate me?"_

Bakugo looked rather serious as he raised his hand to his earpiece, "See? I told you he's fine."

He then started taking steps to the boy, small explosions in the palm of his other hand.

**"Young Bakugo! Stop! That doesn't mean-"**

All Might didn't get to finish before Izuku's energy spiked on Enso's watch.

Izuku suddenly pulled his head up so fast that you think he would've snapped it, finally giving Bakugo and the others a full view of his face, but it wasn't anything they expected to see.

Bakugo felt his entire body shiver and his eyes widened, suddenly freezing up as he saw Izuku change.

A menacing pair of red eyes.

The pure, innocent green color the boy had in his eyes was gone, replaced with a murderous, blood-red gaze that shined similarly to Enso's eyes. But Izuku's gaze looked even more deadly as the scleras of both of his eyes had completely changed to black, resembling Ashido's eyes. The veins of his eyes were coursing in red, contrasting themselves within the pure black color of his scleras and giving off an intense vibe.

He had a dead gaze staring directly at Bakugo, tilting his head to the side rather abnormally as if he was a monster from a horror movie.

Bakugo shivered and instinctively took a step back, _"What the fuck?! Did I-Did I just get scared by this nerd!?"_

Momo was understandably terrified by Izuku's new look, as it clearly wasn't anything that she had ever seen nor heard about him before. _"Izuku, what happened to you?!"_

Izuku maintained his abnormally dead look at Bakugo, arms hanging at his sides as he took one step forward to the teen.

Bakugo grit his teeth, "So you're finally ready to stop running away? After you nearly die-"

Izuku squatted his legs and disappeared in a blink of an eye, sending a blast of wind behind him from his blinding speed.

_"What the-!?"_

_*BAM!*_

"UMPH!" Bakugo suddenly felt an intense pain in his stomach, coughing up all the air out of it. He only had a moment to realize that there was a fist on his stomach, belonging to the person he thought he had killed a moment ago.

He saw Izuku's fist right on his stomach, looking as if he was vibrating due to the unexplainable speeds he went in, still maintaining a dead gaze staring up at Bakugo's eyes with a black aura around him.

The powerful punch sent Bakugo flying backwards all the way across the hallway, only to stop when his back crashed against the wall at the end, bouncing off of it and landing onto the floor facefirst.

The class went ballistic.

"What the hell just happened!?"

"All I did was blink and Bakugo is now on the floor!?"

_"This must be the special power that Izuku has. It must've activated right before he was about to get hit by the explosion, protecting the boy from certain death." _Enso immediately theorized. _"But... Izuku should be unconscious right now, regardless if he used the power, so why is he up and lashing out?" _

Bakugo had his head down and clutched his stomach in pain. Yet, he forced himself back to his feet. "What… *cough* the fuck was that?" He grunted.

He rose his head up to look again, but when he did.

Izuku's death glare was already right in front of him.

Bakugo couldn't understand what had happened, but he didn't hesitate to raise his right arm and blast Izuku right in front of him.

The only problem was, he missed.

Izuku had vanished on the spot so fast that he left an afterimage of himself right before Bakugo had attempted to blast him.

Bakugo heard a woosh over him and his head shot up to see Izuku over him with a foot surrounded in black, coming right down on him in an axe kick.

_"What the fuck!?"_ Reacting quickly, Bakugo raised both of his arms up in a cross-shaped defender's stance, attempting to use his gauntlets to protect himself.

Izuku's kick completely shattered Bakugo's gauntlets with ease, going through them and continuing down until the heel of his foot slammed directly onto Bakugo's forearms.

Loud cracks echoed and Bakugo instantly felt one of his arms break, causing him to yell in pain.

It didn't end there though, as Izuku's leg flared up even more intensely in black, forcing it down even harder on Bakugo and causing cracks to occur in the ground.

The force was so strong that the ground gave way under Bakugo, breaking apart and allowing Izuku to give his leg one more push to sent his tormentor straight down through the ground like a bullet.

Bakugo crashed through floor after floor, his back hitting multiple layers of rooms and heading all the way down to the bottom.

Mina nearly had Sero cornered near the bomb before the roof collapsed down at one part of the room and the two saw the explosive teen go straight down, crashing through the floor and heading all the way to the bottom.

"What the hell!? Was that Bakugo!?" Sero shouted, catching what he thought was the teen from the corner of his eye.

"I didn't see... Oh well! Carrying on!" Mina said as she sprayed more acid.

"Hey!" Sero shouted as he pulled the new piles of rocks with his tape to use as projectiles.

The two didn't even notice as a green and black blur following down after Bakugo.

Bakugo ultimately crashed at the bottom floor with a giant explosion of dirt and rock, the entire area getting obscured by huge amounts of rubble kicking up.

There wasn't even a moment of silence before Izuku came from above with his two red boots pointing straight down.

He landed directly on Bakugo's chest, the impact creating enough force to disperse all the dust at once and causing the cracking of Bakugo's ribs to echo.

Bakugo couldn't even yell in pain, he could only let out a loud grunt and taste some blood in his mouth.

That was when everything seemed to freeze for a moment.

Bakugo laid on the ground, one arm completely broken and the other in intense pain. He had blood in the corner of his mouth and could feel many of his ribs broken from when Izuku landed right on top of him.

Izuku stood off of Bakugo's chest, his eyes mercilessly glaring down at him.

The class was shaking.

"Wh-Wh-What the hell just happened?" Mineta stammered in a scared whimper.

"Holy shit…" Whispered Kyoka Jiro, a teen girl who had short purple hair, onyx eyes, and plug-like earlobes.

"I've never seen speed or power like that… other than from All Might…" muttered Mezo Shoji, a tall boy with multiple arms and a mask.

All Might was shocked. He had never seen something this... destructive from Izuku. He couldn't even comprehend what had just happened. One moment, the boy looked as if he had died, but in the next, he had completely turned the tables against his opponent.

**"What... What is going on?" **He muttered.

Enso was still perplexed as to how Izuku was performing these feats. But one thing he knew was that those eyes the boy had, they looked far too villainous for it to be Izuku.

He looked down at the diagram of Izuku's state. There was activity in the brain and his heart rate had progressed rather fast.

_"Is that... really Izuku?"_

Izuku stood over a heavily injured Bakugo. Yet, he reached down and wrapped his palm by his face, grabbing the boy and raising him off the ground.

Bakugo grunted in pain and opened one eye, glaring right at Izuku. He couldn't even lift either of his arms to blast the boy, as they were both completely out of commission.

He did the only thing he could do.

Which was to insult the boy.

"Deku... You fucking bastard..." He grunted out, not even able to yell.

Izuku wasn't fazed at all by his words, he just stared into Bakugo's soul.

Bakugo then felt Izuku's grip tighten on his head, tighten to the point where he felt his skull starting to feel crushed.

"GNNRK!" Bakugo grunted in pain.

All Might pressed his microphone, **"Young Midoriya stop! Any more and you'll kill him!"**

Hearing his voice, Izuku stopped.

His dead gaze turned into a rather surprised look, standing still for a few moments as if he was processing what to do.

He released Bakugo from his grasp, dropping him onto the floor and taking a few steps back in what almost seemed to be fear. Bakugo was completely unconscious at this point, the pain to his head being to last straw to knocking him out.

Everyone stood quiet, still in awe from the demonstration of power.

Izuku fell to his knees, looking down into his hands which had the firey black aura surrounding them. He looked confused, scared, shaking as his aura started to weaken.

Actually, rather than 'weaken', the aura looked go be retracting back to Izuku, but with obvious effects with it. The veins around his body emerged with black coursing through them, his whole body tensed up and he raised his head up with a loud scream.

"GNAAAAAAAAHH!'

Every part of his eyes had turned completely black now, but there were visible tears of pain going down them.

"Wh-What's happening to him!?" Ochako cried out.

"It must be his body finally taking back whatever it is he used just now." Enso theorized.

Momo saw the pain in the boy's eyes and could feel herself cringing, _"This... This isn't like anything he's told me about the backlash of his quirk!"_

The black color in Izuku's veins disappeared, the boy closed his eyes as his body finally reached its limit, suddenly falling forward over onto the ground, completely unconscious.

Enso immediately formed a yellow aura and ran out of the room with a blast of speed.

All Might did the same and ran out with him.

_"SO FAST!" _The class thought.

They both reached the battlefield in no time, rushing into the hole and inspect both teenager's conditions.

All Might put two fingers on Bakugo's neck, **"He's alright! Well, a little less than alright..." **He immediately corrected himself, noticing the broken limbs of the boy.

Enso did the same, "Izuku is..."

He got silent.

All Might felt himself turn cold.

"...alive."

**"Don't pause like that, it scares me!" **He yelled at him.

"Yay! I did it!" They then heard from above.

The two looked up and saw Mina a few floors above, barely in enough view for the two to see her hugging the bomb, which had fallen to its side. Sero was lying on the floor a few feet from her with a visible red mark of a punch on his face and completely white eyes, clearly unconscious after taking a punch from the girl.

Enso looked back to All Might, "Well, you know what to say."

All Might glanced down at Izuku and Bakugo, then sighing and rubbing the back of his head.

**"Yes..."**

He pulled the microphone from his pocket and turned it on.

**"Hero team wins."**


	14. Feelings In The Aftermath

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Medical attention in the form of four small robots and two stretchers arrived shortly after the match was over, carrying both Izuku and Bakugo off the battlefield and towards the nurse's office.

All Might saw them off as they left, with Mina, Enso, and Sero watching the two get carried away.

Sero had an icepack on his cheek where he gotten punched by Mina, "All Might, what happened exactly?"

All Might sighed. **"Well, young Midoriya and Bakugo fought at a greater power than expected... You may see the footage later if you wish, but for now, we have to move on with class. Let us go over the results of your match in the monitoring room."**

The three students followed their teacher back, with Mina curiously eyeing Enso and the suit he wore as his hero costume.

When they got back to the monitoring room, everyone was quiet, still trying to comprehend exactly what happened throughout that entire battle.

All Might walked to the front of the room and tried to get things back on track. **"Now, the official winner of this exercise was team A, due to Ashido being successful in securing the bomb. However, could anyone tell me who they believe is the MVP out of both teams?"**

No one said a word, not even Momo wished to answer that question, as her mind was only fretting about Izuku's condition. Ochako had stopped crying, but had her head down worry, thinking about Izuku as well.

Seeing that no one was raising their hand, All Might decided to choose the person he knew was the most analytical of the room so far.

**"Alright Ureshi, could you tell us your thoughts?"**

Enso's eye twitched, "Why me?"

**"Because I have no doubt that you already have many opinions!"**

Enso rubbed the back of his head and sighed, "Fine... If you're asking about the MVP based on who had the biggest impact of the fight, then I would have to say... still Izuku."

**"Oh? Do explain why you believe that Enso!" **

"What a hassle... Well, speaking about the others first, obviously Bakugo was the worst among the group. Leaving his teammate to defend the bomb alone in order to settle a personal grudge he had against Izuku, nearly blasting the boy to death. I'm sure you all noticed how mad he seemed when it comes to Izuku."

"I think mad is an understatement..." Toru sweatdropped.

Enso continued, "Leaving his teammate Sero to face an opponent with an obvious advantage against him, such a foolish idea. As for Sero, he didn't do anything too bad. In fact, he lasted much longer than expected against Ashido despite the disadvantage he had. He wasn't able to properly communicate with his teammate, but that's more of Bakugo's fault than his own."

"He wouldn't listen to anything I said..." Sero said with a sigh.

"Mina did suggest the method to jump onto the building with Izuku, but when she did get to the bomb, she immediately gave away her position rather foolishly. And when fighting Sero, she was far too reckless with her attacks that she nearly spread acid onto the bomb several times."

_"Urk!"_ Mina looked away and whistled casually.

"As far that I see, Izuku did the most to help win the exercise. He listened to his teammate's opinions and was the one who came up with a plan to keep Bakugo busy and give Mina the time to secure the bomb. He carried out his part and did much more by successfully taking Bakugo down."

**"Well, while all that may be true, it appears Midoriya ended up causing the most destruction in the battle, destroying multiple floors and violently injuring Bakugo."**

Enso crossed his arms, "There was clearly something wrong with him there. He wouldn't just lash out like that on own his own accord, that may not have been him... in a way."

There was some muttering among the class, wondering what he could've meant by that. Momo and Ochako knew fully well that Izuku wouldn't do something that... 'destructive' by himself. There had to be other things playing into it.

All Might obvious also knew that about his successor. **"I see, where you're getting at, it may have to do with his quirk for all we know. But for now, let us continue on with the training!"**

Mina nudged her best friend, Toru Hagakure, who both grew up knowing each other early.

"Hey Toru, what happened to Midori and Bakugo exactly? I was fighting Sero and had no clue what you guys were talking about."

"Um, well... I think you should just see for yourself later. They'll allow us to rewatch our battle videos later." Hagakure responded.

"Pooey..." Mina pouted.

With that, the class continued. Pair by pair of teams performed in the same activity, protecting a bomb or going to retrieve it. It allowed everyone to get a better of each other's quirks and abilities, but despite this, there were some people that were still worrying about Izuku. Momo, Ochako, and even Mina were worried, especially after seeing the condition the boy was in at the end.

Enso didn't seem very worried. Instead, he had a look of curiosity on his face as he hung out at the back of the room, analyzing the different states Izuku's body maintained throughout his battle. He saw the large activity Izuku had in his brain during the time, indicating high amounts of stress and anger just before he used his mysterious power.

_"Stress and anger... This must've triggered this 'special power' in Izuku to surround his body right before getting hit by that explosion, shielding him to be able to survive."_

Enso examined Izuku's state after taking the blast, seeing fewer signs of unusual activity in the boy's brain.

_"Right here, he's clearly unconscious, yet there is still energy moving around him. There was no way that he was consciously using it."_

He fast forward to the moment Izuku got back up, where the boy's heart rate became abnormally fast and his brain activity was all over the place.

_"So was he truly awake when he unleashed this power on Bakugo? What did he think about in the last moments before getting hit? I'll have to ask him later and maybe even look into his mind..."_

He heard someone cough, prompting him to look up and see All Might staring down at him.

"Yes?"

**"Don't tell me you haven't been paying attention this entire time?"**

"Not particularly."

All Might and the class sweatdropped.

**"Well, it is finally time for you and Iida to go up!" **He turned to the class, "**The next battle will be between team I of Enso Ureshi and Tenya Iida, against team J of Eijiro Kirishima, Uraraka Ochako, and Yuga Aoyama!"**

"Au revoir!" yelled Aoyama, winking fabulously and dashing out of the room.

"We'll see you on the field!" Kirishima grinned.

Ochako looked rather nervous as she went outside with them.

Enso watched them leave and looked down at his watch one last time, _"Guess this will have to wait until after class..."_

* * *

~{Outside}~

Enso and Iida stood side by side one another, both gazing up at the tall building a few floors high.

Iida then turned to him with karate-chopping motions, "Enso! I suggest we avoid a direct confrontation with the other team! I have no doubt that they will use their advantage of numbers to overwhelm us!"

"I suppose so. I don't exactly know strong or experience any of those three are, but I believe that I could take them."

"You're not thinking of rushing in are you!?"

"Of course not. I always did prefer a more stealthy approach in any situation." He turned and directly looked at Iida. "If I recall, your power lets you run in accelerated speeds, so fighting in those small hallways and sharp turns are a clear disadvantage for you."

Iida put a hand on the chin of his mask, "I see... I suppose it would be trouble for me to fight indoors, at least if it isn't an open room. And it'll be too risky for me to fight against Uraraka, one touch from her will render me completely immobile in the air. She might know this and keep the bomb into a small room..."

"Don't worry, I'll find out exactly where they are, just be quiet and let me focus." Enso declared as he took a step forward.

"Hm?" Iida stared rather curiously at him.

Enso stopped in front of the building and clapped his hands together in front of him.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, a blue aura forming around him.

"Punk Style- Calm Mind." He calmly said as the entire world turned to darkness around him.

There was complete silence in the darkness enclosing Enso, the boy focusing peacefully on his surroundings.

The sound of a single drop of water dripped onto a completely calm ocean, causing many ripples to spread through the water that was the world around him.

In Enso's mind, these ripples kept spreading and detected everything surrounding him in a large radius, where the ripples would then trail off. White shapes of buildings emerged in the darkness, the outlines of all surrounding objects appeared, and he heard every small sound being made, including the footsteps of people.

He opened his eyes, blue eyes changing back to red and his blue aura fading. "They're on the second to last floor up, so we should go to the roof to surprise them."

Iida was shocked, "You can feel the other team's location!? Your quirk lets you do that!?"

Enso turned to him, "Sort of. I won't explain my quirk right now, but with the energy I focus from it and from the training of sharpening my senses, I've developed that technique to help be aware of everything in my surroundings."

_"Calm Mind... Brute style?_ _I know Midoriya has briefly mentioned to Enso's different styles of fighting, but he didn't tell me he had moves with them." _Iida thought in wonder.

**"Preparation time over! Let the battle begin!" **All Might called out.

"Nani!? We don't even have a plan of attack yet!" Iida shouted.

"I've got a plan." Enso said as he grabbed Iida by the wrist.

Iida blinked, "Eh?"

"Attack."

Enso grew a white aura and matching eyes, then firmly holding Iida and pulling him up.

"Huh!? Enso, what are you-!?"

Eno then flung Iida high into the air towards the roof of the building.

"EHHHHH-!?" Iida shouted as he was suddenly thrown upward.

Enso crouched down and focused his power before then leaping into the air after Iida, both flying to the roof.

Iida landed right on his back on the rood, "Urk!"

Enso front flipped in the air and landed on his feet, standing up and adjusting his collar, "Let's go."

**"A rather unique way of bringing someone with you that high..." **All Might sweatdropped in the monitoring room.

Iida shook hunched over the ground in pain, body twitching. "Wh-Why...?"

"It was the fastest way to get us up here. The other team must've heard us land on the roof though, so we'll have to be careful." Enso warned him.

"My back and bottom hurt..." Iida muttered as he shakingly rose back to his feet.

"Sorry about that, let's go." Enso said but didn't sound sincere.

Enso and Iida went down the stairs and walked down a narrow hallway, with Enso leading Iida and Iida keeping watch of the back in case anyone came by.

_"They were around here if I remember." _Enso walked to the corner of the hall and stopped, lifted his hand into a halt signal to Iida.

Enso peeked around the corner and saw the path ahead was rather dark.

_"I could see why they would decide to place the bomb in the area ahead... The darkness gives them the advantage to ambush us."_

Enso went around the corner, still signaling Iida to remind still and silent, and went further into the hall.

_"But the ambush will be just as obvious..."_

Enso suspicions were correct as a sudden white laser emerged out of the darkness and headed straight for him. He immediately went into Brute Style and raised up his forearms in front of him, shielding himself from the laser.

Upon connection, the laser split into several different directions, each part of the wall it struck clearly leaving a mark.

Iida stepped from around the corner, "That was Aoyama's laser! Are the other two with him?"

"Oi! Aoyama get back! They're both together! We need to regroup with Uraraka so we could take them on!", yelled out another voice.

"That must be Kirishima." Enso said aloud as he heard the sound of footsteps running away. "They're retreating. Let's follow them, I have no doubt that the bomb is just ahead."

"Yes, sir!" Iida shouted as he followed Enso with a light jog.

The hallway was dark, but Enso was vigilant, his sharp senses picking up small echoes of noise that he followed. He and Iida soon came upon a door at the end of the hallway, both of them placing their backs against the sides.

Enso listened and heard light footsteps with small murmurs, "They're in there." he whispered to Iida.

"I see... How should we infiltrate?" Iida asked him.

"Well, the moment we burst in, there's no doubt that they'll be waiting for us. Let me handle Uraraka and Kirishima, you speed past them and take out Aoyama."

"Understood." Iida nodded.

Enso opened his palm and a white energy ball emerged in it, "Time for an explosive entrance."

* * *

Kirishima, Ochako, and Aoyama were all within a rather small and dimply lit room, waiting silently for either Enso and Iida to come in. The bomb was near the back of the room, slightly blending in with the darkness. They knew that the two were together, therefore it would take all of their strength to take them down.

But they didn't expect both of the doors to blast open.

The double doors were sent flying with pieces of rubble, forcing the three students to hide behind the pillars to avoid getting hit by anything.

_"An explosion?!" _Kirishima thought in shock.

They then saw both Enso and Iida run into the room, both dashing in towards different people.

Kirishima saw Iida heading towards him and activated his quirk, hardening his whole body up. "I won't move a muscle!" he grinned.

However, Iida just kept running towards him, but right at the last second, he used his speed to jump high over Kirishima, heading straight for Aoyama.

"Wha-!?" Kirishima tried to turn around, but he felt a hard fist slam into his hard face with a rather loud clank, even causing sparks to fly. Kirishima barely flinched and turned to see Enso with a white aura.

"Hm, quite the durability." Enso remarked about Kirishima as he went into another stance.

"Uraraka!" Kirishima called out.

"Release!" Ochako stated.

Kirishima then rose his arms above his head, as if shielding himself.

"Hm?" Enso looked up and his eyes widened to see several pieces of rubble floating on the ceiling above him. _"This is their ambush!"_

The rubble then regained gravitational pull, immediately raining down on Enso.

Enso narrowed his eyes as he stuck his arms up, turning his aura and eyes from white to blue. "Punk Style!"

Enso's eyes flashed blue and every piece of rubble stopped in the air before it could rain upon him, also surrounded in blue as well.

Kirishima was stunned, "No way! He stopped all of it!?"

Ochako was shocked, "I didn't think he would have enough time to use that!"

Enso then pulled his arms close to himself, causing the rubbed to also move closer to him as he stared in Ochako's direction.

"Good attempt, I clearly shouldn't underestimate you."

**"Hero team wins!" **All Might suddenly shouted.

"Eh?" Kirishima, Ochako, and even Enso himself uttered.

They all then turned their eyes to see Iida hugging the bomb with Aoyama knocked out next to him.

"Retrieved! I did it!" Iida proudly shouted with happy flowers around him.

Enso stared at him for a moment before sighing and releasing his aura, letting all the debris just hit the floor.

"Good work."

"I really didn't expect you to react so fast against my barrage." Ochako confessed to Enso with an awkward look.

"It was a rather nice plan, but you both gave it away. Kirishima raising his arms up to shield himself and you literally yelling 'release' to let the rubble fall gave me more than enough to know what was going on before it fell."

"Man, guess that was our fault then." Kirishima sighed in defeat.

Enso then made his way outside, with Ochako watching him as he left, actually smiling a bit. _"Next time, I'll be stronger!"_

* * *

~{Afterschool}~

Izuku slowly opened his eyes with blurry vision, waking up to find himself in a room of white. He had to blink multiple times, but soon his vision fully returned and he discovered that he was in the nurse's office.

He weakly adjusted himself upward on the bed, partially lifting his arms up to examine them. They were both completely wrapped in bandages, then looking down at the rest of his body to discover that he was still wearing his tattered and burnt hero costume.

_"Sorry, mom... I ruined the costume you gave me..." _He thought in depression.

He laid his head back onto his pillow as he recollected his thoughts. The last thing he remembered was taking a direct hit from Bakugo's gauntlet attack, becoming completely unconscious afterword. But what was strange was that even though Izuku didn't remember anything after that, he swore that he could still feel his body move. He could even recall some faint feelings of pain from the moments he felt his body move.

He heard the curtain around his bed yanked, "Oh, you're awake."

Izuku turned to the left to see Enso standing beside the bed.

Izuku felt too tired to get up, "Enso?... What happened?" he asked weakly.

"Well..." Enso rubbed the back of his head, "A lot."

"Damn right. When you were carried in here, you looked like you were hit by an explosion!" Recovery Girl complained.

"But... I was hit by an explosion." Izuku confirmed.

"What the hell is Toshinori making you do!? I'm gonna knock some sense into him!" Recovery Girl shouted with angry fumes.

"_Anyway-!_" Enso interjected, "I'll explain exactly what happened to you." He grabbed a chair on the side and sat down next to Izuku's bed.

"You took a direct hit from that enormous explosion Bakugo released."

"I really did!? Then why am I not dead!?" Izuku asked with comedic bulging eyes.

Enso karate chopped him on his head, "Ow!"

"Stop yelling." He adjusted himself in his seat. "I examined your body's state with the watch on my wrist, as it is one of its key functions. I found out some rather interesting things during your battle."

"Interesting... things?" Izuku repeated, a bump on his head where Enso had struck.

Enso tapped his watch and projected the different states Izuku's body and brain had gone in during his battle.

"As you see here, before taking the attack, your heart rate was obviously high but the activity in these parts of your brain shows that you were angry and stressed at the moment, correct?"

Izuku thought about it for a moment, before then nodding in confirmation, "Y-Yeah... I-I was thinking about letting you and All Might down, that I would be leaving all these people that I was just becoming friends with behind. I-I didn't want to die..."

"Of course you didn't wish to die. But that stress and those thoughts appeared to have activated something."

"A-Activated?" Izuku repeated in confusion.

Enso swiped to the side and showed Izuku's body right before taking the attack, "Do you see those black spots around your body?"

Izuku saw black patches around his diagram. "Y-Yeah?"

"That's energy. Energy that came out and protected you just before you got covered in the flames, shielding most of your body and barely saving you."

Izuku was dumbstruck, "E-E-Energy!? From what!?"

"Well..." Enso folded his hands together, "I think we may have found your 'special power'"

Izuku's eyes widened, "Y-You mean... M-My quirk?"

"Whether it's your real quirk or just some otherworldly power I was looking for, it still activated it."

Izuku looked down in disbelief, his body feeling giddy at thinking that he had a quirk all this time. But then again, he didn't know if it was actually his quirk, but it was still something.

Shaking, he looked back to Enso, "Wh-What was my quirk, or power, exactly?"

"I think you should see for yourself." Enso stood up and pulled out a small metallic disk of some sort form his pocket. "All Might gave me a copy of the battle."

He placed it on the desk next to him and tapped it, which then activated a holographic screen that showed Izuku unconscious on the ground. Izuku watched as he grew a black aura around himself and stood back up creepily, before then seeing his red and black eyes.

He was shaking, "Th-That was me?"

Before Enso even answered, the video showed Izuku already punching Bakugo in the stomach, then proceeding to use brute force to kick the boy down through many stories.

Izuku could feel his blood grow cold as he saw the look on his own face, one of murderous intent. "N-N-No way... I-I did that to Kacchan?"

He watched the rest of the video to the point where he held Bakugo up, which was when All Might called to him and somehow stopped him. That was when Izuku's look in the video turned into one of fear and confusion, then going into immense pain with black veins showing before he finally went unconscious.

"I-I did all of that!? But I don't even remember any of it!" Izuku shouted in a panicked manner, placing both of his hands atop his head.

"Calm down. Freaking out won't help." Enso told him.

Izuku didn't even seem to listen as he turned his head side to side, "Wh-Where's Kacchan?! Is he alright!?"

"That boy left here quite some time ago, but both of his arms were broken when he came in. He should be fine if he doesn't use them for a bit." Recovery Girl reassured the boy.

"I-I see..." Izuku said, calming down slightly to hear that he didn't kill his old bully.

"So, back to your power, you told me that right before going unconscious, you thought about letting All Might and I down, correct? Even thinking about the friends you would be leaving?" Enso asked, getting back to the matter at hand.

Izuku nodded. "Y-Yeah... I saw everyone that I've met, all the things that I've done before..."

"So basically, your life flashed before your eyes?"

"S-Something like that." Izuku agreed.

"That tends to happen to people in situations close to death. They go through their entire life in a desperate attempt to find a way to survive. But you doing this must've triggered your ability and had it automatically protect you, perhaps because you desperately wanted to live."

Enso looked down and sighed, "But I don't know how to explain how you suddenly got back up and decimated Bakugo without even being aware of it... It's clearly something you wouldn't do if you were conscious."

"I-I wouldn't want to hurt Kacchan like that..." Izuku said, looking down in guilt.

"I know, that's why I'm theorizing that there is something more to your power." Enso held up a finger, "Theory one, your power activates when you're at an extreme, near-death situation and works to automatically eliminate the threat to you."

He held up another finger, "Or two, your emotions influenced your power to come out and lash out at the only thing it could target, so you went berserk basically. We don't have enough information to see if either of those are correct, but for now, those are the closest things to explanations we could get."

Izuku looked rather intrigued, "Hopefully I could use it again... B-But consciously this time..."

Enso clapped his hands together, "So, what are you gonna name it?"

"Eh?" Izuku looked up at him, rather perplexed.

"I mean, the power you're using is clearly different than One For All, so it should have its own name." Enso pointed out.

"I-I mean I-I could give it a name, but..." Izuku fiddled his fingers. "W-We don't really know enough about it to properly name it..."

Enso shrugged, "Fair enough."

Izuku then heard the school bell ring in the halls.

"Heh?" He looked up and saw the clock on the wall. "It's after school!?"

"Yes, you were unconscious for the rest of the afternoon classes." Enso confirmed.

"Why didn't you just give me a bean to wake me up!?" Izuku exclaimed.

"I'm trying to save them. Recovery Girl was here and I'm low on them because of how many times you broke your arms." Enso glared at him.

Izuku shivered, "S-Sorry..." But then a new thought came to mind, "Why are you here then if class wasn't over yet?"

"I had Nezu call me on the loudspeaker so that I could come here."

"So you skipped class!?"

"Look who's talking."

"I was unconscious!"

"Would you two quit bickering!?" Recovery Girl said angrily, spinning off her chair and walking to Izuku's bedside. "You're alright now anyway sonny, you didn't break anything." She looked away, "Surprisingly..." She turned back to him, "You could both leave and stop annoying me now."

"Th-Thank you for your treatment." Izuku said as he got out of the bed and bowed to her.

The two left the nurses' office and continued down the hall, where many students were already leaving their classrooms.

"Aizawa is gonna be mad at me for missing my afternoon classes..." Izuku said nervously.

"Most likely. He may make you stay after school one day." Enso added as they reached the classroom.

"That doesn't make me feel better." Izuku sighed as he grabbed the handle and slid open the door.

"Oh! Midoriya's here!" Kirishima exclaimed, glad to see the boy there.

Many of the class rushed to him.

"Eh?!" Izuku uttered, surprised at the sudden number of people around him.

"You remember me?" Kirishima asked, pointing at himself.

"U-Um, Eijiro Kirishima?" Izuku answered.

"Yeah! Good to know you remembered me! None of us knew what you guys were saying during the match, but you were all really fired up!" Kirishima grinned.

"I'm kind of sad that I lost, but I kind of expected that with how Bakugo was acting and forcing me to go up against the girl's acid." Sero said with a slightly embarrassed smile. "We saw the video of what you did though, I was so surprised."

"Midori!" Mina came from the side with a smile, "You're alright! I saw what happened to you later, you were so cool! But..." Her smile faded, and she eyed the boy, "You got hit by that explosion... I can't believe you were perfectly fine after that."

"Yeah man, how did you survive that?" Kaminari asked as well.

Izuku felt rather nervous, "W-Well, I-"

He didn't even get to answer before someone burst through the crowd and grabbed him by each of his shoulders, then shaking him rather violently. "Deku! Are you okay!? That was terrifying! I thought you died! Then you turned scary! What happened to you there!?" Izuku's eyes widened as he got shaken.

"Wa-!?" His eyes were just barely able to pick up that it was Ochako shaking him, a more than just worried expression with her faces inches from Izuku's.

_"Sh-She's so close!" _Izuku thought with a blush.

"He can't explain if you keep shaking him." Enso told her.

"Ah, sorry!" Ochako let go of him, backing up rather shyly.

Izuku looked up embarrassingly as he spoke, "W-Well, I can't really explain what happened, I don't understand it myself. It was the first time I ever did something like that and I don't even remember it. I had to see it for myself in a video of the battle when I woke up."

"Really? That was the first time that ever happened?" Ochako asked, rather confused.

"Y-Yeah, I guess it's just another part of my quirk... I have a lot to learn." He said with a meek laugh.

"But, It was scary... You didn't look like... You." Ochako said softly, head looking down.

"I-I'll learn to use it!" Izuku stammered immediately, not wanting to see the girl so down.

The tall, muscular boy with puffy lips came over, "But it was still really amazing what you could do."

"U-Um, s-sorry, but you are-?" Izuku told him.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet." The boy hit his own chest, "I'm Rikido Sato! You really inspired everyone to go at their best after that performance."

The frog-like girl emerged from behind the tall boy, pointing a finger at herself, "I'm Tsuyu Asui, I hope we get along, kero."

_"Kero?" _Izuku repeated.

"I'm Mineta!" The short purple-haired boy sprang up out of nowhere.

Izuku saw the invisible girl appear next to Mina, "Heya Midori!"

"E-Eh!?" Izuku uttered, caught off guard and blushing by the sudden name.

Mina grinned next to her, "This is my best friend! Toru Hagakure! She kinda liked the sound of Midori as well! So guess what? She'll be calling you that too! Hope you don't mind!"

Izuku nervously looked down, "I-I don't..."

"Oh wow, you were right Mina. He really is meek." Hagakure chuckled.

"But he was so cool fighting against Bakugo!" Mina shouted in glee, sticking a fist in the air.

_"M-Me? C-Cool?" _Izuku humbly thought, feeling glad that someone thought of him that way.

Enso stared silently at the group as they interacted with Izuku, taking each of their personalities into account before catching sight of someone in the corner of his eye.

He saw Momo standing by her desk, watching Izuku from afar with a worried look.

He walked over to her while all the attention was on Izuku.

"You're not going to go talk to him?" Enso asked when he came upon her.

Momo turned to him, "I wish to speak to him alone..."

Enso sighed, "I see..." He glanced over at the small group. "Have you been listening to what they're saying right now at least?" He asked Mom.

"Yes... It's hard to believe that he doesn't even remember what he did. I'm... I'm worried about what would happen if it ever happens to him again. He nearly killed Bakugo, and... that look in his eyes..."

"Don't worry, it clearly wasn't Izuku doing that of his own accord. There has to be something more to it. He'll figure it out, I know it."

Momo could hear the sincerity in Enso voice, actually surprising her. _"Despite looking so... emotionless, I could tell how he feels sometimes."_ She smiled, _"I guess there is always a way to understand someone."_

"U-Um, hey Ochako, where's Kacchan? Izuku asked.

"Hm? Do you mean Bakugo? He left a few moments earlier after class ended." Asui answered for her.

Realizing this and knowing that Bakugo was most likely nearing the entrance, Izuku immediately ran out.

"I'm heading out now! Enso please take my bag for me! I'll see you all tomorrow!" He shouted.

"Izuku wait!" Momo called after him, standing up from her seat and not expecting him to suddenly run out.

Much of the class heard her, especially Minoru Mineta, who couldn't help but turn black or white when she heard her.

"F-F-First name basis?" He mustered out.

"First name, are they what I think they are!?" Mina shouted in glee with hearts over her head.

Momo rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag, running out after the boy.

"Wait! I wanna hear the details!" Mina shouted, about to chase after her.

But Enso appeared in front of the doorway, blocking her path.

"Hey! Move it!" Mina pouted.

"You're having wrong assumptions." He told her.

"What do you mean?"

Enso sighed, "I guess I should explain before you all continue to misunderstand..."

* * *

Izuku jumped down the stairs rather than walking down them, rushing as fast as he could to make sure that he could catch up to Bakugo.

His face looked guilty as he rushed out, remembering the things his former tormentor asked him before.

_"Why the hell would you lie to me!?"_

He slid down the railing.

_"You got a flashy quirk all this time?! So why did you lie about it!?"_

He burst out of the front doors and caught sight of Bakugo walking out of the gates, his back turned to him.

"Kacchan!" Izuku yelled to him, running forward and catching up.

Bakugo stopped walking.

He then slowly turned his body towards Izuku, who stopped and flinched to see Bakugo's arms completely wrapped in bandages.

_"I... I really did that to him..."_

Bakugo glared at him.

"What the fuck do you want Deku?" he asked him in a threatening tone.

Izuku could feel himself shaking, whether it was out of nervousness of what he was gonna say, or fear of Bakugo's anger.

He looked down, sweating nervously as he thought about just how lied to Bakugo must've felt when he learned that Izuku got a quirk. Izuku knew that he shouldn't say everything, but his guilt would get to him soon, so he knew he had to say something.

"Th-There's something that I have to tell you... I-When-I mean..."

Bakugo looked to be getting annoyed.

Izuku took a deep breath and just spoke, "I-I never lied to you Kacchan, when you thought that I was quirkless for my entire life... You were right, I never had a quirk growing up, I never manifest my quirk in the middle of the year, I..."

He paused for a moment.

"...My quirk was something I received."

"What?" Bakugo growled, gaze getting more intense.

Izuku continued, "My quirk was given to me, but I can't say by who. I couldn't even use it properly when I first obtained it, I had to get the help of someone else to learn how to use even a bit of power."

Bakugo narrowed his eyes.

"In our class, E-Enso is… h-he-he's my mentor. He taught me all of the moves I've used up to now, he taught me to develop my body so that I could actually use my quirk, and... he became my friend."

Tears started to form in Izuku's eyes, "He helped me on my chance to become a hero. He helped me get as strong as I am now so that I could get here."

He looked back up to Bakugo, "B-But even though I learned so much, I wasn't able to beat you!"

Bakugo grit his teeth, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Izuku sniffled, "During our battle, when I became like... 'that', I know that you got hurt real badly."

He took a step forward.

"B-But, that wasn't me! I'm sure you know that too! I've never done something like that before, I never remembered any of that happened, and I would never hurt you that much! I-I know you're angry, more than just angry thinking that you lost to me, but... I-I wasn't the one that beat you Kacchan, I wasn't the one in control, so I can't say that I won against you with my own power!"

Izuku formed a sad smile on his face, tears still waterfalling down his eyes.

"When you said that I couldn't do anything by myself? You were right. I had to get the help of others to get me to where I am... but I'm not ashamed of it! If it means that I can be right here and fight closer to the person I've admired for so long, if it means that I could show you that I'm not the same Deku that I was back then, then I'm glad that I got that help to keep me here! But now..."

Izuku raised up a fist, rather determined.

"I'm going to show you what I could do on my own! I'll show you how strong I really am when I learn how to use my power consciously, and I'm going to beat you with _my _full strength!"

He then remained silent, finished saying everything that had been on his mind.

Bakugo had cross veins on his head, shaking in immense anger.

Izuku shivered nervously, _"All I wanted to do was let him know that I didn't trick him! What am I doing saying so much!?"_

Bakugo fully turned his body to the boy, taking one step forward, which made Izuku flinch.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He growled. "So you're telling me... that the fucking edgelord in our class is your trainer!? You 'received' your quirk!? You weren't even the one that fought me?!"

He gritted his teeth tighter, "What the hell are you saying!?"

He took another step forward. "Are you trying to make a bigger fool out of me than you've already done!? Humiliating me like it was nothing, then claiming that it wasn't even you!?"

"K-Kacchan." Izuku uttered worryingly.

"Don't screw with me! I lost today! That's all there is to it! Don't go making shit up that you didn't fight, that you didn't even have to use your own power to beat me!"

Bakugo pointed finger at him.

"I'm just getting started Deku! It doesn't mean shit to me whether or not you know how to use that shit power of yours! Next time I'll beat you! I'll show you that I'm the best hero! Get that into that thick skull of yours you fucking... NERD!"

Bakugo then spun and started marching off, yelling "DAMN IT!"

Izuku stared with a blank look on his face as Bakugo marched off.

_"That went… surprisingly better than I expected. I might have said more than I should've, but Kacchan wouldn't even bother telling anyone about it..."_

He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. _"I guess I should wait for Enso to come out with my bag..."_

Izuku then heard someone step behind him. "Eh?"

Spinning around, he saw Momo staring at him with sorry eyes.

"M-Momo!? H-How long were you standing there!?"

Momo put a hand on her chin, "I followed you out of the class because I wanted to talk again, then I saw you talking with Bakugo. It may not have been professional of me, but I got worried and... listened in."

Izuku felt an ice block drop in his stomach, "Y-Y-You heard all of that?"

"Not everything. I wasn't here for the beginning, but I've listened from when you mentioned that Ureshi... was actually your mentor."

Although still panicked, Izuku felt a little glad that she didn't hear about receiving his quirk.

"Th-That long, huh?" Izuku uttered, nervously rubbing the back of his head and avoiding a direct look at her.

She nodded, "Yes, I had a feeling that there was something off about Ureshi, as rude as that sounds, but I'm surprised to hear that he was actually the one that taught you everything you knew."

"Y-Yeah..." Izuku nervously laughed.

"But... Why didn't you tell me?" Momo asked, looking a little mad.

Izuku flinched, "I mean- I-I sort of did..."

"You said he only taught you a few things, then you told me that someone else trained you so that your body could use your quirk, I'm just confused."

Izuku fiddled his fingers, "O-Okay... E-Enso really is my 'teacher' you can call him, he taught me everything that I could do now. The reason I didn't want to tell you was... well, he just didn't want me telling other people about it in general."

Momo looked surprised, "But why keep it a secret? If anything, I'm sure that some of our classmates would be glad to train with him after seeing what you could do."

Izuku chuckled, "That might be why he doesn't want them to know."

"Oh." Momo realized. "He doesn't seem fond of interacting with others..."

"Yeah, but that's just him. Sorry for keeping it secret though."

"No, I should apologize, it's unlike me to try to press on for an answer." Momo said, partially bowing to the boy.

Izuku got flustered and flailed his arms, "P-Please don't bow to me! I-I don't deserve it!"

Momo straightened back up and looked down saw the rips and burns on Izuku's hero costume, also noticing the many bandages on his arms from the burns he experienced.

She walked close to him, extending a hand and looking rather serious, "May I?"

"Eh?" Izuku stopped flailing and looked at his arm, then extending it out, "O-Okay?"

Momo gently held it with one hand and felt upon it with her other, eyes of sadness forming. "You poor thing..."

Momo's gentle touch stiffened the boy, making him blush harder, "I-Its nothing! I-I mean K-Kacchan has even worse injuries!"

"He had it coming! He... He almost..." Momo raised her voice, surprising Izuku before she let it trail off.

He felt her grip on his arm get tighter as Momo tilted her head down, visibly shaking.

"M-Momo?" Izuku uttered in worry.

"I-I never felt so scared in my life… I-I thought you died…" She weakly cried out.

Izuku's eyes widened.

"Just when I thought we would be working to become heroes together... You were suddenly gone in flames. I-I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it!"

_"She's stuttering, she never does that..." _Izuku thought in pure shock.

Izuku's nervousness faded away when he heard the tone of the girl's voice, realizing that she was struggling not to cry. Being the kind-hearted and over-worried boy he was, he knew he had to say something to keep the precious girl from shedding tears.

Calming down, Izuku took the girl by her hand, getting her attention to look at him, forming a small smile.

"Momo, I'm not gonna die anytime soon. If things ever look bad, if it ever looks like I'm in a bad spot, then I'll find a way out of it, just like today."

"B-But... What makes you so sure that you could get out of anything!?" Momo cried out.

Izuku formed a precious, closed-eyed smile, "Because it's what heroes do."

Momo's eyes widened and she could literally feel Izuku's spirit reaching her.

Izuku confidentially held her hand, "They always find a way out of tough spots, they always find a way to save people, and they always find ways to stop villains. That's what heroes do, that's what _we'll_ do, so there's no way I'll die anytime soon, I won't. I have to live so that I could become a hero with you. I promise you that no matter what, no matter how terrible the situation, I'll make it out alive so that we can become great heroes together."

Hearin all of his reassuring and well thought out words, Momo could feel herself brightening up, smiling and wiping away the single tear that was going down her eye.

"Thank you Izuku... I'll take your word for it." She said with a small smile.

"Good to know." Izuku replied.

"Are we… interrupting something?"

Izuku and Momo flinched at the new voice and turned to see Enso standing with a small group consisting of Ochako, Iida, and even Mina with Hagakure, staring at them and blinking repeatedly.

Iida adjusted his glasses, "Are you sure you two aren't-?"

"Don't finish that." Enso interjected.

"I-I-I…" Izuku had turned deep red and let go of Momo's hand, covering his face as steam erupted from his embarrassment. Momo turned away from them to hide her embarrassment as well, head equally steaming.

Mina pouted, _"Is he taken or not!? Can't you people make up your minds!?"_

Ochako just shook, her chest beating faster for unknown reasons.

Enso was the one to say something, stepping in between both groups and tapping Momo's shoulder to get her attention.

"Eh?"

"You were really worried about him, weren't you?" He asked.

Momo looked a little confused, "W-Well..." She looked down, still embarrassed, "O-Of course..."

Enso looked back to everyone else, "You all were, so you should know what their moment was about just now."

Ochako put a hand on her chest, a hurt expression forming as she remembered when Izuku nearly died.

Enso walked up to the emerald boy and thwacked him on the head.

"Ow! What's with you hitting me!?" Izuku bawled out with comedic tears.

"You made everyone worried, even making both Uraraka and Yaoyororzu cry. What kind of hero does that?" Enso sighed.

"Eh!? I did!? I'm sorry!" Izuku said, bowing repeatedly to both Ochako and Momo.

Ochako turned just as red as Izuku, embarrassed as she flailed her arms. "P-Please just don't scare me like that again Deku.."

Momo felt nearly as embarrassed as she did on the train before, "It's okay... Just be sure to keep that promise..."

Enso tossed Izuku's yellow backpack at him.

Izuku nearly fumbled with it as he caught it, "Ah, thanks..." He looked over at the rest of the people there, giving them an awkward smile, "Sorry for making you all worry about me."

"Apology accepted Midoriya!" Iida shouted with a hand up.

"Hey, I wasn't that worried! I knew you lived, and you even helped us win the battle!" Mina grinned.

"Not worried? But weren't you the one who tried to sneak out of class to see him before Aizawa caught you?" Hagakure grinned, but no one else could see.

Mina winced, cheeks turning lilac, "Hey!"

Enso turned to Izuku, "Now that that's over with, come with me to my place Izuku, I wish to discuss something."

"U-Um, alright." He and Enso started to step away from the group, with Izuku waving at them, "His place is in the opposite direction that we usually go, so we'll be splitting off now! Bye everyone, I'll see you all tomorrow!"

"Bye Deku!" Ochako called out.

Everyone else said their goodbyes as Izuku and Enso ran off in a hurry, most likely to save time as the sun was already going down.

When they left, Mina turned to Ochako and Momo with a toothy grin, "So you two you really cried?"

Momo and Ochako both blasted out steam.

Hagakure laughed, "Come on Mina, don't tease them like that!"

Mina chuckled, "But it's so fun! Especially teasing Midori, his reactions are adorable!"

"Midori!?" Ochako and Momo both uttered out.

"Another nickname?" Iida asked curiously.

"Yeah, because he has green hair! He even calls me by my first name back!" Mina clarified.

"But didn't you two officially meet today? Isn't it a little soon for you to be calling each other by that?" Momo asked.

Ochako looked away with some guilt, _"He did that with me though... I can't really say anything..."_

"Maybe. I let him call me Mina because I thought it would be super easy to tease him when he said it in embarrassment, but now he says it without a second thought." Mina shrugged. "But he's gotten embarrassed so many other times! Did you see how flustered he got when I pressed myself against his back, his face was priceless!"

Ochako and Momo both turned their heads with intimidating looks.

"Wait, so you knew?" Momo asked with a cold, look.

"You knew what you were pressing against him?" Ochako asked with a similar menacing look.

"E-Eh? Why are you both looking at me like that?" Mina asked nervously as they started to overshadow her.

"Good luck Mina!" Hagakure said as she ran off.

"H-Hey! Don't leave me!"

Iida also immediately proceeded to walk away, _"This could get ugly…"_ he thought as he walked out of the gate.


	15. Class Reps and Doubts

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Izuku and Enso stepped inside the dojo once more, with Enso tossing his bag to the side and tapping his watch to change the color scheme of his suit back into black.

"If you had something to talk about, we could've just talked on the phone or you could've told me while we walked together. Why make me come with you here?" Izuku asked as he also placed his bag near the door.

Enso started to stretch his arms, "We're going to continue with your training right now. Text your mom that you'll be with me for a bit."

"Eh?!" Izuku was surprised, "B-But I don't even have any workout clothes to change into!"

Enso tossed the boy black shorts and Izuku's white t-shirt with the text **"All Might"** imprinted in bold, black letters.

"When did you even get these?!" Izuku asked in confusion.

"Doesn't matter, just close the front door and put them on. Don't forget to text your mom, I remember you telling me that she gets worried when you don't tell her anything."

"A-Alright." Izuku closed the door behind him and proceeded to undress out of his uniform, with Enso performing more stretches in the middle of the dojo floor.

"You know... You shouldn't really spring these sudden sessions on me without letting me tell my mom sooner. She's been getting more worried recently and wants to meet both you and All Might... It's been about a year, so don't you think you should introduce yourself to her at least? If not as a teacher, then just as a friend of mine?"

Enso stopped stretching and thought about it for a moment, then sighing. "I'll make a note of that."

_"At least he didn't refuse." _Izuku thought as he put on the T-shirt.

He made his way over to Enso in the middle of the room. "So what'll I be doing exactly? Are we gonna fight again?"

"No, not this time. Today we're going to be improving on your movement."

Izuku looked at him curiously. "How am I gonna do that?"

Enso cracked his neck, "Simple, you're gonna learn to dance."

"..." A comedic question mark appeared over Izuku's head as he formed a blank look. "Come again?"

Enso shuffled his feet on the ground, "You're going to learn to dance, mostly breakdancing-ish styles though."

Izuku panicked and his arms shot all over the place, "B-B-But I've never danced before in my life!"

"Exactly, so you'll be learning it now."

Izuku was confused beyond belief, "B-But how will dancing even help with my movement?!"

Enso suddenly turned to him and swung his leg rather high at the boy.

Reacting, Izuku jumped back and avoided the attempt to swing at his head, "Hey!"

Enso didn't falter as he started to spin towards Izuku, pulling out a combination of graceful low kicks, high kicks, and swinging his arms.

Izuku struggled to dodge the barrage of attacks as he continued to back up. These movements of Enso were abnormal to him, _"I-I've never seen him fight this way before!"_

At one point, Enso performed a cartwheel towards Izuku but somehow canceled it halfway with his hands, his legs sticking into the air in a handstand.

_"There!"_ Izuku thought of this as an opening and tried to leap forward to swing at Enso.

Only to suddenly get kicked directly on his cheek.

He got sent backward and landed on his back, "Ack!"

He sat up and rubbed his cheek, "Ow, ow... How even-?" Izuku looked ahead and was shocked to see Enso with his legs perfectly split in the air, spinning them consecutively by using his hands and shifting his body to spin.

_"H-He's-He's-"_

Enso pushed his hands to jump off the ground rather high, then performing a spin in the air before landing back onto his feet with a pose.

_"-dancing!" _Izuku finished the thought, amazed by what he saw.

Enso stood up straight and adjusted his tie, "Been a while since I've done that."

Izuku immediately jumped to his feet and rushed in front of Enso with stars in his eyes. "That was so cool! I've never seen anyone move like that before! To think that you use dancing to fight is amazing!"

Enso cleaned his hands with a handkerchief, "Now it seems you understand. Everything I teach you will help you improve something about yourself. In this case, it will be your movement. Dancing will help you find new ways to move around in unpredictable ways and help you feel a better rhythm in battle."

"Rhythm?" Izuku repeated curiously.

"The rhythm you'll be learning won't be around musical sounds, it will be around the rhythm of fighting. You see, understanding the rhythm of a battle helps you understand the battle itself. You learn the pace your opponent is fighting at, learning if they're aggressive or passive, learning the pace of your own fighting, and so much more. Dancing helps you understand rhythm better, not to mention that it even helps you learn other methods of fighting, which is why I redeem it as important."

"I've never thought about dancing like that." Izuku said in awe.

"This isn't exactly new information, have you ever heard about capoeira?"

"Eh? Never heard of it..." Izuku said looking down as he thought about for a moment. He then looked up again "Please tell me!" He said excitingly.

"Good to see you enthusiastic about this." Enso lifted a finger up. "Capoeria is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, and music in order to perform complex maneuvers and swinging kicks, often involving hands on the ground as you saw just now. It focuses more on movements rather than any stances to fight, so you could implement anything you learn into any fight and in any way you wish."

He saw Izuku scribbling madly in his notebook.

"When did you even-? You know what? Never mind. Are you ready to start?"

Izuku closed his notebook and tossed it to his backpack, landing perfectly on top of it.

"Yes sir!" He shouted with a pumped fist.

"Good, now let's get started." Enso said as he shuffled his legs once more.

"I'll do my best!"

* * *

~{Next Day of School}~

Izuku and Momo blinked as they saw a crowd of reporters surrounding the U.A gates, asking nearly every student that was going in about how was All Might as a teacher, the questions ranged from how his class was, to how he acted.

"The media can be scary sometimes..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"We're going to have to get through them..." Momo sighed.

"Oh boy."

The two had to force their way through the reporters asking them dozens of questions, apologizing and saying that they had to get to class.

Enso didn't even both going through the entrance, he snuck over the wall the moment the saw the crowd of reporters. It was a good thing that he had his U.A card on him, otherwise, the alarms would've been blazing the moment he jumped.

_"It'd be a bad idea for me to appear on the media."_

However, landing on the top of the wall, he noticed someone who looked rather odd hanging around the back of the reporters. He wore a long-sleeve black shirt along with black pants and red shoes. He had bushy blue hair, but Enso couldn't see his face clearly because of the way his face was shadowed under the light.

"Hm..." He heard the warning bell ring, forcing Enso to jump over and hurry to his class.

In homeroom now, Aizawa stood at the podium looking scruffy as always.

"Good work on yesterday's combat exercise. I saw all the videos and results."

He glanced over at the blonde ticking time bomb, "Bakugo, you're a talented kid, but don't let it go over your head. You nearly ended another student's hero career, be more careful next time."

Bakugo looked down, "I know..."

"And Midoriya." Aizawa called out.

Izuku flinched, "Y-Yes!?"

"I've heard from All Might that you unlocked a new aspect of your quirk, but you weren't in control while using it. Just like Bakugo, you could've ended his life as well, but you did end up critically injuring him. Make it a personal assignment for you to figure out how to activate that part of your quirk and master it."

"Y-Yes sir..." Izuku said in some shame, thinking about the words, _'could've ended his life'_.

"Now, since we've gone over that, I have something important for you all to do. I'll have you-"

_"Take another special test!?" _the whole class turned blue.

"-decide on a class representative." Aizawa finished.

"It's actually a normal school activity..." Everyone sighed in relief.

But then they immediately started shouting.

"I wanna be the class rep! Pick me!" Kirishima shouted.

"Me too!" Kaminari shouted.

"I wanna do it." said the short-purple haired girl with earphone jack earlobes.

"LET ME DO IT! ME!" Bakugo shouted with white eyes and rising out of his chair.

Izuku nervously looked around the room, _"Everyone really wants to be the class rep..." _

"Silence, please!" Iida shouted, getting the attention of the entire class. He put a hand into a fist, "Being the class representative is a job with a serious responsibility of leading others!"

"So loud... But he's right you know." Enso said as he placed his head in his hand, looking down at a book he was reading.

Everyone turned to him.

"You can't do the job just because you want to, you have to know that you'll have a burden of responsibility with it. So don't take the job if you, or others, clearly know that you aren't good enough for it." He finished.

"Precisely! If we really wish to elect a suitable leader for the class, then-" Iida raised his hand up, "-I propose we hold an election to choose one!"

"An election?" Kaminari uttered out.

"But we haven't known each other for that long." Tsuyu said with a finger to her chin.

"Wouldn't everyone just vote for themselves?" Kirishima asked.

"I won't, so no matter what, someone is going to have two votes."

The moment Enso said this, everyone had a blank look on their faces.

"Heeeeeeeeeeyy buddy!" Mineta said, trying to casually get near the boy.

"No."

Mineta turned black and white in shock, falling over to the floor.

"Just hurry up and choose someone by the time homeroom ends." Aizawa said as he zipped up his yellow sleeping bag and landed onto the floor.

"If you all really want what's best for the class, then you'll all vote for someone you really think is suitable enough for the position." Enso remarked, still not looking up from his book.

Everyone turned to one another rather awkwardly, wondering what to do.

_"Vote for... someone else?" _Izuku thought in his head.

He instinctively turned his gaze over to Momo, who also gazed over at him at the same time.

Both were surprised to see the other staring across the room, but it seemed that they both had the same thought, but to opposite people.

They both smiled.

**Election Results**

**1st) Izuku Midoriya- 5**

**2nd) Momo Yaoyorozu- 3**

"Despite what I said, nearly all of you voted for yourselves..." Enso sighed in disappointment.

"I got five votes!?" Izuku shouted in shock, even shooting up from his seat.

"Who the fuck voted for that nerd!?" Bakugo shouted as he also shot out of his seat.

He shot a glare over at Enso.

"I didn't vote for him." Enso responded before he even asked.

"You didn't!?" A few people exclaimed in shock, including Izuku himself.

"So the class representative will be Midoriya, with Yaoyorozu as the vice representative." Aizawa said when Momo and Izuku stood in the front of the room.

Izuku nervously shivered next to Momo, who looked down at the boy with a smile.

"I'm not surprised." She declared to him.

"I-I am... I-I think you would be a much better class rep than me..." Izuku said as he turned to her.

"Well, four people and I think otherwise."

"Heh, even though I voted for you, you just voted for me back?" Izuku asked just to make sure.

"Of course." Momo proudly responded. "Although..." She looked around the room rather curiously. "I wonder, who were the other two that voted for me?"

Enso flipped a page in his book.

* * *

~{Lunchtime}~

"Okay, be honest with me, where did you go during the previous lunchtimes?" Izuku asked Enso, who was sitting next to him.

"Hm? Oh, I challenged Lunch Rush to a cook-off."

"You did something that dangerous!?" Their table shouted with widened eyes.

"Didn't you listen to how unmatched his culinary skills are!?" Iida shouted, chopsticks in one hand and doing a karate-chopping motion with the other.

"That's why I challenged him." Enso said before putting a chunk of rice in his mouth.

"Well, how'd it go?" Ochako asked curiously.

"Well, do you recall the recent boar curry with roasted chilies and bamboo shoot that was added on the menu?"

"Ah, yes. It was quite a sudden surprise to see a new menu item so soon after school started. The bamboo shoot was quite a surprise to see with the curry too." Momo answered.

"Well, he found it impressive enough to add it." Enso explained.

"Really!? You must be an amazing cook to impress Lunch Rush!" Izuku exclaimed in amazement.

"Not particularly. You just have to know what you're doing."

"Ayyy! Enso!" On cue, Lunch Rush slid right to their table and pat the emotionless boy on the shoulder. "Seems like a lot of people like the new menu item you showed me! Maybe you should quit being a hero and become a chef to work with me!" he joked.

"No thanks."

"You didn't have to answer so fast..." Lunch Rush sweatdropped. But he immediately cheered up, "But hey! Feel free to come by if you ever wanna learn something from me! You still have a long way to go after all to be like me!" He said, giving the boy a thumbs up.

"I'll... consider it." Enso responded, still not looking up from his food.

"Good to know! I look forward to seeing you in the kitchen again!" Lunch Rush exclaimed, sliding away as fast as he came.

The group just stared at Enso awkwardly.

"Well, that was..." Ochako started.

"...interesting." Izuku finished.

They were quiet for a moment before Enso changed the subject.

"So Izuku, how do you feel becoming the class representative?"

Izuku suddenly became rather nervous thinking about it, "I-I still can't believe that I got five votes from the class… I wonder why they decided to vote for me."

"Well, you already know three of the votes, Uraraka, Iida, and yourself."

"B-But I didn't even vote for myself, me and Momo both voted for each other." Izuku awkwardly laughed.

"Same thing, you both got a vote."

"Actually, that reminds me Enso, if you didn't vote for Izuku, then who did you vote for?" Momo asked him.

"You." Enso didn't hesitate.

"Me?! Really?!" Momo asked in shock.

"Well, I already knew that Izuku would win, so I simply went with the person I believed he should work with and is equally suited for the second position."

"I didn't know you thought highly of me..." Momo smiled.

"Well, you left a good impression on me by how much Izuku spoke about you all the time."

Izuku blushed, "H-Hey!"

"If I hadn't seen everything Midoriya had done up to this point, then I would've most likely voted for Yaoyorozu as well..." Iida declared.

"I mean, after Deku saved me and how cool he looked during the hero training, I felt like I just had to vote for him." Ochako smiled.

Izuku's eyes looked down in embarrassment, "Th-Thank you..."

"But then who were the other two votes from?" Momo pointed out.

"Um..." Izuku didn't know.

"Oh! That was us!"

Izuku turned right to see a pair of yellow eyes looking at him, although just a few inches from his face. He back up in shock, "M-Mina!?"

Mina grinned, "Heya Midori!"

"I'm here too!" Hagakure cheerfully said from behind them. Both of them holding a tray of food in their hands.

"Could we sit down?" Mina asked them.

"S-Sure!" Izuku uttered out, scooting over to make room for them.

Upon sitting down, Enso asked, "So you were the other two that voted for Izuku?"

"Yup! That was us! I kind of wanted to the job myself, but after remembering how Midori took the lead during our battle exercise yesterday, I knew that he would be better for the job!" Mina declared.

"I could see why Ashido would vote for him but..." Ochako turned to Hagakure, "What about you?"

"Well, I didn't really wanna become the class rep, and after hearing Mina vote for Midori, I just decided to vote for him too!"

_"She calls him Midori as well?" _Ochako and Momo both thought with blank stares.

"Have you noticed that most of the people who call you different nicknames are girls?" Enso sarcastically asked at the moment.

"Oooo! Midori! Quite the ladies man are you?" Hagakure teased.

Izuku choked on his drink, coughing repeatedly with his eyes turning watery.

"Midoriya!" Iida immediately proceeded to repeatedly karate chop the boy's back to help him.

"Good job." Enso rolled his eyes.

"Whoops." Hagakure said.

After recovering from his sudden choking, Izuku tried to speak, "U-Um, I wouldn't _*cough*_, r-really say it like that. _*cough*_, _*cough* _I mean, K-Kacchan calls me Deku and Enso calls me Izuku. _*cough*_ As for the other guys… I-I haven't really talked much with them, so of course, they _*cough*_ don't call me other names."

"Why did I cause this?" Enso sighed, facepalming.

Ochako changed the subject once more, "You know, I've been thinking, are you a rich boy Iida?"

Iida seemed surprised by this sudden question out of nowhere, "What makes you assume that?"

"Well, you always talk so formally and kind of give off that rich vibe." She explained.

Iida cleared his throat, "I wouldn't consider myself rich, but my family has been heroes for generations, so we've been financially well."

"Really!? What kind of heroes are they!?" Izuku asked in excitement.

Iida adjusted his glasses, "Do you know the Turbo hero, Ingenium?"

"Yeah! He's a really popular hero who has 65 sidekicks working at his Tokyo agency!" Izuku formed a look of realization, "Don't tell me-!?"

Iida nodded, "He is my older brother!"

"Really!? Cool!" Mina blurted out.

"You must be proud to have such an older brother." Momo added.

Iida proudly put his hands to his hips, "Indeed! He is a very likable hero who honors the rules and has the qualities to lead people!"

"I see! So that's why you always act so strict and formal!" Ochako said in realization.

"Yes! I set my sights on becoming a true hero because I wish to be like my brother! To honor my family name and make him, with the rest of my family, proud!" he stated.

Enso's eyes went from his plate of food up to Iida, a more serious look than usual on his face. "So… Then the reason you wanted to become a hero was merely so you could be just like your older brother? To make your family proud and keep up your lineage of heroes?"

Iida and the others looked curiously over at Enso, noticing the small change in his voice.

"Yes, I do wish to be a hero to live up to his name, but it is still too soon for me to lead others." He stated.

Enso looked slightly disappointed, looking down at his food and using his chopsticks to pick at it. "Can you really become a hero that your brother can be proud of with that kind of mindset?"

It was as if the rest of the world surrounding the table was cut off, leaving the small group in silence and shocked by Enso's response.

"What... are you implying by that?" Iida asked, a much more serious expression on his face.

"I mean, could you truly claim that your aiming to become a 'true hero' when you aren't even thinking about the one thing a true hero would prioritize in for becoming hero in the first place?" Enso asked differently.

"And what would that goal be?" Iida asked him.

"If you don't know it already, then what does that tell you about yourself?" Enso said, putting a slab of rice in his mouth.

Mina pouted and stood up in her seat, putting her hands on her hips and looking rather annoyed, "Are you judging him for wanting to make someone else proud?!"

"I'm not really judging him specifically. I'm just pointing out flaws in his reasoning to become a true hero."

Mina pointed at him, "Oh yeah!? Then what's _your_ reason for becoming a hero!?"

Izuku started to sweat nervously, _"I don't even know how he's gonna answer this, but it might not be good!"_

Enso glanced up at her, "I-"

A sudden alarm bell rung throughout the entire cafeteria, suddenly getting the attention of all the students.

"Nani!?" Someone shouted in panic.

**"There has been a level 3 security breach, all students please evacuate outdoors promptly!" **The announcement speaker declared.

"Whats a level 3 security breach?" Iida asked someone near him.

"It means that someone is trespassing on school grounds! There hasn't ever been anything that's happened like this before in the three years I've been here!" The boy yelled.

"Not in three years?" Momo repeated in shock.

Enso's eyes widened as his mind immediately flashed an image of the blue-haired man he had seen near the entrance this morning. _"Is it-?"_

"Run!" Someone else shouted.

Everyone ran for the exits, desperately trying to leave the area as fast as possible and not even caring if they bumped into one another, resulting in a huge crowd of people cramming near the exit.

Izuku felt himself getting crushed between two people larger than him.

"O-Ow! E-Excuse me!" He managed to force himself between those people and tried to move to the side, before then getting pushed around again.

_"Damn it! Everyone is so quick that it's causing a panic!"_

"Ow!" Izuku suddenly felt someone fall against him.

"S-Sorry-!" He looked down to see Ochako right in front of him. "Ochako!? Are you alright!" he shouted over the people, trying his best to use his own body to shield the girl.

"I-I'm fine Deku, just-!" At that moment, even more people forced the two even closer together, resulting in Ochako's chest to push up against Izuku's.

He instantly felt their softness and erupted in red, _"B-B-B-!"_

Ochako turned as adorably red as the boy, looking up at him with an equally embarrassing face. "S-S-Sorry! I'll try to move-!"

They couldn't even catch a break as more burly people tried to push through them, resulting in the two of them moving to the side together. Izuku's back was forced against the wall and Ochacko's body pressed even closer to him, her face becoming mere inches from Izuku's.

They both stared into each other's eyes in pure red for a brief moment before the two turned their faces to opposite directions.

_"SOMEONE SAVE ME PLEASE!" _Izuku screamed in his head.

Iida was forcefully pushed up against the window, trying to stay put and look through it.

"Who in the world would even trespass into U.A!?" His eyes widened as in the distance, he saw a crowd of many people around Aizawa and Present Mic, "The press!?"

Iida turned his head, "It's only the press everyon-!" but before he could even finish, someone pushed his face right against the glass window, interrupting his sentence. "Urk!"

He continued to get swept away in the crowd.

_"Damn it, I have to find a way to tell everyone not to panic!"_

His eyes looked around the area for any sort of idea, wondering what he could do.

"Hey!" Iida heard someone yell.

"Excuse me." A familiar voice said.

"What the hell!?" Another voice cried out.

"Sorry about that." The same familiar voice apologized.

"Huh?" Iida managed to turn his head behind him to see Enso jumping from person to person, using their heads as platforms to jump forward, all while apologizing for each person he stepped on.

_"He's getting across to the exit like that!? How rude! He should at least try to-!" _Iida then came to a realization, looking forward and above the exit sign, knowing that it would be perfect to get everyone's attention. _"I see!"_

Iida pushed himself above some people, "Enso!" he shouted, raised both of his hands up and open.

Enso saw him as he jumped in the air and knew exactly what to do. Upon landing on one more person, he leaped forward and performed a flip right onto Iida's hands.

Iida felt his arms get forcefully pushed down due Enso's weight, but he mustered enough strength to extend his arms back up to work as a spring, slightly curving to basically throw Enso forward again. "Go!"

He watched as Enso leaped all the way above the exit sign with that one jump and stuck his hands out, grabbing onto a long blue pipe above.

"There we go." Enso then yanked himself up and stood atop the pole, balancing himself on it and facing the crowd of people below.

While forcing his head to look away from Ochako's adorable face, Izuku had seen Enso fly over everyone and onto the pole. _"What is he doing?" _

Enso took a deep breath and closed his eyes, saying something no one else could hear over the commotion.

"Legendary Style- Reaper Of Worlds."

The moment Enso opened his eyes, his entire demeanor changed.

A black aura surrounded him and his eyes flashed red, lighting up the entire area and getting everyone's attention immediately.

The moment everyone's eyes laid upon Enso, they felt their skin crawl, they recoiled back, and their bodies started to shiver.

Enso had a rather menacing glare looking down upon everyone, red eyes shining bright enough to give the hall a shade of blood-red. The immense amount of pressure he gave off had everyone completely frozen in fear, including Iida himself.

_"Wh-What is this? H-He's giving off such an intimidating look with just a stare!"_

Momo's hands went closer to her chest, eyes widened, _"That look of his... Why does it seem so... threatening?!"_

Izuku looked to be the most terrified by it, not from the gaze itself, but rather, knowing exactly what kind of gaze that was, what it meant.

_"That's the look of pure murderous intention."_

Enso spoke, his voice echoing through the completely silent hall.

"The trespassers are nothing more than the media coming in, so there's no need for you all to push, trample, or hit each other aside to save your own lives. To think that you're all trying to be heroes, yet you're demonstrating this chaotic behavior. You know how many people are hurt just because of all of you?"

A few people looked around at each other, seeing some bruises on people's faces and others holding their arms or hands in some pain.

Enso pointed down at all of them. "You're all supposed to be aiming to become heroes, so act-like-it."

He then crossed his arms, "Head back to your classes, now."

The black aura around Enso disappeared and his eyes become less menacingly red, to which he then jumped down and landed on an open space that people made, backing up from intimidation.

Upon landing, he slightly bowed. "Good day."

And with that, he left through the exit as if nothing had happened, people making space for him to pass through as he did.

_"What even was that?" _Nearly everyone in the cafeteria thought, still shaking from the intimidating gaze from before.

Izuku and Ochako were both staring so intently at Enso that they forgot how close their bodies were pressing together. Turning their heads, their noses touched and brought them back to the realization of how close they were.

"Ah!" They jumped back from each other, Ochako did at least. Still being at the wall, when Izuku tried to jump back, he slammed his head right on the wall, ending up in him crouching on the floor clutching it.

"Ow, ow, ow..."

"S-Sorry!" Ochako apologized, crouching down next to him.

Iida looked down, his hands clenching into fists.

Enso continued to pass people as he made his way back to class, going up the stairs and to another hall that was nearly empty.

_"Seems that the intimidation worked..." _He thought with a small sigh. _"But I had to go into... 'that style' to do it."_

He then heard the sounds of footsteps running towards him, prompting him to turn around.

He saw Izuku catch up to him, breathing deeply with a comedic red bump on his head as he stopped next to him.

"Enso *huff*..." The boy panted.

"What is it?"

Izuku gulped nervously, "What... What was that?"

"What do you mean?"

Izuku stood tall and caught his breath, "I-I mean that look..."

"It was simply a method of intimidation to get them all in order."

Izuku shook his head side to side, "No, it wasn't just that. That look you had in your eyes, i-it... it was-"

"Threatening?" Enso finished for him.

"Y-Yeah." Izuku looked down nervously, "A-As if y-you would... k-ki-"

"Don't finish that." Enso interrupted, making Izuku flinch.

He sighed and put a hand to his hip. "I know what you're thinking, but did you really think that I was going to permanently end the careers of all those students just because they were in a panic? That look I made was, of course, intimidating with the sense of murderous intent just to make _sure_ they'd listen. You already know what I've done before, so it shouldn't come as a shock to you that I have a look like that."

Izuku looked down in shame, "Y-Yeah... B-But was that... another style?"

Enso was quiet for a brief moment, then looking down. "Not one that you'll ever see used for it's intended purpose..."

_"Intended purpose?" _Izuku thought, gulping nervously. "O-Okay... Th-Then one more thing."

"What? Class will start soon." Enso said impatiently.

"We still have a few more minutes left." Izuku took a deep breath, "Did you have to be so harsh on Iida's reason for being a hero? Wanting to be a hero for someone else isn't a bad thing. You shouldn't judge him on that." He said with a serious look on his face.

Enso narrowed his eyes, "I wasn't necessarily judging him, but I've learned from your beliefs and All Might's that a true hero is someone who prioritizes in saving others, so if the number one hero believes this, then each true hero should have the quality of self-sacrifice. Or so I believe."

He crossed his arms.

"As far as I could tell from Iida, he doesn't seem to realize the meaning of being a true hero. He's only thinking about his family, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but not exactly a 'true hero' path. Pointing out those things about him will help lead him to realize what kind of hero he'll become. If he remains as he currently is, then he'll compare everything he does to his brother, even making choices based on what he thinks his brother would do. If he doesn't learn how to think in a way that doesn't involve his brother, then there will clearly be problems reflecting in his hero actions. Taking some inspiration from his brother is alright, but he can't make his whole reason for becoming a hero or make choices of a hero based on everything his brother would do."

_"He's actually trying to help Iida?" _Izuku thought, wondering if those were his intentions.

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, unsure of what to say now, "J-Just try to keep those types of thoughts to yourself. If you just keep saying everything that's on your mind, then people may start to think negatively of you."

Enso looked down to the ground and turned his back to Izuku, "But I don't plan to stay here anyway..."

With that, he made his way back to the classroom, leaving Izuku alone in the hall with a sad look on his face.

_"Don't plan to stay, huh?"_

* * *

For the rest of the school day, Izuku and a few others noticed a change in Iida's character. The boy looked less serious than he usually did and appeared rather down as he worked on school things, even lacking some energy during the hero lessons class.

Izuku and the rest of the people at his table knew why Iida was acting this way, based upon what they've heard during lunch.

_"I knew it... What Enso said is bothering him..."_

Izuku looked farther in the back at Enso writing on a worksheet that the class was given, not giving the others in the room much thought.

_"I have to talk to him again." _Izuku thought with a serious look.

Now after school, Izuku quickly packed away his stuff and stood up, turning back, "Enso, we need to- WHY ARE YOU GOING THROUGH THE WINDOW!?"

"See you tomorrow." Enso said right before jumping out.

"W-Wait!" Izuku rushed to the window and looked down, seeing Enso already naruto running across the courtyard and towards the walls.

"Why'd he take the window this time?" Momo asked rather confusingly as she walked next to Izuku.

Izuku sighed and looked down in disappointment. "Who knows?..." He sweatdropped.

Izuku then looked back and saw Iida gone from his seat, "Eh? Where did Iida go?"

"I saw him head out rather quickly, kero. Did something happen?" Tsuyu asked.

Izuku looked down rather sad.

* * *

~{Outside}~

Iida walked down the sidewalk as the sun started to set, looking rather depressed with his head down. There had been one thing he had been thinking about ever since lunch, and those were Enso's words.

_"Can you really become a hero that your brother can be proud of with that kind of mindset?"_

_"I mean, could you truly claim that you're aiming to become a 'true hero' when you aren't even thinking about the one thing a true hero would prioritize for becoming a hero in the first place?"_

_"If you don't know it already, then what does that tell you about yourself?"_

Iida sighed, _"Am I really going off the path of becoming a hero? Just what is Enso thinking..."_

He then saw some leaves fall in front of his path and heard rustling from above, prompting him to look up, "Hm?"

"Good afternoon Iida." Enso said with a blank look on his face, hanging upside-down from a tree branch.

"Enso!? What are you doing in the tree!?" Iida shouted, taken aback by his absurd presence.

"I was following you and determined that the best way to get your attention was from up here."

"What kind of thinking got you to that conclusion?! Get down from there!" Iida shouted with a karate-chopping motion.

Enso dropped down while still upside-down, landing on his hands and into a perfect handstand. He then slightly bent his arms and pushed himself into the air, spinning back onto his feet.

"You should respect the tree and all life on it! What if you knocked down a nest!?" Iida scolded him.

"On the contrary, I just fixed a nest and raised it up higher."

Iida looked up and saw a nest strongly structured at the top.

"I see..." He adjusted his glasses, focusing on Enso once more. "But what are you doing here?"

"As I've said before, I was following you."

"But for what reason?" Iida asked, looking serious after remembering what Enso said to him earlier in the day.

"I never properly thanked you."

"Eh?" Iida looked surprised.

"You helped me get to the top of that exit sign to inform everyone that it was only the media that came in."

Iida looked down, not looking proud, "But... You would've gotten up there regardless if I helped you..."

"Yes, I would've."

Iida sweatdropped.

But Enso continued. "However, you made it far easier for me to get up there without needlessly stepping on other people's heads and hurting them. You realized quickly that it was only the media and acted to help me by letting me use your hands as a platform to reach up. So... Thanks."

Iida's look was what some would say... baffled. After what Enso had told him during lunch today, he wasn't expecting him to suddenly say something as he did just now.

"What are you planning?"

Enso tilted his head, "Hm? What do you mean?"

"I highly doubt that you came all the way here just to thank me."

Enso was momentarily quiet for a moment, him and Iida staring right at each other.

He then rubbed the back of his head, "Listen, I don't like misunderstandings, so I wish to clear something up with you." He then pointed a finger at Iida. "What I said to you during lunch wasn't an insult, it was advice."

Iida raised an eyebrow, "Advice?"

Enos nodded, "I wasn't criticizing you on why you became a hero (_even if I don't really approve of your reason), _I was trying to warn you."

"Warn me of what?"

Enso crossed his arms, "Do you really think your brother wants you to be a hero just to continue your family name?"

Iida looked down, "That's..."

"How far have you gone to try and be like your brother? Knowing you and judging by what you've said about him before, then there's no doubt that you've tried to mimic every single move he's done in hopes of becoming like him."

Iida flinched.

"So it really is like that, huh?" Enso sighed, "I would know, because I know another idiot trying to become someone he's not..."

Iida looked up at him, _"Who could he be referring too?..."_

He continued, "Iida, if your brother really is such an amazing hero as you said, then what do you think _he_ truly wants you to do? Why did he really become a hero?"

Iida came to a realization and glanced up at Enso, looking rather shocked and suddenly remembering something about his brother, words specifically.

_"Well, our grandfather and parents were all heroes, so I was expected to be a hero by those around me. Anyway, it's simple really. If someone sees a lost child, they take the child to the service counter for lost children. I think people like that are the coolest._

Iida formed a small smile as he thought about the meaning of his brother's words, speaking out loud. "He would want me to do what I think is right, to do what I know is right."

"Then work based off that, don't try to mimic your brother's every action and don't think that becoming a true hero is based on becoming exactly like your brother, because it isn't. Find your own goal, find out what it really means to be a true hero."

Iida raised a hand to his head in a salute manner, now more energetic "I see! I am sorry for thinking about so many negative thoughts about you!"

_"Just what were you thinking of me?" _Enso wondered.

"I'll make sure to work even harder! Thank you for your words of encouragement!"

_"I wouldn't say that I encouraged him... I just needed him to realize just what kind of goals a true hero should have, such as how Izuku and All Might think... I hoped that having Iida compare himself to his brother would him realize the quality of self-sacrifice he needs, but I'm not really sure if he realized that."_

"Well, goodbye then." Enso partially waved.

"Goodbye! I will see you tomorrow!" Iida shouted before marching off proudly.

Enso watched him walk down the sidewalk, _"Well, it's a start at least."_

He turned around to leave but a familiar principal's head peeking out from around the corner.

_"Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" _He stared.

Enso sweatdropped, "You followed me?"

The short principal stepped out of the corner and walked over to Enso with a grin. "I heard what you did during lunch today and wished to speak to you about it, but I didn't expect you to see actually helping out another student out of the kindness of your heart."

"You know as well as I do that I wouldn't come to help him out just to be nice." Enso responded.

"Oh? You can't possibly be implying that you're trying to get on better terms with him just to hopefully recruit his help one day?"

"He's one of the stronger students among the class, his help would be appreciated." He turned back and glanced over the path Iida had taken, "But only if he realizes just what are his owns problems and how he could become a true hero closer to All Might's standing."

"Please stop think about using my students..." Nezu sweatdropped.

"They could help you know..." He turned back and looked down at Nezu, "But you came to talk to me about lunch time?" Enso asked, getting back to what Nezu was originally going to talk to him about.

Nezu looked rather serious now, "First, I would like to thank you for helping calm down the situation. Second, I wish to warn you."

"Warn me?" Enso repeated, raising an eyebrow. _"Why am I getting a sense of deja vu?"_

Nezu nodded, "We checked on how the media was able to get in. Turn's out, the front gate's doors had literally been crumbled down."

"So you're saying that someone purposely did this and used the media to slip in?"

"We don't know for sure if someone evil slipped in or if it was a declaration of war, but either way, I have a bad feeling about it. Did you see anyone suspicious among the media this morning when you came to school?"

Enso's mind immediately flashed to the person in blue hair he saw in the morning, narrowing his eyes at the thought. "I saw someone suspicious in the back of the media. He had short blue hair with a long black shirt, black pants, and red shoes, but I couldn't see his facial features."

Nezu made a note on it, "I see. Thank you for the valuable information. I'll be sure to inform the teachers to look out for such a person." He bowed.

Enso stared down at him before asking, "Nezu, do you believe something might happen?"

Nezu looked up to him, "Yes, someone clearly instigated this, so I can't help but think that someone is planning something from the shadows."

"I see..."

"Enso, I'm to say this and expect you to comply."

Enso narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

"No matter what happens, prioritize in saving the students."

Enso sighed, "I know that already..."

"As a hero should." Nezu chuckled.

"You're still going on with that? I'm not here to become a hero."

"You say that, but I still have faith that you will." Nezu smiled.

A sudden limousine drifted around the corner and caught the attention of Enso, eyeing it curiously as it sped up and screeched to a halt right next to the sidewalk near Nezu.

Nezu simply turned around and smiled, "Ah! My ride is here!" he said cheerfully.

_"What in the world?" _Enso thought as he examined the completely black and expensive-looking limousine.

Nezu opened the passenger door and hopped in, then scooting a bit and patting a spot next to him.

"Need a ride?"

"No thank you, I feel much safer here."

He just laughed it off, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then!"

He closed the passenger seat and the limo sped off into the sunset, leaving Enso at the sidewalk with an unamused look on his face.

He placed his hands into his pockets and started walking.

_"Tomorrow... Why does that bother me?"_

Little did he, or anyone else of the school know, but tomorrow for Class 1-A's hero lesson class, they would meet one of their most threatening villains ever.


	16. Rescue Training Gone Wrong

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{Next Day- Hero Basic Training}~

Instead of All Might walking in for the Hero training class, Aizawa came in and walked in front of the podium.

"Today's hero lessons class will be a class of three instructors with me, All Might, and one other person."

"Um, what'll we be doing?" Sero asked, curious as to why there would be three instructors needed.

Aizawa pulled out a card, "Rescue training… From shipwrecks, disasters, and anything else."

"Looks like it'll be a lot of work this time." Kaminari said nervously.

"Right?" replied Mina.

"Idiot, this is the duty of a hero!" Kirishima said with a grin.

Aizawa continued, "The training will be taking place off-campus, so we'll be taking a bus, change into your costumes if you wish and meet me in the front of the school."

Hearing the word, 'costume' mentioned, Izuku couldn't help but sigh, getting up with the class as well.

"Isn't your costume decimate beyond recognition?" Enso asked the boy as he walked up to him.

Izuku nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, I have to wait for the support company to fix it."

"Oh well, do you have something to replace it?"

"Well, I'm going to wear a U.A uniform with similar elements of my costume on it."

"I see. I should get changed into my costume now." Enso pressed his watch and his suit's color scheme changed back to black.

"What the hell!? Was that magic!?" Many of their class exclaimed.

_"Oh boy..."_ Izuku sweatdropped.

* * *

Soon, Class 1-A was on a fairly large bus, heading off towards the rescue training area that Aizawa had in mind.

Izuku was in his thoughts as the bus sped, looking rather serious as he looked into his hand.

_"I still have to find out more about my power- or is it a quirk?- or whatever it is, I have to figure out more about it. How do I activate it, how do I use it, and what actually is it?"_

He stared up at the ceiling.

_"I hurt Kacchan really bad when I used that power during the combat exercise... If I don't learn how to control it, then what'll happen if I use it again? I might end up hurting a lot of people..."_

"Midoriya." Someone called out to him.

"Eh?!" Snapping out of his thoughts, Izuku looked to his left to see Asui, staring at him with a blank stare. "Y-Yes, Asui!?"

"Call me Tsu." she asked of him.

"E-Eh?! T-Tsu?" He shyly said.

"I like to say things that are on my mind." Tsu told him.

"R-Really?" Izuku nervously answered.

She nodded, "Your quirk is like All Might's" she pointed out to him.

Izuku panicked, "H-Huh?! Y-Y-You think so!" he stuttered back.

"It's only a simple speed and strength enhancing quirk, so of course they look the same." Enso intervened across from them.

"That may be true, but it looked so cool when you were fighting Bakugo!" Mina blurted out.

"EH!? What was that raccoon eyes!?" Bakugo shouted.

They sweatdropped.

"Although Midoriya's quirk kinda looks the same as All Might's, there's a huge difference and that's, um... how do I explain it? The power you used to kick Bakugo's ass."

"What the hell! You wanna fight!?" Bakugo yelled out.

"U-Um, I-It was the first time I've ever used something like that, but I don't even remember it..." Izuku said nervously.

"It looked so cool though!" shouted Hagakure.

"Although a little scary..." Mineta added.

Tsu still stared at Izuku with curiosity in her eyes, then remembering something, "Midoriya, during the Quirk Assessment test, you broke your arm. Did you always end up doing that when you were learning to use your quirk?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head nervously, "U-Um, well… Yeah. When I first tried using my quirk, I would always end up breaking at least one part of my body. But after some hard training, I learned to use at least 5% of it."

"Oh… Sorry for asking you about that Midoriya. I always say whatever is on my mind, kero. " Tsu said.

"A-Ah, don't worry about it Asui." Izuku responded.

"I said call me Tsu."

Izuku gulped nervously, "O-Okay… T-Tsu"

Soon the class arrived at the natural disaster building, getting off the bus and getting a good look at the building. From the outside, it looked like a giant dome, but once they were inside, they saw a number of disaster zones from shipwrecks to fires, as Aizawa said.

_"Amazing... It looks like Universal Studios Japan..." _Izuku thought, looking all around at the building.

Now all completely inside, their class saw someone waiting for them. He wore a white spacesuit costume, wore yellow boots, and a black helmet.

Izuku immediately recognized him. "I-Its the space hero Thirteen! The gentlemanly hero who has rescued tons of people from natural disasters with his black hole quirk!"

"Oh I love Thirteen!" yelled out Ochako, shaking Iida excitingly back and forth.

Thirteen waved a hand at all the area, "A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, a mountain." He then opened his arms, "This is a training ground that I made to train for many different types of natural disasters and accidents! It is called the Unforeseen Simulations Joint-!" He pointed a finger up, "Or U.S.J for short!"

Enso glanced around at the different sights, but when he saw the fire area, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

"Thirteen, where's All Might?"

"Well, you see..." He motioned Aizawa close and whispered to him, "It seems that he did a lot of hero work on the way and got burned out..."

Aizawa sighed, "That's just irrational, he's a teacher now for christ's sake." He turned to the class, "All Might won't be joining us today, he had something to do. For now, let's get started."

"Alright, so first off, let me explain my quirk." Thirteen raised up his arm. "I'm sure that many of you are aware of my black hole, but let me explain it to those who don't know. I can suck up everything and turn it to dust."

"So that's why you're the natural disaster expert, because you can use your quirk to save anyone from rubble or other natural objects." Enso commented.

Thirteen nodded, "Yes, but it is also a power that can kill easily." He put his arm down, "I'm sure some of you know that you have quirks that can easily take a person's life."

The moment he said this, Izuku looked down and shivered while Enso avoided a look at the teacher. Izuku remembered the first time using his mysterious power, nearly killing Bakugo in the process, while Enso narrowed his eyes and remembered all the choices he's made regarding people's lives before.

"Many of you may not think of this, but even though this superhuman society gets a good hold on their quirks or don't use them at all, there are many quirks that can easily kill. You are all here so that you can learn to use your quirks for saving people, so I hope you leave here with at least some experience of using your powers to help others."

Thirteen then bowed, "That is all."

Many of the class cheered at his speech.

"All right, first-" Before Aizawa could explain, sparks starting flying through the lights surrounding the room, slightly darkening the entire area. The fountain in the middle of the room suddenly started to stop spraying water and appear distorted.

Enso's eyes widened as he saw a black, purplish portal swirl right at the fountain and grow in circumference. Two yellow eyes emerged on the portal and the same blue-haired man in black clothes that Enso had seen yesterday emerged out first. Following him were people of all different shapes and sizes coming out, obviously looking threatening with killing intent.

"Aizawa. The same blue-haired man." Enso calmly spoke.

Aizawa turned around, surprised to see all those people suddenly come out.

"Everyone gather together and don't move! Thirteen, protect the students!" Aizawa instructed.

Kirishima and the others saw the villains emerge and looked curious, "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson has already started?"

"No! Don't move!" Aizawa then put on his goggles. "Those people down there are villains."

Nearly everyone recoiled in shocked to hear that villains had come, suddenly feeling their bodies shiver from the thought of real villains coming.

Enso narrowed his eyes, "So much for rescue training..."

Dozens upon dozens of villains emerged from the portal, glancing around at the area they were in.

The blue-haired man Enso had seen before had noticeable new features on him, such as the many hands grabbed around different parts of him, including his face.

The last to come out of the portal was a large, black, and humanoid type of creature wearing brown pants. The creature had a rather monstrous look to it, as it was very muscular with its brain exposed on the top of its head. He rather large but insane eyes around it and its mouth had the shape of a bird's beak with jagged sharp teeth.

A voice was heard among the portal, "Thirteen and Eraserhead head, huh? The teacher's schedule we received the other day said that All Might was supposed to be here." The mist-like portal said as he shrunk smaller.

"The trespassing the other day was the work of those these scumbags after all, huh?" Aizawa and Enso both said in sync.

"..." They both turned to each other rather awkwardly.

_"What the hell?" _Izuku sweatdropped.

"How did the villains get into the hero school?!" Kaminari exclaimed.

"Sensei! What about the trespasser alarms?!" Momo asked.

"We have them of course..." Thirteen said.

"So that must mean that someone has a quirk to do that. We are all completely isolated from the main campus." Said Shoto Todoroki, a half white and half red-haired boy.

Izuku gulped nervously but leaned over to Enso, whispering to him. "H-How strong do you think they are?"

Enso sighed, "With the quantity of all these villains, they are all no doubt just small fry that the leader must've somehow convinced to bring here. The leader is no doubt that blue-haired villain in the middle."

Izuku looked down in the back of all the villains and saw the leader standing next to the humanoid monster.

"That's their leader" Izuku muttered.

"Yes, so this shouldn't be too hard. But..." Enso glanced at the humanoid monster. "That one is clearly different than any other villain here, so it may be the most powerful. Do not let your guard down around that thing for even a second."

Izuku took a look at the monster and looked worried, "That guy looks as big as All Might…"

"That must be their win condition…" Enso replied.

"Eh?"

Izuku didn't even get to ask what he meant by that before Aizawa suddenly leaped down the stairs and towards the villains.

"S-Sensei!?" Izuku exclaimed in shock. "H-He's going to fight all of them!? But his skills are mainly around quirk erasing to capturing with his scarf! H-How is he-!?"

"He's your teacher, trust him." Enso reassured him.

Izuku turned to Enso with a surprised look, then looking rather nervous, "I-I hope your right..."

They watched as Aizawa then proceeded to use the group of villains against themselves, throwing larger villains into smaller ones and slamming many more to each other.

"W-Wow, so he could fight this many people at once too?" Izuku uttered in awe.

"We have to leave now!" Iida called out to everyone.

"Let's go." Enso told him.

"Y-Yeah!" Izuku proceeded to run with his class, running beside Enso and Momo.

"Do you think Aizawa will be alright?" Momo asked Izuku as they ran.

Izuku thought about it for a moment, before then immediately using his trainer's own words, turning to Momo and smiling at her. "He's our teacher, trust him."

_"He really used my line..." _Enso sweatdropped.

The students were halfway to the exit before the purple mist villain suddenly appeared and blocked their path.

"I won't let you!"

Everyone suddenly stopped and was shocked to see the villain there.

"H-How did he move so fast!?" Sero asked.

"He's a teleporting person, it's not about speed." Todoroki said.

The purple mist then proceeded to speak, "We are the league of villains, it is a pleasure to meet all of you. We apologize for inviting ourselves into the home of heroes, U.A High School."

"He's polite at least." Enso remarked.

"We are here to make sure that the symbol of peace, All Might, takes his last breath."

Many people recoiled in fear upon hearing that, "K-Kill?"

"I believe that All Might should've been here today, has there been some sort of change?" The portal asked.

"He was supposed to come today, but something unexpected happened so he won't be coming."

"ENSO!?" The class shouted to him from his answer.

"What? He was polite, I could at least answer." Enso told them.

"I see... Thank you for your answer. I suppose him being here doesn't matter right now, I have a part to play either way." The villain then extended his body and attempted to engulf the students, "My part is to scatter you all to make this your last day here!"

As Enso saw the mist start to engulf around the class, an immediate thought came to mind.

_"No matter what happens, prioritize in saving the students."_

Without hesitation, Enso went into Brute Style and raised both of his fists up.

"Brute Style- Tectonic Edge!" He then slammed both of his fists onto the ground, created a sudden shockwave that sent some students around him flying to the side and more importantly, away from the portal's range.

"Whoa!" Sero shouted as he got sent to the side.

"What?!" Shoji blurted.

Then all became engulfed in darkness.

* * *

Izuku opened his eyes to find himself falling, falling to a large body of water underneath him.

"Huh!?"

He fell right into the water with a big splash and when he opened his eyes he found himself underwater.

_"Where am I? If I remember, a large amount of water is in the shipwrecked area. So that warp really was his quirk? They want to kill All Might? What in the world is going on?"_

Izuku proceeded to swim up to the surface, before then catching sight of someone coming towards him.

When he looked, he saw a shark-like person swimming towards him.

_"Eh!? Crap! Here he comes!"_

"I don't have anything against you but see ya!" the villain said with a gurgly voice, then opening his mouth and revealing his jagged teeth.

Izuku put his fingers into a flicking position and aimed, worried if Delaware Smash would work as good underwater. But when the villain drew nearer, Tsu came out of nowhere and used her feet to kick the guy on the side of his head, holding Mineta in her arm as well.

"Midoriya! Kero!" She uttered out, then stick her tongue out and shooting it to Izuku, wrapping around the boy. She proceed to swim to the surface rather quickly, dragging Izuku behind her as she did so.

When she reached the surface, she used her tongue to bring Izuku up and gently place him on the shipwreck boat.

_"Her tongue is so strong..."_ Izuku thought as he crouched.

But he was then startled when he suddenly saw Mineta suddenly slammed onto. "Eh!?"

Tsu then climbed up the side of the boat, poking her head over the side.

"Thank you for saving me Tsu." Izuku thanked her.

"You're welcome. Kero." Tsu said as she jumped onto the boat.

Izuku looked down with a hand on his chin in thought, "This has turned into a rather bad situation... Everyone is separated, the villains are here, and we can't communicate with anyone outside. Based on what that villain said earlier, they knew U.A's schedule! They must've set up the media as cover to break in and steal the schedule."

"It doesn't matter! Once All Might comes, he'll pound those guys!" Mineta declared.

"But... Don't you think they're trying so hard because they have a way to kill him?"

_"That must be their win condition…" _Izuku remembered Enso say, giving him a realization.

"Th-That large guy among the group, the purple one with huge muscles... That must be-"

Suddenly Mineta cried out, "Ah! We're surrounded!"

Izuku and Tsu looked around to see over a dozen people with aquatic quirks surrounding the boat.

"There's a lot of them." Tsu said with some worry in her voice.

Izuku was worried about other things, _"If those guys really have a way to kill All Might, then... then..."_

Izuku looked rather serious, "We have to help lighten the load for the teachers. If those guys, if that _thing_ really is the way they plan to kill All Might, then we have to help fight."

Mineta's jaw dropped at his claim.

* * *

Enso opened his eyes to find himself crouching in the middle of an open street, with all the buildings surrounding him covered in flames.

Enso's eyes widened as he looked back and up, almost expecting someone to jump out and swing a chain at him.

But he realized that the area was different, there were no bodies scattered around and no sign of blood.

He sighed and looked down, putting a hand on his head as the memory he had seen a while ago replayed in his mind.

_"It appears that memory will be bugging me occasionally, how frustrating. To think that it's repeatedly getting shown in my mind. Is it because of guilt? Or because I desire to know exactly why I caused that?"_

"Look out!"

"Hm?" Enso raised his head as a villain just jumped out at him, swinging his claws with an evil grin. But before the villain could hit Enso, someone intervened and kicked the villain by his side, sending him away and tumbling to the ground.

Enso shook his head and snapped out of his thoughts, now seeing the blonde boy with the tail from his class standing right in front of him.

"Hey, you alright? You seemed to have been out of it if one guy got that close to you." The blonde boy said with some concern.

Enso blinked and looked slightly taken aback, turning his head left to the villain now unconscious on the floor, then turning back to the boy.

"Mashirao Ojiro... correct?"

"Yeah, that's me." Ojiro answered.

He partially bowed to him, "Thank you for that... I was lost in my thoughts and foolishly lowered my guard."

"Um, you don't have to bow." Ojiro answered him with a slightly embarrassed face. He then formed a serious look, "We got more company."

Enso stood straight and glanced around him, seeing over a dozen villains of all sorts grinning at the two.

Enso focused his power, his eyes and aura shined yellow. "Snipe Style."

Ojiro got into a fighting stance as well.

"Don't bother." Enso told him.

"Huh?" Ojiro looked confused, turning his gaze to Enso.

"To show my appreciation to you for helping me, allow me to take out all of these lower villains." He said as he got into a crouching runner stance.

"Um, you don't have to-"

Ojiro didn't even finish before Enso spoke out loud.

"Snipe Style- Ricocheting Bullet."

Enso suddenly dashed forward at incredible speed, leaving behind a trail of sparks and yellow streaks as he moved.

One villain's face seemed to spark when a sudden but precise blow was sent directly to his face, instantly knocking him out and sending him backward on impact. The streak of yellow zigzagged from villain to villain as if, as the name suggests, Enso was a bullet rebounding off each villain with a blow.

Ojiro hadn't even registered what happened until Enso screeched to a halt, his yellow aura then fading away with all the villains surrounding them now unconscious on the floor.

_"That was so fast! What was that!?"_

Enso started to dust himself off as Ojiro went up to him.

"You became like lightning!" Ojiro told him.

"It wasn't lightning. I just moved fast." Enso responded.

Ojiro sweatdropped.

"Now, I believe that we should be getting out of here?" Enso told him.

"There they are!"

Enso and Ojiro turned to the sudden voice and saw a larger group of villains coming towards them.

"There's so many, how big is this league!?" Ojiro asked in shock.

Enso just stared at the group as his eyes and aura glowed yellow once more.

"Not big enough."

* * *

"They knew what these facilities contained, yet they sent Tsu here to the shipwreck zone rather than somewhere like the fire zone." Izuku said, Mineta and Tsu both staring at him.

"But what does that mean!?" Mineta panicked.

"It means that the villains around us don't know our quirks! That's why they haven't attacked us on this boat yet, they're afraid of what we could do and won't underestimate us." Izuku told him.

"I see..." Tsu said. "While we're here, might as well tell you more about my quirk to help us find a way out of here. My quirk makes me like a frog, so I could jump high, stick to walls, and stick my tongue out for about 20 meters."

_"20 meters!? Amazing!" _Izuku thought.

"I could also spit out my stomach and wash it, and secret toxic mucus that stings a little."

_"Urk!" _Izuku turned black and white upon hearing that.

Mineta spoke next.

"My quirk lets me stick my hair against any surface, and depending on how I feel, they could stay stuck for up to a day."

Izuku and Tsu stared at him in silence, thinking about how to use his quirk.

Mineta then started to tear up.

"I know my quirk isn't good for fighting! That's why I don't wanna fight!" He wailed.

"N-No! I-It's okay! I just have to think of a way we could use that!" Izuku reassured him.

A sudden large slash of water cut through half the ship at a diagonal slice, cutting off Izuku's words and nearly making him lose his balance.

"I'm tired of waiting!" The villain who slashed the boat said.

The boat started to fall apart.

"Damn! We have to improvise!" Izuku shouted. He turned to Mineta, "You can stick to anything right?"

Mineta stopped screaming and answered, "Y-Yeah! How is that gonna help us!?"

Izuku got a crazy idea on the spot, getting up and near the edge of the boat.

"What are you doing!? You're not gonna fight all those villains are you!? Aren't you scared!?" Mineta panicked.

Izuku froze for a moment upon hearing him, turning his head to look at Mineta and Tsu with a nervous, yet smiling expression.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm scared. B-But... We have to help! I know you could help too, Mineta! You and Tsu! Just follow my lead!" Izuku then jumped onto the edge.

Tsu's eyes widened, "What are you going to do?"

Izuku turned back to both of them and smiled, "Something crazy, but I'm sure you'll both know what to do right after!"

Izuku then let out a war cry as he leaped off the boat.

Mineta's and Tsu's jaws dropped.

"Here he comes!" The villains grinned.

As he fell, Izuku aimed his finger at the water below.

_"Just five percent won't be enough, if I want to create enough force to spread the water and then bring it back, then..."_

His fingers sparked with One For All, glowing rather intensely.

"Delaware Smash, 100%!"

He then let loose.

The instant Izuku flicked his fingers, a giant blast of air rammed down onto the surface of the water, creating a giant gaping hole before it then starting to fill up once more, dragging all the villains in the water with it.

"Hey!"

"Swim away!"

"It's dragging us in!"

Tsu jumped off the boat, holding Mineta with both staring in amazement at what Izuku just did.

Mineta felt rather angry for some reason as he watched Izuku do this, then yanking his own hair out and throwing them.

"AHHH! I could do stuff too! Take this villains!" He shouted as he threw many balls of hair into the water below.

The purple balls started sticking to the villains as they got dragged in the middle.

"What the hell is this!? I can't get it off!" Many villains shouted.

Izuku grinned as he watched all the villains clump together in one ball, then exploding up when the huge amounts of water met in the middle and sent them away.

Tsu looked back, "I guess we cleared the first hurdle then."

"We did it!" Mineta yelled.

"I knew you guys would know what to do." Izuku happily said.

_"Did he know that Mineta would act out when he saw him jump down and shoot the villains with his quirk?" _Tsu wondered, glancing down at Izuku's smile.

Tsu formed a slight smile of her own.

* * *

Momo slammed a villain on the face using her staff, then spinning it and slamming another villain behind her.

_"There's so many of them..."_

"AAAHHH!" Kaminari jumped, ducked, and avoided three different villains attempting to swing at him, running away as fast as he could.

Momo blinked in surprise, _"He can actually move pretty well when he's scared."_

In the meantime, the purple-haired girl, Kyoka Jiro, plugged her earlobes into her boots and suddenly blasted a large wave of sound towards a few grouped up villains, making them get to their knees with hands covering their ears as they screamed in pain.

_"They just keep coming!" _Jiro thought in irritation, then blocking a sword from a villain with her own sword that Momo had made her.

"Hey! Could you give me a weapon!?" Kaminari shouted as he jumped back from a villain swinging a fist at him.

"Just zap them!" Jiro shouted as he sword clanked off another sword.

"But I can't control it! If I let loose in this area, then I'll hit you guys too!" Kaminari shouted back.

Momo swung her arm and created two grenades from it, sending them flying towards two groups of villains.

"Close your eyes!" She shouted, closing her own eyes after knocking a villain away from her.

Jiro and Kaminari instantly stood in place and closed their eyes.

The villains saw this as an opportunity to strike, jumping at them.

Before their vision literally got flashed in white by the flashbangs Momo had just thrown.

"AHHH!" Many villains yelled.

Momo opened her eyes and used the opportunity to created something else from her skin.

A gun.

Jiro and Kaminari both opened their eyes and were shocked to see this.

"EH!?" You're gonna shoot-!?" Kaminari shouted with bulging eyes.

He didn't even finish before Momo aimed her pistol and started raining rounds at villains.

Due to the villain's becoming disorganized due to leaving their eyesight, Momo easily hit every one of them. Each one falling over in a cry of pain upon getting hit.

Kaminari freaked out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you just-!?"

"She didn't kill them you idiot!" Jirou shouted as she punched him on the head.

"Gah!"

Momo reloaded her pistol and pointed up, "Of course I wouldn't do something so barbaric to all of them."

Kaminari rubbed his cheek before noticing one of the bullets on the ground, crouching down and picking one up.

"Rubber?"

"Of course you moron, she wasn't gonna kill anyone." Jiro rolled her eyes.

The three turned to the many villains that were now either unconscious or sprawled on the ground in pain.

"Good job Yaoyorozu." Jiro smiled at her.

"Thank you very much! Now..." Momo cocked her gun, "Let's regroup with our classmates!"

* * *

Izuku, Tsu, and Mineta trailed through the water of the shipwrecked area, leaving behind the many villains cursing at them due to being stuck together in a ball from Mineta's quirk.

However, two of Izuku's fingers ached in pain. _"O-Ow... I did it again, I had to go all out with my quirk in order to have enough power to created that hole in the water to force the villains in. Recovery Girl will be mad at me for breaking my body parts again but what choice did I have? I had to do it in order to save all three of us from getting killed in the water! But now what if other villains come out of nowhere and attack us? Will we have to fight? We could run, but where would we run if they block our path to the entrance? What would we-"_

"Midoriya, stop that. It's scary right now."

"Eh?!" Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her, "D-Did you read my mind!?"

"No, you're just talking out loud."

Izuku blushed in embarrassment. "S-Sorry..."

"Let's go back now!" Mineta shouted, currently getting held by Tsu due to being too short to stand in the water.

"I mean-" Izuku was cut off when he heard some sounds of punches colliding in the distance, prompting him to turn in the direction where the main square was. "Aizawa... Is still fighting isn't he?"

Tsu looked in the distance, unable to see their teacher but hearing some attacks and grunts. "Will he be alright?"

Izuku stared with a worried look, his left hand with unbroken fingers clenching into a fist.

Mineta could already tell what was on his mind, "Don't even think about it!"

"E-Eh?" Izuku uttered, he and Tsu turning to the boy.

"We just got out of a life or death situation with some villains! And now you wanna just jumped in another life or death situation just to help our pro-teacher?!"Mineta said, nearly crying.

Izuku looked rather unsure of himself at first, but he knew something for sure. "E-Eraserhead usually has a style of using his quirk to erase another's and then capture them with his scarf, I've said that before... But he may have overexerted himself suddenly jumping in to protect us. And there are too many villains for him to fight all on his own, especially villains with mutation type quirks, I don't think he could last that much longer."

"You don't think he'll be alright? Kero." Tsu answered.

Izuku gulped nervously, "I-It's not just that I think he can't take all of them. But i-if the villains really do have a weapon to kill All Might, then wh-what if it's that 'creature' we saw with them?"

Tsu put a finger on her chin, "It was rather big..."

"Stupid! Stupid! It's stupid to go!" Mineta shouted.

Izuku looked rather serious, "But if we're strong enough to even lessen the load he's facing right now... Then I want to help him."

Tsu looked down, "I'm... pretty worried as well."

Mineta turned from Tsu to Izuku in disbelief, then crying as he shouted, "Fine! Fine! We can go! But we're only going to look if he's okay!"

Izuku was rather surprised that the boy decided to go with him despite being so scared.

He smiled, "Okay. We'll follow the shore of the shipwreck area and follow it towards the main plaza."

The trio then made their way through the water, keeping their leads low so that no one would see them. The sound of punching and cries of pain from villains got louder and louder as they got closer. The even saw a villain fly through the air at one point, surprising the trio and making them sink deeper into the water.

Soon, they made it as close as they could.

"Hey M-Midoriya, we're only going to see how things are okay?" Mineta uttered nervously.

Izuku nodded, "I know, we'll run if things get dangerous for us."

The trio then peeked over the edge of the ground from the water.

Only to see the blue-haired villain crumble a part of Aizawa's elbow.

The trio's eyes widened.

"H-He's in trouble!" Izuku gasped.

Aizawa kicked off Shigaraki and avoided a villain's swing, breathing harder with slower movements.

"This isn't good." Tsu whimpered.

The blue-haired villain laughed as Aizawa knocked out three other villains. "Hey, you know Eraserhead..."

Aizawa then saw a shadow overcome him, making him turn his head and look up in shock at the monster looking down at him.

"...I'm not even the final boss." The villain grinned.

The next thing Izuku knew, his teacher's yellow goggles got knocked off, blood splattering in the air with it.

Izuku's pupils shrunk, Tsu covered her mouth, and Mineta cried as they saw their teacher laying facefirst on the ground. The monster they saw before pinned Aizawa to the ground in a painful position. The monster held Aizawa's arm behind him in an abnormal position, blood was on the floor near Aizawa's face, and the monster forced the teacher violently onto the ground.

The blue-haired villain with hands on his body crouched down so his head neared Aizawa's head.

"Let me tell you a little something Eraserhead. This here's the Anti-Symbol of Peace, the one that_ will_ kill All Might today, the bioengineered-" He waved a hand to present the monster. "-Nomu!"

The Nomu let out an inhuman cry.

Izuku, Tsu, and Mineta all stared in horror as the monster turned Aizawa's arm and snapped it like a twig, arm distorted and bleeding horribly. Aizawa let out a cry of pain the second his arm snapped, but manage to muster enough strength to turn his head and activate his quirk on the Nomu.

But the Nomu just seemed to ignore it as he raised his other arm and slammed it onto Aizawa's other elbow, breaking it in contact.

"So easy." The blue-haired villain scoffed.

The Nomu grabbed Aizawa by the back of the head, forcing it up before immediately slamming it down, more blood splattering and creating enough force to crack the ground.

Izuku felt scared, angry, and disappointed. He felt so scared that his teacher was getting this hurt right in front of him, he felt so angry that he wasn't jumping in to help him, and he felt so disappointed in himself because he knew that his current power of One For All wouldn't take down that villain at all.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, _"Can't I... do anything?"_

The purple mist villain suddenly appeared, stopping the villain from giving a final order to kill Aizawa.

He slowly turned his head to the portal villain, "Kurogiri... Did you kill Thirteen?"

The villain named 'Kurogiri' looked rather nervous, "I put thirteen out of action, but there were a few students I was unable to disperse. I apologize Shigaraki, but one of them... got away."

The hand-villain 'Shigaraki' turned his head to Kurogiri with menacing red eyes. "Huh?"

He stared at him for a moment, then reaching his hands to his neck and madly scratching it in frustration.

"If you weren't a warp gate, I would've dissolved you to pieces by now!" His eyes dilated in anger as he continued to scratch his neck, now partially bleeding now.

But then he suddenly stopped.

"We can't win against dozens of pros... It's game over." He put his hands down. "Let's go home..."

Izuku, Mineta, and Tsu couldn't believe their ears. After all of this, the villains were just going to leave as quickly as they came? It was like a miracle.

"W-We're saved!" Mineta uttered, hugging Tsu.

"They're... They're really just gonna leave?" Izuku uttered, putting a hand on his chin.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Tsu said as she pushed Mineta's head under the water.

_"Yeah... If they leave now, then U.A will just beef up their security! What are they planning!?"_

Shigaraki sighed, before then raising his head up. "Oh yeah. Before we leave..."

He then slightly turned his head, revealing one dilated red eye **"...let's smash some of his pride as the symbol of peace."**

Izuku instantly felt a murderous intent from Shigaraki, eyes widening as the villain suddenly disappeared with tremendous speed.

_"He's fast!"_

He then reappeared right in front of Tsu.

Izuku felt dread over him as he saw Shigaraki reaching a hand right at Tsu head, the girl's face slowly changing to a look of fear.

The world moved in slow motion as Shigaraki's hand moved closer to Tsu's face, Izuku looking in horror as he saw him. He had so many thoughts in his head at the same moment.

_"Everything is slow again."_

His pupils looked from Shigaraki, to Tsu, dread overtaking him at the thought of what would happen.

_"Last time this happened, I-I... I almost died... I should've died. But then does this mean that right now... Tsu might die?" _Izuku's heartbeat quickened and got louder as he remembered what happened to Aizawa's elbow from Shigaraki's quirk. _"I can't jump fast enough to get between him, his hand is already too close! T-Tsu, sh-she'll-No... No!... NO!"_

His teeth gritted as he only help but stare, _"I can't let her die, not right in front me! There has to be something I could do!"_

Aizawa raised his head and used his quirk to stop Shigaraki.

Only for the Nomu to forcefully smash it head to the ground again. Aizawa felt some dread as he desperately tried to lift his head up, _"NO!"_

Shigaraki grinned as his hand nearly reached Tsu, ready to see her head disintegrate.

_"I can't push him out of the way before he grabs her, so-"_ Izuku grit his teeth as he jumped forward and stuck his arm out. _"-then I'll have to take the attack for her!"_

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Izuku jumped and forced his right arm in front of Shigaraki's hand just in time, all five of the villain's fingertips grabbing a hold of it rather than Tsu.

Shigaraki's eyes turned to the boy, "Trying to play the hero?"

Tsu was suddenly surprised by Izuku's arm now in front of her.

But her shock went to horror when she saw Izuku's skin start to crumble, _"Midoriya, you-!"_

She didn't even finish before Izuku had already charged One For All to the max at the moment, only thinking about sending the villain away from.

"SMASH!" He yelled, swinging his left arm forward with a heavy swing.

The moment Izuku's fist collided, a giant shockwave was created. The force was so strong that it created large gusts of winds that shattered all the lights in the room and sent Tsu and Mineta flying backward.

Izuku felt Shigaraki's hand let go of his arm right before his punch had collided, most likely to get out of the way, but Izuku knew that his fist had struck him. Large amounts of dust kicked up around the area, covering Izuku's front view.

However, was more focused on the state of his arm, shocked to see that it was completely fine.

_"My arm isn't broken!? I'm finally able to control my power at a time like this!? I was finally able to get a good smash in! All rig-!"_ Izuku's happy thoughts were suddenly turned to horror as the dust cleared and he looked up to see the 'Nomu' standing right in front of him. Izuku's fist was right on the beast's stomach, obviously being the one to take the punch, yet he looked completely unaffected.

_"Wh-What? It… didn't hurt him?" _Izuku thought in a mixture of disbelief and horror.

Shigaraki was behind Nomu now, hands gripping into fists in irritation.

"Smash? You're a fan of All Might?" He turned his head to where Tsu and Mineta were before, noticing their lack of a presence, "Tsk! You let my prey get away…"

He then turned his head to Izuku with a glare in his eyes.

**"Then you'll just have to do." **He said with a murderous tone.

Izuku felt a shiver down his spine and jumped back as the Nomu suddenly moved down to grab him, narrowly avoiding getting held.

"Get him Nomu." Shigaraki said.

_"I've gotta get away!" _Izuku panicked. He activated One For All and attempted to make some space between him and danger, only for his leg to get grabbed in the air.

Izuku formed a look of fear as the Nomu held him up, hanging him upside down by the foot. He tried to aim his fingers at him to hopefully flick enough force to make it release him, but the Nomu yanked him up into the air.

_"Oh no-!"_

Izuku was then slammed right onto the ground, feeling something in his back break and immense pain in the back of his head. He twitched on the ground, the Nomu still holding onto him.

"Nngh!..."

Meanwhile, Tsu and Mineta had landed near the fire-zone area, tumbling onto the ground after being launched by Izuku's impactful attack.

Tsu shook her head and glanced down at Mineta, who had turned black and white, completely unconscious.

She then looked left and right, _"Where's Midoriya?"_

She then looked ahead and saw Izuku with his back to the ground, the Nomu holding him as Shigaraki walked over the injured boy.

Tsu's eyes widened and her mouth became agape, seeing a threatening and ruthless aura from Shigaraki.

Izuku tried to move, but the Nomu slammed a hand on his right arm, bones breaking on contact, then using his other hand to grab hold of Izuku's partially decayed arm and crush it in his gasp as well, causing the boy to feel even more intense pain.

"GNAAAAHH!" Izuku shouted, then gritting his teeth and clamping his eyes in pain.

Momo, Jirou, and Kaminari were all leaving the rocky area when they heard Izuku scream.

"What was that!?" Kaminari cried out.

"It sounded like-" Jirou's eyes widened.

Momo immediately felt dread, "Izuku!" She then proceeded to start running in the direction of the main plaza.

"Wha-Yaoyorozu!?" Kaminari exclaimed to see the girl suddenly run.

Ochako and the others also heard his cry of pain from the main entrance, all turning and looking down.

"Deku!" Ochako screamed.

"Midori!" Mina shouted.

"This is bad, that monster is too powerful for him." Shoji said with widened eyes.

When Izuku opened his eyes, he saw the Nomu's insane face right above him, inflicting fear to the boy.

Shigaraki stood over him, staring down at him with red eyes.

"This is what happens to heroes."

The Nomu let go of Izuku's completely broken arm, then raising its hand above his head.

Izuku's eyes widened as the Nomu clenched his hand into a fist.

Tsu got up and tried to jump forward despite being so far away, shooting her tongue out with the hope of somehow reaching Izuku on time to save him.

Momo just made it out of the rocky zone and got a view of the plaza, finally seeing Izuku on the ground, the Nomu's fist-raising up.

Her eyes formed a look of fear, "IZUKU!"

Izuku closed his eyes and braced for impact.

**"Nomu, break him." **Shigaraki commanded.

Izuku could feel the world go dark.

His life flashed before his eyes once again, with each memory making him build-up more and more of his anger.

_"I'm not dying..."_

Izuku grit his teeth, feeling his body shaking as whatever built up in him seemed to get to a max point.

_"I'm not leaving everyone behind!"_

The Nomu roared and swung its fist down at Izuku's head.

_"I CAN"T DIE NOW!"_

A loud crack echoed throughout the entire area.


	17. Life Or Death Tensions

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Everyone froze the moment they heard the loud crack, staring with looks of horror as they thought that the worst had happened to Izuku's head.

But what they didn't expect to see, was the Nomu's fist stopped by some sort of black, aura-like barrier in front of the boy's head.

It turns out that the cracking they heard was actually the barrier that had suddenly manifested in front of Izuku, as it was now visually cracked.

Izuku's eyes were red and he panted with a look of anger, staring directly at the fist over him. He had a small, black aura around his head that had solidified to block the fist, saving him moments from death.

"What the hell? Why are you still alive?" Shigaraki asked, tilting his head and getting slightly irritated.

Everyone so saw the event was shocked that Izuku had somehow managed to block the attack with... with whatever it was he used.

Tsu reeled back her tongue in the moment of confusion she felt.

Izuku was sweating hard, his vision was getting blurry, and he could feel tired just by having used that power for a moment.

He turned his head to the side and passed out from the pain and exhaustion, the aura fading away as well as the barrier.

"Hm? Did he burn himself out of something? Oh well, Nomu, continue." Shigaraki coldly stated.

The Nomu raised it's fist once again, letting out another cry of attack.

But then Shigaraki heard the sound of something whistling through the air.

He turned to see a rocket coming right at him, making his eyes widen. Luckily, the Nomu worked on instinct to protect it's master and stopped what it was doing, immediately appearing in front of Shigaraki and taking the rocket explosion.

In the confusion and smoke, a sudden tongue shot out to Izuku and wrapped around the boy, then reeling him back.

Shigaraki turned around and his eyes widened when he saw Izuku gone, "How in the world-?!"

He didn't get to finish the thought as two more rockets came at him.

"Enough of this!" Kurogiri appeared in front of them in an annoyed tone and used his quirk to open two portals that teleported the rockets in separate directions, both exploding in the distance.

When the smoke cleared, the villains saw where the rockets came from.

Momo, Jiro, and Kaminari each held a rocket launcher in their arms, with Momo breathing heavily after using too much of her lipids to create them.

Kaminari looked rather scared now, "No way! They stopped all three shots!?"

"Annoying..." Shigaraki turned his head and saw Tsu in the distance holding onto Izuku, gently resting him down with a look of worry and guilt on her face, Mineta was still unconscious next to them giving no real way for the girl to escape with the two easily.

Shigaraki's hands tightly gripped into fists and his eyes dilated in anger, "Kurogiri, you take care of those three brats over there, Nomu and I have unfinished business with these other ones."

"As you wish." Kurogiri nodded, immediately teleporting over to Momo and the other two.

Momo, Kaminari, and Jiro were all shocked to suddenly see purple suddenly emerge in front of them, covering any sight ahead.

"You're being a thorn to Shigaraki's side! The punishment for that is death!" Kurogiri shouted as he attempted to open portals underneath the students.

"Don't let him catch you!" Momo warned them, jumping back and away from a portal.

Shigaraki then focused back to the other group.

"Now then, Nomu, for the love of god-" He raised his hands up and shouted, "-just kill them this time!"

Nomu didn't hesitate and blasted forward, leaving behind a crater from its speed and reaching out to Tsu's head with a muscular hand.

Tsu barely had time to react as the Nomu's shadow overwhelmed her, her eyes widened as the Nomu's hand neared her.

She was honestly scared, there was no way she would be able to avoid him and protect Izuku or Mineta at the same time. It was impossible, so she did the only thing she thought she could do.

She hugged Izuku's body, putting her own above his, hoping to protect the unconscious boy somehow.

_"Someone, save us!" _Tsu cried out in her mind.

All of a sudden, her prayers were answered.

"Snipe Style- Piercing Shot."

A yellow blur passed by Tsu and rammed right into the stomach of the Nomu, the attack was so strong and fast that you swear that you could see the Nomu's stomach nearly get penetrated by the precise blow, before it was suddenly sent backward.

However, the Nomu didn't get sent flying, it's feet just dragged against the ground as he was forced back a few yards away, still standing tall.

Tsu blinked as she tried to process what happened, tilting her head up to look at who rescued her.

"Ureshi?" She weakly called out.

Enso stood with one leg forward and the other one back, with a fist forward and steaming from just punching the Nomu with a powerful blow. His eyes and aura were yellow for another moment before it faded away. He took a deep breath and stood up straight, then adjusting his tie as he kept his eyes on the Nomu.

Near the entrance, the students that weren't teleported felt the force of the attack all the way from up the stairs, the wind even blowing on their faces rather strong.

"No way, he actually managed to send the thing back!?" Sero exclaimed.

"Sugoi." Ochako muttered.

Enso just narrowed his eyes when he saw the Nomu still standing.

_"That attack was designed to put him out of commission by the force, but it hardly even reacted to it."_

The Nomu's head just grotesquely looked up ahead at Enso.

_"This one is clearly a different threat than any of these other villains."_

Shigaraki was actually surprised to see Nomu get sent back, rather than absorb the attack completely. His focused changed to Enso with a glare.

_"Who the hell is this damn kid?"_

Ojiro arrived from the fire zone and stopped next to Tsu, completely out of breath from running. "Man, *huff* you're so fast..." he panted.

Enso crouched down and took a look at Izuku's unconscious body, examining his arms and breathing.

"He'll live..."

Ojiro looked down and slightly recoiled in shock, "Midoriya!? What happened to him?!"

Tsu turned her head to the Nomu in the distance as she stood up, "That happened..."

"No way, he really tried to fight that thing?" Ojiro uttered in disbelief.

Tsu looked down in guilt, "No, he... he got hurt protecting me..."

Enso sighed, "Of course he did, this idiot always just has to jump in and help someone, doesn't he? For now, you two-"

Before Enso could finish, the Nomu suddenly appeared behind him, swinging his arm downward to slam it upon the boy.

"Look out!" Ojiro warned him.

Enso turned around just in time to see the monster attacking, his eyes dilating in shock from the sudden appearance.

_"It's fast! I looked away for one second and it's already here!" _

Enso jumped back just and narrowly avoided the Nomu slamming its fist right into the ground, but the force of the punch caused a rather powerful shockwave that sent the others flying.

"Ah!" Ojiro covered his eyes from the winds and he flew in the air, then landing in a pile of bushes away.

Tsu held Mineta in her arms and stuck her tongue out to wrap around Izuku's waist in the air, safely landing away from the fire area building.

Enso flipped in the air and landed in a crouching position, keeping his gaze completely focused on the monster that just created a rather large crater in the ground.

_"I didn't sense it coming at me?"_

He didn't look away as he spoke, "Asui, Ojiro, try to wake up Mineta to help take Aizawa and Izuku to safety! I'll handle this!" he called to them.

Ojiro got up from the bushes and looked unsure, "You're gonna fight that... 'thing'!? Do you really think you can beat it?!"

"I can distract it at least." Enso responded confidentially.

Ojiro gulped nervously, "Then... Then we'll leave it to you." He rushed over to Tsu a few feet away from him and helped carry Izuku.

"Now... Let's see what kind of abomination you are." Enso remarked, getting into a fighting stance with the Nomu staring him down.

However, Enso heard a whoosh next to him,

"Aren't you forgetting about someone?" A blood-chilling voice told him.

Enso could feel his life in danger and split his legs onto the ground, ducking as a hand swung right over his head, narrowly avoiding getting his whole head disintegrated and letting Shigaraki pass him.

But the Nomu came in for another attempt to get him immediately after, his hand aiming to crush his head.

Enso used his hands on the ground to spin his body on the ground to avoid the Nomu grasping his head, he was then completely upside down as he used his hands to push himself off the ground, spinning in the air before slamming his leg right on the side of the Nomu's head.

But it didn't even budge.

_"What is this thing made of?" _Enso kicked himself off of the Nomu and landed a few yards away from him, now on the defensive.

"Having trouble there?" Shigaraki taunted from behind the Nomu.

Enso didn't even get to answer before the Nomu rushed towards him with its arms open and outward, attempting to hug the boy and crush him.

Seeing that if he jumped to the side or back he would get caught, Enso went up, leaping high in the air to put distance between himself and the Nomu.

The Nomu actually tried to chase after him, suddenly blasting upward with a cry and arms still open.

_"This thing is aggressive!"_

Enso's pointed both of his palms downward and formed a large white energy ball using, both of them blasting it downward.

The Nomu rammed right into the energy ball, causing it to explode on contact with a big cloud of smoke forming in the air.

Enso was forcefully launched back in the air from the explosion, but he did multiple flips before landing gracefully on his feet.

He saw that the Nomu hardly moved in the air despite taking the explosion, simply falling straight down to the ground and landing on his feet with a large crash.

The Nomu didn't give Enso a break as it vanished from sight and appeared in front of the boy, already swinging another arm.

_"Relentless!"_

"Brute Style!" Enso raised his arms up and his body glowed white right before the Nomu's fist collided, suddenly bouncing off the barrier-like aura.

The Nomu wasn't even fazed by the aura and just continued to throw punches at it with his fists, the force of which continuously dug Enso into the ground inch by inch, even constantly making large gusts of wind with each punch.

Enso felt to one knee at a point as the Nomu just bashed at him, small cracks were starting to form in the barrier.

_"If this goes on he'll crush me! I need an opening!"_

As if on cue, the monster raised both of its fists up with a loud cry, ready to finally shatter the barrier with one more attack.

Enso narrowed his eyes, _"Now!"_

He jumped over the Nomu right before it slammed it's arms down, landing behind him as the ground shook.

He spun and charged more power into his right fist, making it glow white rather intensely.

"Brute Style-!" He thrust his fist forward in one straight punch, "-Vicious Smite!"

The moment Enso's punch connected to the Nomu's back, a giant explosion of white occurred.

It seemed to blink everyone for a moment, but when the light faded the Nomu was now in the middle of the fountain, water sprawling around.

Enso pulled his fist back, now steaming a bit after that punch.

Shigaraki's eyes dilated as he realized what had happened, _"He managed to send Nomu flying with a punch?!"_

Ojiro, Tsu, and the now awake Mineta had carefully sneaked off while carrying Izuku and Aizawa, forming looks of disbelief to Enso fighting the Nomu.

"No way, that thing hasn't even gotten a hit on Ureshi yet." Ojiro said.

"But... Ureshi looks like he's having trouble fighting that monster, it barely even flinches from his attacks." Tsu pointed out.

"But he just sent it flying away!" Mineta declared.

"I wonder how much power he had to focus to actually do that though..." Tsu muttered.

"Just hope he could last until the pros come." Ojiro said, looking back at Enso standing still in a fighting stance. "To think that he's this strong, he seems so... experienced."

Now seeing that he finally had a moment to speak, Enso turned towards Shigaraki. "Shock absorbance... correct?"

"Huh?"

"That 'thing' has shock absorbance, doesn't it?"

Shigaraki clenched his hands into fists.

Enso confirmed it based on that action.

"I see... You think I wouldn't notice when so many of my attacks barely moved him, if at all?"

"I didn't expect you to live long enough to even notice!" Shigaraki chuckled at him.

"Fair enough, but that shock absorbance of his has a limit, doesn't it? I focused more than twice as much power and struck into one specific area of it to send it backward after all. Your Nomu didn't seem to be able to take all that shock at once in one area."

Shigaraki was completely silent, staring at Enso from a distance. His fingers twitched and his red eyes seemed to intensify into a more menacing glare than before, as if he would lash out at any moment.

But then he chuckled again.

The chuckle turned into a laugh.

And the laugh proceeded to get louder, lasting for a few seconds.

Enso narrowed his eyes at him.

Shigaraki managed to calm down and formed a toothy grin behind his hand mask.

"Yeah, you're right, but-"

Enso felt a presence behind him.

**"-so what?" **Shigaraki spoke in a chilling manner.

Enso saw his own death flash in his eyes and immediately turned around with only enough time to raise his left hand and charge whatever shielding barrier could muster around it in such a time frame.

Just as the Nomu's fist connected to it.

The white aura around his fist was instantly shattered. There was a mixture of cracking and shattering sounds simultaneously, the students watching the battle from the top of the stairs gasp as they saw Enso get sent flying backward into the air.

The white pieces of the small barrier were even sent flying like him, disintegrating in the air.

Tsu, Ojiro, and Mineta stopped with looks of fear.

_"No way! Did he just get-!?"_

Before their thoughts could get worse, Enso spun and landed on his feet, although nearly missing the landing.

He stood up and everyone got a clear view of his left hand.

Completely broken, swollen, and with mixtures of red and purple colors. The red color of blood was along his hand, actually cut from his own shattered pieces of the barrier his aura made when the Nomu punched through it on his hand.

Enso didn't seem too fazed by his hand, he was more shocked by something else about the Nomu, a certain realization he made about it.

_"I didn't sense any murderous intent when it neared me again, despite clearly aiming to kill me. There could only be one explanation for that..."_

He watched the Nomu stand up straight and let out an inhuman growl.

_"This thing isn't alive. Not in the normal sense that is."_

Shigaraki walked next to the Nomu and laughed, putting his own hands out. "What's wrong?! Weren't you just confident a moment ago for figuring out Nomu's quirk?! Weren't you gonna find a way to beat him by knowing that!"

Enso narrowed his eyes, _" There's no way I could beat that thing with brute force. The most effective way I could beat it may be by using-" _

Flashes of blood went through his mind,

_"-'that' style."_

Enso formed his dagger in his unbroken right hand and tightly held on to it, taking a step forward.

"Legendary Style- Reaper Of Worlds."

His aura suddenly flared up into a fiery black, his red eyes flashed and the ground started to violently shake as Enso stared menacingly at the Nomu.

The whole area around the students seemed to turn in a dim red, some strong winds circled around Enso and the students couldn't help but shiver at this.

Ochako could feel herself shaking, _"Scary! It's the same thing he did at lunch yesterday!"_

Of course, being a mindless monster, the Nomu wasn't fazed at all and just started to walk towards Enso, getting faster with each step.

Enso leaned forward and got to one knee, keeping his head down and putting his dagger to the side of his waist. He closed his eyes and he took a deep breath.

"Reaper Of Worlds Style-"

The Nomu let out a cry as he leaped forward at him.

Enso's eyes snapped open with a flash of red as the Nomu drew near, he blasted forward and passed by the Nomu at faster speeds than before.

A single slice rang through the air.

The next thing everyone knew, Enso was behind the Nomu with his head still down, while the Nomu didn't even seem to notice that Enso was behind him, freezing in place for a moment.

Enso then breathed out, finishing his move. "-Utter End."

The instant he finished saying that, the Nomu suddenly split, blood splattering as half of its body, starting from his torso, went flying up in the air.

Everyone's eyes formed looks ranging from shock or fear to see half the Nomu's body spin in the air, before finally slamming into the ground.

The Nomu's legs simply fell to their knees and then to the ground, remaining motionless.

Enso stood up and the dagger, as well as the black colors around him, disappeared as he turned back to the Nomu's two pieces on the ground.

_"I wasn't careful while doing that, then I might've broken my arm this time..."_

Mineta's eyes widened with happy tears, "He did it!"

Kurogiri teleported out of the way of a sound wave from Jiro when he felt something was off, turning for a moment and shocked to see the Nomu split in half.

"That boy managed to slice through it!?"

Momo looked and her eyes widened as well, "He, he did it."

Enso turned to Shigaraki, who surprisingly didn't seem fazed by the Nomu falling.

"You should leave while you have the chance."

Shigaraki just chuckled, "Now, you don't think that's it, do you?"

Enso then heard the Nomu starting to make noises, making him turn and form a look of shock to see its torso start to mold. Flesh and muscle grew on it until two brand new legs and feet emerged, making the Nomu whole again.

"I didn't say that Shock Absorbance was all he had." Shigaraki grinned.

_"Another quirk!?" _Enso thought in disbelief.

He didn't even get time to think of how this was possible before the Nomu already shot up and swung at him, barely giving him enough time to react.

He formed an energy ball in his right hand and moved it in front of himself before the Nomu could hit his head, letting it explode with enough force to send himself back.

He landed with a small slide as he eyed the Nomu again.

"That... was a little _too_ close." He muttered.

The Nomu stood tall and wailed once more, standing tall and revealing a... delicate area below.

"Nomu... Please put on your pants from your other legs." Shirigaki irked.

Mina and Ochako had deadpanned faces from the top.

But then they saw Tsu, Ojiro, and Mineta carrying Izuku and Aizawa up the stairs.

"Look!" Ochako let everyone around her know.

Sero, Shoji, and Sato saw them and rushed down the stairs to help.

"Crap, crap, crap! Midoriya is in terrible shape!" Sero said as he helped carry him up the stairs carefully.

"Aizawa too... They both ended up like this to protect everyone else." Shoji said calmly.

"And now Ureshi is down there too, but that monster seems to be giving him trouble! Can he still fight with one hand?!" Sato exclaimed.

Tsu looked down in guilt as she saw Mina and Ochako nearly crying as they glanced from Aizawa's state, to Izuku's crippled status.

Her mind flashed back to when Izuku jumped in the way of Shigaraki's attempt to decay her, then heroically punching him away but only for the Nomu to stop and hurt him.

_"I'm sorry Midoriya..."_

"Should we get them out of here for help?" Shoji asked.

On the ground with them still, Thirteen, who got put out of commission by Kurogiri using his own quirk against him, responded. "No... If you move them, then you might make the bleeding and pain worse... For now, let us wait for the pros."

Ochako had a tear in her eye as she gently caressed the unconscious Izuku's hair, then turning her head and looking down at her other classmates in trouble.

* * *

After noticing the Nomu actually get sliced, Kurogiri turned to the three students he was currently facing, "I apologize, but I believe that Shigaraki needs assistance." He then teleported away.

"Hey! We were so close to getting him!" Kaminari shouted.

Momo lowered her staff and glanced over at Kurogiri emerging next to Shigaraki now. "We have to help Ureshi out!"

"I think we got our own problems now!" Jiro shouted as she looked behind them.

Momo turned and saw another group of villains with menacing grins coming towards them.

"Hey, hey, why now?!" Kaminari said, looking rather blue in shock.

Momo narrowed her eyes, turning from the villains, to Enso. _"Hold on longer Ureshi..."_

Kurogiri appeared next to Shigaraki, "Shigaraki, do you need assistance?"

Shigaraki turned angrily at him, "Why the hell would I?! Go back to killing those kids!"

Kurogiri looked nervous, by that tone, "But I noticed that child slice apart the Nomu, it's clear that he's no ordinary one! I mean, take a look at... his eyes."

Shigaraki turned and saw the cold and emotionless eyes of Enso as he kept a fighting stance, waiting for any movement the Nomu made as it finished putting on its pants.

"One of his hands is broken though." Shigaraki argued.

"But the pros will be here any second if we idle any longer!" Kurogiri warned.

Shigaraki was quiet for a brief moment before answering,

"Tsk! Fine... Just help me kill _this_ kid and we can leave."

Kurogiri looked unsure but sighed. "As you wish."

Enso heard a portal appear right beside his head and heard something go through it. He instinctively leaped back and saw that Shigaraki had stuck his hand through a portal at an attempt to grab him.

The hand-pulled itself back in the portal as Nomu attempted to strike Enso while he had jumped back.

Enso managed to land one foot in the ground just in time to jump back even farther as the Nomu's fist smashed the ground, creating a large shockwave and strong winds that slightly went into Enso's eyes.

He then heard a portal open behind him and instantly performed a backflip right over it before he could fall in, then landing on his feet.

"Damn brat is jumpy." Kurogiri said in an irritated manner.

Despite looking so emotionless as he avoided attack after attack after attack, Enso's had some doubts about fighting all three of them in his mind.

_"Facing one person dangerous is enough, but three... There's no way I could counter-attack. One wrong move and I'll either get slammed, disintigrated, or split in half."_

The hardest part about this was the Nomu, who just lashed out at Enso with swing after swing of its arms with incredible speed, limiting his movements.

_"Luckily, both smaller villains can't attack me at the same time as the Nomu is, it's too fast. But they cover the openings it has after swinging. I just need an opening to charge up and attack."_

Enso had it close when two of Shigaraki's fingers actually managed to graze him at once point, before he smacked them away and spun backward to avoid more incoming attacks.

_"I need someone to distract them."_

He backed up, dancing around many purple portals that had opened in the ground around him.

He then felt Shigaraki's presence reaching behind him, heard two portals open near his feet, and saw the Nomu heading right in front of him.

Enso grit his teeth, _"I may have to..." _He felt his dagger begin to form in his right hand.

But then an answer came.

A trail of ice traveled through the floor and caught the Nomu by the legs and continued to freeze the rest of its body, then leaving only it's head open.

Another person came in and sent explosions at Kurogiri, forcing the walking portal to retreat back. "Who in the world-!?" There was then a hand that grabbed his chest and slammed him onto the ground.

Enso was surprised to see that it was ironically Bakugo and Todoroki who came to his aid. Bakugo pinned Kurogiri down while Todoroki had frozen the Nomu's body.

Kirishima came in at an attempt to hit Shigaraki, but the villain just backed off and avoided the attack. "Damn! I didn't get to show off!"

"Shigaraki-!" Kurogiri was about to move before Bakugo threateningly let out an explosion with his hand, grinning menacingly.

"You try to move, then I'll blow you up!"

"Could you at least _try_ to act hero-like for once?" Enso asked.

Crossviens appeared on his head, "EH!? What was that edgelord!?"

Shigaraki turned from Kurogiri to the Nomu. "We're in a bit of a pinch. Our portable teleporter is being held captive by kids."

Kirishima grinned, "We got this now!"

Shigaraki chuckled, "Do you?" He turned to the Nomu completely frozen in ice. "Nomu, get our gate back."

The ice shook for a second before instantly shattering apart, shocking all of the heroes around.

The Nomu left a shockwave behind him as it blasted towards Bakugo, no one even processing the speed.

Except for one person.

Enso dived towards Bakugo as he charged up his power, eyes and aura white.

"Brute Style-!" He didn't finish before a giant explosion of force occurred, forcing everyone back and covering their faces with their arms from the winds.

"Bakugo!" Kirishima yelled.

Tons of dust covered the area from the amount of force the punch caused, one able to see through it.

Kurogiri teleported right next to Shigaraki once more, looking relieved.

"Thank you Tomura Shigaraki."

It took only a moment for the dusk cleared and reveal Enso standing right in front of Bakugo, his arms up and his aura looking three times as dense as ever before, having a completely pure white outline that went around his body.

"-Bulk... Up..." Enso finished, trying to keep up his strength to the Nomu's fist trying to push through his arms. However, because of his left hand being broken, Enso could feel stinging of pain going through it as he kept his focus to make the aura as dense as possible in such short notice.

Bakugo was on his behind as he looked up at Enso and the Nomu with a shocked expression.

_"I... I saw nothing... I didn't see_ anything... _And he just took that attack..."_

He grit his teeth in anger.

_"Just what the hell is up with this guy?"_

The Nomu pulled its arm back and tried to thrust his fist at Enso again, but Enso leaned the side and avoided the straight punch at him.

He clenched his right hand into a fist at the same time, white aura flaring up at it once again.

"Brute Style- Vicious Smite!"

He swung his fist and pierced the Nomu in his stomach, the aura around his body suddenly focusing up into the punch.

He created another giant explosion and managed to send the Nomu flying back, even strong enough to blow away Shigaraki and Kurogiri on the sidelines.

_"He managed to get through the shock absorption in one punch again?!" _Kurogiri thought as he got sent back.

Enso panted as the remaining aura in his fist faded away.

Todoroki quickly rushed to Enso's side, "You should've aimed for the head."

Enso narrowed his eyes, turning to the boy. "I was only focused on protecting that idiot."

Bakugo shot up to his feet, "I'll kill you!" he shouted comically.

Kirishima rushed next to him as well, "Holy shit! I can't believe you took that attack!"

"Yes, but at the cost of a lot of energy..." Enso said as the Nomu landed in the distance. "That monster only listens to that villain, shock absorption, and even a fast regeneration quirk... So I'm sure the only thing we could do to stop it is to completely obliterate it's head off."

Bakugo grinned, "I could do that."

"No, you'll have a much larger chance of dying." Enso immediately shot it down.

"Huh!? What the-!?"

"You didn't even see the Nomu when it came at you, correct?"

Bakugo grit his teeth again as he remembered actually getting 'saved' at the moment.

"So, then you're gonna say that you're the only one who could do this?" Todoroki asked him.

Enso nodded, not moving his eyes off the Nomu ahead. "Yes, but I need you guys to distract the other villains. Bakugo you take care of Kurogiri, the portal villain and use your explosions to avoid any portals he tries to put you in. Todoroki, you fight Shigaraki and use your ice to keep him at a distance. Don't. Let. Him. Touch. You."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugo shouted.

"What about me?" Kirishima asked.

Enso motioned him further with his fingers. "You may not like this idea, but I need you to take one full swing from the Nomu with your quirk. You'll get hurt, but I calculate that you can take one attack rather well."

Kirishima shivered, "Wh-Why!?"

"I need you to keep him still for a moment for me to charge up one certain attack. I'll keep it busy for a moment and find a good opportunity to let you defend me."

The Nomu got up and dove towards Enso.

"Good luck." Enso said before focusing power once more. "Snipe Style-Ricocheting Bullet." He glowed yellow and became faster than ever, zooming past the Nomu and circling around him.

"Damn it!" Bakugo shouted as he saw Enso go right to the Nomu. He turned to Kurogiri and blasted towards him. "Eat this!"

Todoroki sent ice towards Shigaraki and tried to wall him out. "Better get ready." he told Kirishima.

The Nomu stood completely still as Enso circled around it, head simply looking forward without any emotions whatsoever. Enso, despite running so fast, kept an eye on the Nomu as he repeated the same pattern of steps, waiting for a precise moment.

Kirishima looked rather nervous, _"When will I even know to step in if you're moving that fast!?"_

The Nomu let out an inhuman cry as it raised both fists up, ready to slam the ground and smash the area around him.

_"There!" _Still running, Enso jumped up and away from the Nomu, landing behind Kirishima and getting into a crouching position.

The Nomu slammed the ground and created a crater with a large radius around him, with clouds of dust also being kicked up in the process.

Kirishima covered his eyes with his arm to avoid getting dust in them, before looking back at Enso, who had his head down and arm across his stomach with his hand near his waist.

"Get ready, it's going to jump out." Enso warned him, head remaining down in focus.

Kirishima gulped nervously as he faced the cloud of dust, activating his hardening quirk and raising his arms in an X shape.

Enso formed a dagger in his hand and took a deep breath, aura fading from yellow to black.

For some reason, at the thought of killing the Nomu, Enso remembered Nezu's words.

_"You said so yourself that you wished to change the way you did things, didn't you? Try to live up to that claim please, there is always a way to avoid bloodshed. I hope you find that way for the sake of yourself."_

Enso hesitated, eyes still closed. _"But... This is different."_

He then remembered something else, _"No matter what happens, prioritize in saving the students."_

The dust cleared and the Nomu saw Enso and Kirishima out. It leaped out with a roar and proceeded to dash towards Enso with a fist forward._ "Shit! Shit! Shit!"_

Kirishima stepped in front of its path, also rather nervously, and activated his quirk to the fullest.

_"I'll be fine! I'll be fine!"_

The moment the Nomu's punch collided with Kirishima, a powerful shockwave occurred, yet the boy was able to stay in place with pain in his arms.

"Hey, I'm... I'm doing it!" He grinned.

But the Nomu then grabbed him by the head.

"Uh oh."

It forced Kirishima right into the ground, slamming his head down and cracking the floor.

Kirishima felt intense pain in the back of his head, but he still kept his quirk up.

_"Just hold out! Just hold out!"_

Todoroki saw the trouble. "Kirishima!" he sent an arm forward and was about to send a wave of ice to help.

Shigaraki appeared next to him, "Where are you looking?"

Todoroki felt three of the villain's fingertips touch him, making him shiver. He created jagged ice pillars around him, forcing Shigaraki backward.

_"Damn it! Why is he so fast despite looking so out of shape!"_ He thought as he sent another wave of ice to separate him and the hand villain.

The Nomu raised its fist and slammed it down on Kirishima again.

"NNGH!" Kirishima felt his arms sting as he struggled to keep focus.

_"Enso! Any time now!" _He thought, but couldn't say because of the pain.

Enso still thought about the principal's words, his hand gripped tightly on his dagger and remembering when he didn't even detect any murderous feeling from the Nomu twice. _"The Nomu, is only a puppet... I wasn't able to detect and murderous intent because it even isn't thinking about it. All it does is follow orders, no feelings involved whatsoever. Could... Could that really be considered it 'living'?"_

Bakugo blasted left and right to avoid portals on the floor, heading towards Kurogiri.

"SHINE!" He shouted as he let out an explosion in from of him, trying to aim for Kurogiri's main body.

But he just teleported away.

"My, my, this is getting rather scary." he remarked.

"Stop running trash can!" Bakugo shouted as he blasted towards him once again.

However, from the corner of his eye, he saw the Nomu slam a foot onto Kirishima.

"Kirishima!" Bakugo stopped his assault and instead blasted towards the red-haired teen, but a sudden portal emerged in front of his path.

"Damn!" He was forced to blast back and tried to go around the portals emerging, but Kurogiri just kept forming portals wherever he tried to go.

"Trying to leave, are we? That won't do." Kurogiri said.

"Shut up!" Bakugo shouted, trying to focus from Kirishima to the villain.

Kirishima had many bruises on his hard arms now, teeth-gritting form all the pain.

_"What's taking him so long!?"_

_"I don't know what the principal would say... Would he consider the Nomu alive? I don't wish to leave here so soon, I would rather not be treated as... a monster. But..."_

The Nomu then let out a loud shriek and raised both of its fists up, ready to crush Kirishima's head.

"Ureshi!" Kirishima shouted desperately.

The moment Enso heard Kirishima's voice above him, his power spiked.

_"Damn it! I have to do it!"_

Enso eyes shot open in blood red, veins turning black.

"Reaper Of Worlds Style-"

He tightly held his blade and dashed up at the Nomu's head.

The Nomu was somehow able to detect Enso coming and stopped it's attack on Kirishima, instead reaching it's arms out to crush Enso.

But that was when the teen tightly held his dagger and struck.

"-Reaper's Harvest"

Many flashes of white occurred with each strike of Enso's blade, pieces of meat scattering all over the place.

Bakugo had just forced Shigaraki back with an explosion before they both noticed what happened. The same happened when Todoroki sent ice towards Kirogiri, who avoided the attack before a chunk of flesh went past their eyes.

When they turned their heads, they were surprised to see that the Nomu's head hand hands had been split apart into over a dozen pieces, pieces of brain scattering as well as some splashes of blood.

Everyone froze as Enso landed on the ground in a crouching manner, then raising his head up with a cold look and splatter of blood on his cheek.

"That was faster than I thought it would be." Todoroki remarked.

Bakugo was stunned, then gritting his teeth, _"Just... Just who the hell is he!?"_

The rest of the Nomu's body fell to the ground, not just decapitated, but its head and brain completely split apart into several scattered pieces.

Enso turned to Shigaraki, menacing black aura and intimidating red eyes shining.

"Can your Nomu heal from that? I wonder if it can listen to orders when it's brain is scattered all over the floor?"

Shigaraki was furious. "No way, impossible." He started to furiously scratch his neck, "Nomu! Get up!"

The monster laid lifeless on the floor.

"No, no, no, no! Did he use a cheat?!"

Enso turned his full body to them, where everyone realized something.

His arm looked rather disproportional, almost as if it was crushed, yet he seemed unfazed by it.

Enso's mind flashed back to the exact moment when he had sliced apart the Nomu.

_"It somehow managed to grab my other arm and crush it in an instant... Such force." _He thought, looking at it bleeding.

The two front doors were then blasted open, revealing All Might standing in a suit. **"I AM HERE!"**

"I'm afraid that we may have come rather late." Nezu said, sitting atop of the blood hero, Vlad's, shoulder with many other pro heroes standing with them.

Ochako formed a happy smile, "All Might!"

"Teachers!" Sero exclaimed.

All Might looked down and saw the injuries of Aizawa, Thirteen, and Izuku. _"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner... I used my quirk too much this morning..."_

The other pros saw many students still fighting villains in the distance, some of them immediately set out to help them.

But for those such as All Might and Nezu, alongside Vlad, they froze as the saw the remains of the Nomu in the very middle of the large room, Enso standing beside it with a partially crushed arm and a dagger in his other hand.

Bakugo, Todoroki, and Kirishima all glanced up the stairs and saw the heroes, feeling more relieved.

But Enso stood still and stared up at him, the blood that splattered from the Nomu on his cheek slowly trickling down.

"Oh dear." Nezu said, looking rather serious.

**_"Enso... What did you do?"_**All Might thought in shock.

Kurogiri turned to his boss, "Sh-Shigaraki! We must leave!"

Shigaraki sighed, "Yeah, yeah... I may have failed this time, but..." He turned to Enso's direction and gave off a maddening glare as the portal overcame him, **"Next time, I will kill you."**

Then they were gone.

* * *

Izuku slowly opened his eyes and found himself in the nurses' office once again, a dim orange color filling the room.

_"Deja vu..."_

"Finally, I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake up today."

_"Judging by the pattern..."_ Izuku slowly turned his head left and saw Enso standing beside his bed. "Yup."

"What?" Enso asked.

"Nothing." Izuku chuckled, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

But then his eyes shot open and he sat up quickly as he realized, "Wait! What happened!? How are Tsu and Mineta!? Whatever happened to the villains!? How-"

Enso thwacked him on the head. "Quiet."

"O-Ow, Ow..." Izuku raised his hands on his head.

Wait, raised his hands?

Izuku glanced down in confusion and found them completely healed, also with a few small scars.

"Eh? Nani? I'm fine?"

"I used a bean on you, moron."

"Oh, th-thank you very much..." Izuku embarrassingly said.

"Um, I'm here too you know." Izuku turned to his right and saw Toshinori sitting on a chair beside the bed.

"A-All Might!? U-Um-!" Izuku was confused and turned to his left to Enso and realized that Enso's left wrist was bandaged, "Wh-What happened to your wrist?! A-Actually... Could you guys just explain to me what happened?"

Enso sighed, "I'll start explaining from the moment you passed out."

He explained in a few minutes how Izuku passed out from the Nomu, then got save by a few of his classmates, and then heard that Enso had fought against the Nomu and, with the help of Bakugo and the others, he had managed to successfully take it down.

"Th-That happened!?" Izuku exclaimed in shock, even hearing the part where Enso had his arm crushed by the Nomu.

Enso nodded, then pulling his sleeve up showing the bandages wrapped around his arm, "Yes, but it was an easy fix for Recovery Girl, I had plenty of stamina left for her to heal me."

"I see... So everyone is okay then?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, they're alright." Enso reassured him.

Izuku laid back on the bed and let out a breath of relief, "I'm glad..."

"Although, I'm surprised you're alright Izuku." Enso remarked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Izuku blinked.

"In the distance, I had seen when that Nomu slammed its fist on your head. You... survived."

Izuku went back to his memories to the Nomu, where his eyes then widened in realization.

"Y-Yeah! I did! I-I think I may have used my power again!"

"So you remember using it this time!?" Toshinori exclaimed in shock.

"S-Sort of... After I saved Tsu and got pinned down by the Nomu, I just thought... I just thought that I wanted to live. I thought about all my friends so far, I thought about you and All Might, and I felt something... build up from that."

"How were you feeling at the time?" Enso asked curiously.

"I... I felt mad. Angry, I thought I was gonna die but I wasn't scared, I just kept thinking about the people I would be leaving and just kept screaming to myself that I wasn't gonna die."

"So it's nearly the same as when you fought with Bakugo..." Enso sighed. "My theories are still the same then, either your special power activated because you were in a life-or-death situation, or because your emotional distress triggered it."

"So it appears that way, but this time Midoriya was more conscious when he used it." Toshinori told them.

Izuku nodded, "Y-Yeah... I saw the black stuff right in front of my face as the Nomu slammed it's hand down, I even saw the crack in it."

"Crack?" Toshinori asked curiously.

"Y-Yeah, I made some sort of barrier which was what protected me in the first place, it withstood one of the Nomu's punches, but it cracked as well. I think that took the rest of my energy because that was when I passed out."

Enso put a hand on his own chin, "I see, so your power may have multiple abilities. Hopefully, you can discover more in the future."

"I-I'll try... I'll try to use it and master it the best I can!"

"So... did you think what to name it for now?" Enso asked.

Izuku flinched, "N-Not really..."

"May I suggest a name then?"

Toshinori and Izuku turned to him curiously.

Enso gave a momentary paused for dramatic effect before proposing a name.

"Ikari."

"Eh? I-Ikari... As in 'wrath'?" Toshinori asked, rather surprised to hear this.

Enso nodded, "Whether his power activates because of his life in danger or because of emotional trauma, both times he did activate it, we've seen him... furious. I think you'll agree that we've never seen or heard that Izuku gets angry unless if it involves his power."

Toshinori looked down, "I see... but I don't think we should make it final yet."

"Of course not, but it just seems like the most suitable name for now."

"Ikari..." Izuku repeated, looking down as he thought of the name.

Enso looked up and crossed his arms, "There's no doubt that bringing out 'Ikari' again would be rather difficult for Izuku, especially since he's naturally timid, but I don't think we should force him to get angry to activate it."

He looked forward to the two again.

"I may be able to find an answer connecting how Ikari works. If I look into Izuku's past, then I might be able to find something to explain it."

Izuku and Toshinori's eyes widened, "You could do that!?"

"Once a day I can look through a person's memories, but not my own..." Enso sighed. "I think we should do that another day, for now..." he looked at the sun nearly down on the horizon. "It's getting rather late."

"You can leave now sonny. Your injuries were fine a while ago." Recovery Girl said to him from her desk.

"O-Oh!" Izuku moved out of his bed, realizing that he was still in the gym uniform of U.A. "I-I gotta get changed..."

Enso reached on the nightstand and grabbed Izuku's U.A uniform, "I brought them for you. You could change in here, I'll wait at the front for you." He said to him.

"Before we leave, one last thing." Toshinori said, standing up in his chair.

Enso and Izuku stared at him.

He then bowed to them.

"E-Eh!?" Izuku uttered.

"I'm sorry... I used my quirk for the entire morning and ended up not being able to use it in the afternoon. Because of me going out of my way to save other people, you both had to fight through that experience."

Enso narrowed his eyes, "Don't apologize for saving people. You did what you felt you had to do, saving random people who needed help. You shouldn't regret that."

"I see... but-"

"Everything turned out fine didn't it? Everyone was fine." Enso said.

"Y-Yeah! I-I'm just glad that everyone was alive!" Izuku agreed.

Toshinori stood up and chuckled, "You know... I kind of expected you both to say that."

"Then don't apologize next time." Enso said.

Izuku, Toshinori, and even Recovery Girl sweatdropped.

"What a rude youngster..." Recovery Girl sighed.

Toshinori couldn't help but smile though, "Let's just go."

* * *

Tsu was back in her uniform, but she didn't head home like nearly the rest of the class, rather, she headed straight to the nurses' office, her head down and fingers fiddling, keeping a look of guilt on her face.

There had been something on her mind ever since the USJ attack.

Izuku's state.

She couldn't get it out of her head. She was going to die at the moment that Shigaraki reached for her face, she should've died, yet Izuku jumped in front and got his arm heavily crumbled. He even tried to hit the villain away, just so he would stay away from Tsu.

_"DON'T TOUCH HER!"_

She stopped walking when she remembered those words, looking down and feeling slightly warm, but also very guilty. After Izuku managed to save her, he ended up being the one in more than just trouble. He got an arm broken, the other one decayed, his head bled, and she could swear that even his back broke.

All of this was because of her, she kept thinking that over and over again. So she was going to see Izuku now to apologize for all of it.

She caught sight of Enso and a skinny blonde man exiting the nurses' office, both catching sight of Tsu.

"Who is this? Kero?" Tsu asked, taking a look at Toshinori.

"Someone I know that I thought could help Izuku's state." Enso thought up immediately.

"U-Um, I'm Mr. Yagi Toshinori." He went along.

"I see..." Tsu looked up at Enso, "How is-?"

"He's perfectly fine. You managed to help save him just in time."

Tsu looked down, "He... He was the one who saved me..."

"Then thank him." Enso simply responded, walking by the girl and heading farther in the hall.

Toshinori sweatdropped before turning to Tsu, "H-Have a nice day." He then ran off down the hall as well.

Tsu looked back at them for a moment before turning to the nurses' office door.

She slowly slid open the door. "Excuse me?"

Izuku was just finishing buttoning up his shirt when she came in, then getting clearly surprised. "T-Tsu!?"

"Oh? What is it deary?" Recovery Girl asked from her desk.

"I would just like to speak to Midoriya."

Izuku rushed to put on his red tye, rather embarrassed. "G-Give me a moment!"

"Okay." Tsu slid the door closed and waited outside, leaning her back against the wall and looking down, collecting her thoughts on what she wanted to say.

After about a minute and hearing some shuffling of clothes, Izuku came out of the office wearing his U.A uniform, although looking rather nervous to see Tsu there.

"H-Hello Tsu. I-I didn't expect to see you here."

Tsu nodded, "Hello Midoriya, I... I just wished to speak what was on my mind."

Izuku let out an awkward laugh, "Y-Yeah, you told me that you tend to do that, huh?"

Tsu looked down, "I'm sorry."

Izuku froze, "Eh?"

"I'm sorry..." She repeated.

Izuku could tell that something bad was on her mind, "F-For what?"

Tsu was silent for a moment before speaking. "You got hurt because of me... You saved me from a villain that I didn't even notice coming right at me. You got your arm hurt, you nearly died, and I couldn't do anything..."

Izuku's eyes widened.

"Because of me, I put you in a lot of pain and danger... "

Before this got any more depressing, Izuku knew that he had to reassure her, flailing his arms and interrupting her.

"N-No! It's alright Tsu!"

She looked up at him, surprised by his sudden shout.

He scratched his chin, "Y-You shouldn't say sorry for having me save you, otherwise, then I should be apologizing to you for having you save me."

Tsu blinked in confusion.

"E-Enso told me that Momo and two others fired rockets at the villains to distract them, but you were the one that saved me from them by using your tongue to retrieve me. In the end, everyone turned out fine didn't they? You saved me."

Tsu looked away, "That was-"

"-what a hero should do." Izuku interrupted, finishing the girl's sentence for her and having a smile to go along with it.

Tsu looked surprised.

"You and I simply both did what heroes should do. We both saw someone in trouble and went to save them. You shouldn't apologize for being the one in trouble, that was out of your control. I should be apologizing for not being strong enough..."

Tsu was rather confused. She came to apologize to the boy, yet he turned it around and apologized to her for a reason that he shouldn't even blame himself for. Of course, he wasn't that strong now, that's why they were in U.A after all.

She couldn't but smile, knowing exactly what kind of person he was.

"You shouldn't apologize for that Midoriya. You are one of the strongest among the class, you did exactly what you could to save me."

Izuku let out another awkward chuckle, "You think so?"

Tsu nodded, "Yes, so instead of letting me apologize to you..." Tsu did a closed-eyes smile at her. "I want to thank you instead. I'm alive because of you Midoriya. You may think you're not that strong now, but you're already a strong hero to me. My hero."

Izuku madly blushed by the frog girl's smile and looked away rather embarrassed. "I-I-It's n-no p-problem... L-Let's just goes back now..." he uttered, fiddling his fingers.

"Kero!" Tsu happily croaked.

* * *

Izuku and Tsu walked side by side out of the school building, with Tsu looking much more cheerful than usual.

_"I guess what I said did cheer her up?" _Izuku wondered with a small smile.

He looked up in the sky and saw that it was night time now, stars brightly shining and the moon looking rather large.

"Izuku!"

"Hm?" Izuku looked forward right before a few arms wrapped tightly around him and held him into a tight huh. "E-EH!?"

His eyes looked around to find Momo, Ochako, and even Mina all hugging him at different sides, each one with relieved looks and even small tears forming in the corners of their eyes.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wha-!?" Izuku turned as red as Kirishima's hair and steamed as much as the smoke that came out of Iida's exhaust pipes after he ran.

Enso, Iida, and Hagakure all stood beside one another, all staring at the small group as they waited for them to stop getting emotional.

"You're not gonna join in?" Enso asked Hagakure.

"Eh? Hold on now, I'm not on _that_ friendly terms with him." Hagakure told him.

"And?" Enso raised an eyebrow.

"..."

"..."

"Meh, what the heck? Make room!" Hagakure laughed as she ran to the group with arms open as well.

Enso turned to look at Iida, "What about-?" he then only saw a dust silhouette of Iida, turning back to also see him joining the hug with a small smile on his face.

Tsu passed the group and walked up to Enso, "Hello."

Enso looked down at her, "How'd it do?"

Tsu partially smiled, "He... He's too nice."

"I know that." Enso sighed, "I just hope that won't cause him trouble one day."

"You're not gonna join the hug?"

"Do I look like the type of person that would want to?"

Tsu curiously stared at him, "I think you would feel happy."

"Doubt it."

_"Quite a cold person isn't he?" _Tsu wondered, getting a much better idea of Enso now than before.

By now the hug disbanded, with everyone asking Izuku a variety of questions.

"Deku, are you really alright now!? We saw what happened to you!" Ochako said to him.

"You worried me so much!" Momo added.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't get help sooner!" Iida shouted.

"I thought you were gonna die!" Mina said.

"I... I didn't really see what happened, I just heard about it. But good to see you alive and kicking Midori!" Hagakure slapped him on the back.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You shouldn't be sorry about that Iida! And I'm sorry!" Izuku said to each one of them, even slightly bowing comically to each one with each apology.

"Good grief, you really have a habit of attracting trouble don't you?" Enso asked as he took a few steps to the boy.

"S-Sorr-"

"Would you stop apologizing already?" Enso cut him off.

"Oh, Sorr-! My bad..." Izuku embarrassingly said.

Enso sighed and got in front of him, moving a hand up and placing it atop of the boy's head.

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw Enso rub Izuku's hair, including Izuku himself.

"Good to see you still alive."

He removed his hand and turned around with his hands in his pockets, starting to walk. "Let's go back."

They all stared at Enso with comedically large eyes as he walked away, with Izuku feeling more embarrassed than ever before and even covering his face when everyone stared down at him.

"Heh, I guess even he was worried." Hagakure joked, nudging Izuku with her elbow.

"We all were." Mina said, then forming a smug look at Izuku's embarrassment.

"You really worried everyone Midoriya." Tsu smiled.

"I-I'm... s-sorry..." Izuku meekly let out.

Momo smiled, "I think that's enough. We should be getting back to our homes."

The group then started to walk together out of U.A, having lighthearted conversations about a variety of things while Izuku got over his embarrassment and glanced at everyone.

Mina mimicked punches and kicks that she saw Enso do while speaking how 'cool' they were, while Hagakure laughed at how she mimicked them.

Ochako was talking with Tsu, one getting to know the other better and laughing a few times.

Momo and Iida were in a rather intense conversation about the villains at USJ and how they as students could be better prepared the next time something like this happened.

And Enso just walked silently with his hands in his pockets, simply staring ahead at their path.

Izuku looked down and formed a slightly sad and worried look. _"In order to be able to protect them, in order to be able to save them, I have to get stronger... I have to master more of One For All, but not just that, I have to learn how to actually use 'Ikari' as well without causing problems to myself or others. I'll make sure to become the number one hero that everyone will feel safe around, that everyone will look up to and smile."_

He felt a tap on his shoulder, "Eh?" He glanced up at Enso looking down at him.

"Don't think that you have to be strong all by yourself to save everyone."

Izuku was rather surprised to hear this from him, but at the same time, he felt reassured from his words.

_"Yeah... He's right..."_

He turned to everyone now staring at him with a smile.

_"We'll all get stronger together."_


	18. A Look Into Ikari and Festivals

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{Day After USJ Incident}~

"What is it this time Nezu?" Enso asked as he walked into his office and slid the door closed.

Nezu looked up from his desk and smiled, "Ah, Enso. Please, take a seat."

Ens complied and sat on a chair in front of the principal's desk, remaining still as he listened silently.

Nezu folded his hands, "I wish to ask you about something."

"Yes?"

"You were the one that finished that monster, the Nomu it was called, correct?"

Enso could have a feeling of where this is going, looking down. "Yes... Because of its regeneration functions and absurd abilities, I had no choice but to slice at its brain an hope that it would cut off its connections from the rest of its body, which did indeed work."

"I see..." Nezu's smiled faded, "Tell me, what was it that you were thinking about at that moment, what were your very thoughts?"

Enso went back to that moment, where he remembered both of Nezu's statements to him again.

"I remembered what you said. I had to prioritize saving the students, but you also didn't wish for me to take any lives."

Nezu nodded, "So why did you kill the Nomu then?"

Enso raised his head, narrowing his eyes at the principal. "That Nomu... That _thing_ wasn't even 'alive'. It had no mind of its own, it didn't react to pain, it wasn't able to love, get angry, sad, or anything like that. It was just an emotionless, broken down heap of meat at that point, there wasn't anything 'alive' about it. So... I can't say that I killed it, it was already dead."

Nezu was silent as he spun his chair so that the back of it was facing Enso, as if thinking about what to do.

"Under normal circumstances, I would've most likely reported you to the other heroes for murder, but this is different."

Enso raised an eyebrow.

"You're somewhat right about the Nomu, it was just a puppet, a doll. One with no sense of its own will, one that wasn't living at all. In a courtroom, you may even be able to get away with destroying it because of self-defense and arguing that it was a human being at that point so..."

He turned back to Enso, the tiniest of smiles in the corner of his mouth.

"I would say you got lucky with your choice. You listened to me about saving the students, while also finding I guess a 'loophole' in what I've said to you before."

Enso listened.

"But tell me..." The principal turned back to face Enso with a serious look on his face. "If that Nomu was indeed, human, then what would you have done?"

Enso looked down in silence, thinking about the question.

"Then I would've kept fighting. Fighting until I beat him, or someone else does."'

Nezu smiled, "Good. You should always have faith in yourself and in your fellow peers."

Enso couldn't help but feel like the conversation was going to connect to Nezu referring to him as a hero, so he changed the subject.

"So... Did you or the other staff find anything out about the villains that invaded?" Enso asked, getting back to the serious matters.

"Not much that you probably don't know already." Nezu answered, getting more serious. "There were 72 villains arrested the other day at USJ, they were all just small timers that hid in back alleyways from the info we received. But you were the one that had interactions with the two main villains, this 'Shigaraki' and 'Kuogiri.' Care to voice your thoughts on them?"

Enso look down and put a hand on his chin in thought.

"Shigaraki was the leader of all of them, not Kurogiri who seemed to be smarter and more composed than him. That man... That 'boy' didn't seem fit to be a leader at all. He constantly whined and complained when things didn't go his way, and his attack on U.A itself seemed too bold for a normal villain to believe to be a good idea. He's like a child that rushed into a quest in a video game without equipping for it or coming up with an actual strategy. His entire strategy just relied on the Nomu. That was it."

He rosed his head back up, "But that's what makes me wonder as to how he had such a reckless plan but still managed to get so many villains to work under him?"

"We don't know how. Based on how you described him, he's clearly a man-child with power. But he is like my students in a way, he has room to grow. So my theory is that... someone may be backing him up, trying to cultivate his malice, to build it up and cause great destruction to the world." Nezu answered.

"So... then what now?" Enso asked.

"Now... You just go to class. Leave it to the police to investigate the League of Villains. I just wanted to meet you here to see what you were thinking about slicing the Nomu apart."

"...What do you think about me after that?" Enso asked.

"Well, I think you're making progress of becoming a hero."

"Forget I asked." Enso suddenly said, standing up and heading out for class.

Nezu sighed but still kept a smile on his face. "I wonder when he'll stop being stubborn?"

* * *

"Did you guys see the news last night!? The USJ incident is all they could talk about!" Hagakure cheerfully shouted.

"All the channels are making a big deal out of it." Kaminari added.

"Could you blame them? They invaded the school that literally teaches students to fight against them." Jiro said with a wave with her hand.

"Man, I can't Tsu was so close to death though, thank god Midoriya jumped in just in time to save her, how manly! Imagine if he didn't-"

"Stop that Kirishima! I can't bear to think about if we lost a hot girl in our-ACK!" He was interrupted by Enso smacking him alongside the head.

"Quiet you."

Doing this, Enso attracted attention to himself and made everyone remember what he did.

"Oh yeah! But Ureshi actually fought against that monster!"

Their eyes turned to Enso.

"How'd you do it Ureshi? How'd you actually fight against that thing?" Sero asked him.

Todoroki and Bakugo slightly turned their ears to face Enso, listening closely.

"I... Just didn't let him hit me." Enso answered.

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Everyone take your seats!" Iida shouted.

"It's okay Iida, I made sure that everyone was already in their seats." Izuku said with a smile.

Iida realized that everyone was indeed in their seats and sat himself down. "Shoot!" He said, looking rather embarrassed.

Ochako laughed behind him.

Mina leaned back in her chair and turned to Tsu behind her. "Tsu, who's going to teach homeroom today?"

Tsu put a finger on her chin, "Well, Mr. Aizawa is supposed to be in the hospital, recovering from his injuries, ribbit."

On cue, Aizawa then came in through the door, but his body looked completely fine. His face had no cuts, bruises, or even bandages on it, his arms and hands both appeared to be fine as he came into the class looking normal.

"Good morning…"

"Mr. Aizawa your back too soon!" most of the class yelled.

"What the hell!? How is your body fine after what happened!?" Mineta shouted, remembering exactly what had happened to their teacher.

Izuku's eyes widened as he realized the only way this would be, he turned his head back and saw Enso looking away from the front of the class, staring outside the window with his head in his hand.

_"Did he give Aizawa one of those special beans?"_

"Aizawa! How are you alright?!" Iida shouted with his hand raised.

Aizawa straightened a stack of papers on his desk, "I don't know how myself, I just ate something and became completely fine afterword." He said without much care.

Izuku turned back to Enso once again, eyeing the boy with a blank look. Enso was covering his face with a book now as if trying to avoid eye contact with Izuku.

_"I knew it..."_

Aizawa stared at the class, "More importantly, the fight still isn't over-"

This made the class feel tense.

"Isn't-" Bakugo started.

"over?" Izuku uttered.

"More villains!?" Mineta shouted.

"- The U.A sports festival is drawing near…" Aizawa clarified.

"That's a super normal school event!" The class shouted in excitement.

Enso put his book down and tilted his head curiously to the side, a question mark appearing over his head.

"Sports festival?"

"Eh!? Don't tell me you've never seen a sports festival before!?" Kaminari asked in disbelief.

"..." Another question mark appeared over his head.

"You haven't!?"

"I don't have any... 'knowledge' about those kinds of things."

"What the hell? Have you been living under a rock all your life?!" Mineta asked him.

Enso narrowed his eyes, looking down at his desk. _"Under the ground seems to be more like it..."_

"Mineta, quiet. Ureshi here has lived a far more... 'isolated' life compared to the rest of you." Aizawa called to him.

"Huh? Really? But why?" Kirishima asked curiously.

"It's not my reason to tell."

Many curious eyes turned to Enso now, who simply ignored them and continued to stare down at his desk.

"Are we really sure we should go through with the festival? Didn't we just get attacked?" Jiro asked rather concerned.

"Our sports festival is one of the biggest events in Japan. By hosting it after the attack, it'll show that we're unfazed by the attack and confidant that our crisis management system, giving faith to the public. It's not gonna be canceled just for the threat of villains coming."

"It's also a big chance for all of to be sought after by top heroes, they always watch the festival after all." Momo added.

"We could find someone to become sidekicks for once we graduate!" Kaminari cheered.

"But if the top heroes will be watching, then won't all the villains be watching as well?" Enso asked from the back of the room.

That made a few people shiver.

Aizawa sighed, "Yes, but this is a more important opportunity for students to get scouted by heroes, it's worth giving off some information about your quirks." He scratched the back of his head and rolled his eyes, "If you're really worried about villains seeing what your quirk can do, then just lose early is all I could tell you, throw away your chance to get scouted." he said sarcastically.

"I see, will do." Enso said without hesitation.

Many people comedically fell to the floor.

One of them, Izuku, then shot up to his feet, "Enso! Come on! You can't throw this chance away! I know you could probably get scouted by any hero!"

Sero got back up as well, "Yeah man! You fought that Nomu just the other day!"

Bakugo banged his fist on his desk, startling many classmates as they saw his eyes comedically white in anger, "You better do your fucking best! I wanna kick your ass when you're doing your best! I want an indisputable first place!"

_"Kacchan's really getting fired up!" _Izuku thought nervously.

"But it wouldn't be worth it to fight someone like you." Enso answered him.

"What was that edgelord!?" Bakugo shouted.

Aizawa's eyes flashed red, making everyone sit back down in his seat as if nothing had happened.

"Joining a pro agency helps your popularity grow and is also a chance for you to learn and experience new things, please take this festival seriously. One chance a year, a total of three chances, no aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event. If you understand that, then don't slack in preparing for it!" He finished.

"Yes sir!" The class shouted.

* * *

~{Lunchtime}~

The sports festival was all everyone could discuss during break time, saying many things ranging from how to get noticed by pros, to how they would prepare for the event.

"Everyone is so into it." Izuku muttered as he got up from his seat. He looked back at Enso reading. "Almost everyone..."

"Hey Midori!"

"Huh?" Izuku turned around and saw Hagakure's floating clothes looking rather energetic.

"Yes, Tor- Hagakure!?" Izuku quickly corrected himself.

The invisible girl didn't even seem to notice him nearly saying her first name, "Do you know how I could stand out more in the crowd?"

"Wh-Why are you asking me?" Izuku uttered.

"Because you've been quite a center of attention for the class! So I thought you would know how to make me stand out!"

_"It's not like I purposely stand out..."_ Izuku thought but didn't say.

He still tried to help her though. "U-Um, maybe try to do something that no one would expect? Something creative that could surprise the pros?"

Hagakure went into a thinking position, "Hm... Maybe your right! You really did attract everyone's attention because of the crazy things you did!"

"Y-You think so?" Izuku uttered with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah! Like when you broke your own arm to save Ochako from the exam robot! Or when you broke your arm to throw the softball in the quirk test! Or when you broke _both_ your arms to save Tsu!"

"I'm sensing a pattern here." Enso said as he walked next to Izuku.

Izuku started to sweat nervously, "Y-You shouldn't do something that extreme though!"

"Hey guys! Excited about the festival!?" Mina asked cheerfully as she came upon the group.

"Not particularly." Enso responded.

Mina just laughed, "Oh come on! You should be more excited about these things!"

"Let's do our best everyone!" Ochako suddenly shouted with a menacing purple aura around her, even stomping her foot to the ground and raising a fist up.

"S-See, like that!" Mina said, although a little caught off guard by Ochako's change.

Izuku looked surprised to see her like this, _"She really wants to do good at the sports festival, doesn't she? I wonder why she wants to become a hero in the first place?"_

"Ashido! I heard that they're giving Natto and new hamburgers for lunch!"

Mina's eyes widened, "Really!? Let's go!"

The two suddenly blasted out of the room with childish cries of excitement.

"Wait for me!" Hagakure shouted, running after them down the hall.

Everyone sweatdropped.

_"Lunch Rush serving something simple like hamburgers and natto? What sort of madness is this?" _Enso wondered.

"Lunch Rush is sick today right? I think some other staff is cooking lunch today, kero." Tsu said as if she read Enso's mind.

"Oh."

"W-We should go eat." Izuku said.

Soon a small group consisting of Izuku, Enso, Iida, Ochako, Momo, and Tsu left the classroom and headed down the halls for lunch.

On the way there, Izuku was reminded of Ochako's sudden change in personality about the sports festival, reminding him to ask something.

He turned to Ochako, "Hey Ochako, why did you decide to come to U.A and become a pro hero?"

"Huh?! Wh-Where's this coming from?" The gravity girl uttered.

"Oh, s-sorry. I just noticed that you were really serious about the festival, so I thought that it was because of how much you wanted to be a hero. Then I... got curious as to why you chose to become one."

The grouped stopped walking and turned to Ochako.

"U-Um… Because…" Ochako nervously turned her head slightly and glanced at Enso.

The group stared at him as well.

"What?"

They continued to stare.

Enso sighed, "I won't say anything bad."

Ochako took a deep breath, "Um... okay. Well... For money..." she said almost shamefully.

"Money?" Izuku exclaimed in surprise.

"Money for what?" Tsu asked them.

"For... my family..." Ochako muttered out.

"Is there a problem with their financial situation?" Momo asked her.

Ochako started to speak, "My family owns a construction company, but we haven't gotten much work at all, so we're nearly broke."

"So you're planning to get your license to replace any construction equipment your company may need, therefore lowering costs for your family, correct?" Enso asked her.

"Yeah! That's what I told my dad!" Ochako suddenly said excitingly.

"You really wish to help them, don't you?" Enso asked.

Ochako thought about it with a now sad look, remembering when she was little that she had basically begged her parents to let her help them out in the future. She remembered when her dad told her that he appreciated the thought, but wished for her to follow her own dreams to be happy.

She looked up with a serious expression, "I'll definitely become a hero and make money, I'm going to help my parents live an easy life."

The group stared at her with eyes of wonder, but Enso turned his head away, slightly narrowing his eyes.

"At least your goal still involves helping someone else... I can understand that you want to help your family, but focus on saving people no matter what if you really want to be an amazing hero." He commented.

Ochako was slightly surprised by his statement, but she looked serious as she answered. "I will!"

_"I'm sure everyone a reason for becoming a hero, no matter how admirable, or how foolish it is. But I wonder how many people in the school actually has a goal of helping people?" _Enso wondered, lowering his head.

Suddenly a voice was heard, **"Young Midoriya! Young Ureshi!"**

The group turned their heads and saw All Might peaking at them from the corner.

"A-All Might? What's the matter?" Izuku asked, surprised to see him.

**"Lunch!"** He held up a light blue lunch box close to himself **"Wanna eat together?"**

"What are you a maiden!?" The group said at him, excluding Enso who was silent and Ochako suddenly bursting out in laughter.

Izuku and Enso turned to their classmates, getting nods of approval from them.

"We'd love to." Izuku said, he and Enso following All Might in the hall.

The rest of the group continued to make their way towards the lunch area.

"I wonder what All Might wanted with Deku and Enso?" Ochako asked aloud.

Momo put a hand to her chin. "Enso managed to take on the humanoid monster by himself for a while to protect everyone while Izuku jumped in to save Tsu with his quirk, getting injured in the process. Maybe it's about that?"

Iida had a look of curiosity on his face, And remember what Tsu said on the bus ride?"

"About what?" Tsu asked him to clarify.

"About Midoriya and All Might's quirks looking similar? The boundless power they both have is rather unique, so maybe All Might has taken a liking to both of them or to just thank them right now?"

Ochako nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you may be right!"

The group continued to chat, but little did they know that a few steps away from them, the half fire-half ice teen Shoto Todoroki heard everything they had said, even slightly turning his head.

_"All Might, Enso Ureshi, and..." _He looked down, _"Izuku Midoriya..."_

* * *

~{Teacher's Lounge}~

Izuku and Enso both sat on a couch within the teacher's lounge with All Might might on the other side of them, who had shrunken back to his skinny form.

"Hope you two have been having a good day." Toshinori said as he poured some tea for the two of them.

"We've been doing well since the USJ incident." Enso answered.

"I see, good to know." Toshinori said as he passed them each a cup.

"Thank you." Izuku said as he took his cup, taking a small sip.

"I take it that you've brought it here to discuss something?" Enso asked as he also took his cup.

All Might nodded, "As you both know, the U.A sports festival is coming up, so I wish to have a review of all the progress that you and Midoriya have had up until now. I would also know what you are both planning to do to in order to prepare for the coming event."

"So just an update?" Enso asked.

"Yes, I would like you Enso to explain how Midoriya's progress of training is going in terms of fighting abilities, and I would like Midoriya to explain how much progress he's doing with One For All."

Izuku's eyes widened and he nearly choked on his drink from remembering something. "A-All Might, that reminds me! I managed to pull off a smash at 100% without breaking my arm!

"You did!? What was different about it when you used it at that time?"Toshinori blurted in surprise.

"Well..." Izuku looked down, although rather serious. "The difference I would say was... It was the first time I tried using 100% of it on a person..."

Enso narrowed his eyes.

"Hm, interesting. It might've just been an unconscious thing your body did then."

"I see. But at least that's progress on Midoirya using more of One For All... What's the maximum limit of One For All that you could use consciously?" Toshinori asked Izuku.

"Um, ever since the USJ incident, I've been able to use a little past 5% of my power without feeling any pain, better than just being able to use up to 5%." Izuku answered.

"I see..." Toshinori put a hand on his chin in thought.

"B-But I think I might be able to use more percent of it for a while even if my body strains a little! I've tried it before, I might be able to go up to 10% for a few seconds!" Izuku quickly answered, trying to sound better in progress.

"That's good, having a power boost like that can help you out in a tough spot." Toshinori said rather proud, he then turned to Enso. "So, tell me young Enso, how is Midoriya's martial art learning coming along?"

Enso crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch.

"Izuku is learning at a very strong pace with his martial arts. I am currently having him learn the art of capoeira, or breakdance fighting, to help him have better movements to apply in battle."

Toshinori looked rather confused, "Wait, breakdancing?"

"Yes, breakdancing."

Toshinori turned to Izuku, who had a rather embarrassed look on his face.

"Really?"

"W-W-Well, i-it's actually helpful..." Izuku stuttered.

Toshinori was still rather skeptical about it, but went along with it and turned back to Enso.

"Okay, how is he coming along with that?"

"He's been fine learning some basic dance steps, we'll be getting into more complex things later." Enso answered.

"I see..."

The group remained in awkward silence.

"Is there a problem?" Enso broke the silence.

All Might rubbed the back of his head, "No, I just really didn't expect that Midoriya would be... dancing."

"I-I didn't think I would either All Might..." Izuku chuckled.

"But it's great to hear that he's improving!" Toshinori exclaimed, lightening up the awkward mood. "But moving on, I called you both here for another reason."

He turned to Enso, "Enso, you claimed that you may be able to look into Midoirya's past to find an explanation of what was his other power correct?"

"So you wish for me to look in Izuku's mind right now to find an answer about Ikari?" Enso presumed.

Toshinori flinched, "Well, yes. But only if Midoriya is alright with it of course!"

"I-If it helps me find out more about my quirk, then I'll gladly let him look!" Izuku declared.

"We don't know if it's actually your quirk or not, but that's not the important matter right now." Enso stood up from his seat and looked down at Izuku, "It's not that simple that I could just look into your mind and see everything."

Toshinori and Izuku both looked surprised.

"I-Is there a catch to it?" Izuku asked him.

He nodded, "Yes. It's not that I look into your memories. I can make you basically relive them as if you are experiencing it for the first time. The only difference will be that I am seeing these memories."

"R-Really?" Izuku looked slightly scared, "S-So i-if y-you see something really bad that happened to me-?"

"You'll feel all the pain, sadness, happiness, fear, and anything else in those memories that you've felt at the time." Enso finished for him.

Izuku flinched, "I-I see..."

All Might look worried, knowing that Izuku had experienced some bad things in his life. "Perhaps this isn't a good idea-"

"I'll do it!" Izuku interrupted him, looking serious about going through with it despite also looking scared.

"Are you sure?" Toshinori asked.

"Y-Yes! I need to know how to activate Ikari, I need to know how to use it, to trigger it, so that I could get stronger!" Izuku reasoned.

Enso sighed, "So are we going through with this then?"

Toshinori put his hands together, "If Midoriya wishes to go through with it, then I suppose we have to. But if things hurt too much for you to handle... we may have to stop."

"I-I'm ready. I've handled a lot just fine after all..." Izuku said in a sad tone.

Enso finished his last bit of tea and placed the cup down onto the table, then sitting back down and facing Izuku.

"Alright, let's start then."

"Wh-What do I have to do?" Izuku asked tensely.

"Stay completely still and think about both times you activated Ikari. Think about how you felt, what you were thinking, and whatever pain you may have felt as well. Keep in mind that I won't see anything that you don't want me to see, I'll only focus on the precise moments you used Ikari."

Izuku gulped air, "O-Okay." He closed his eyes and relaxed, trying to clear his mind up to only recall both times Ikari activated. Enso placed both of his hands around the sides of the boy's head, with both of his thumbs on Izuku's forehead.

Enso closed his eyes and shined a blue aura around him.

"Punk Style- Memory Breach."

In Enso's eyes, it was as if he zoomed in right into Izuku's head, into a world of darkness, but it didn't take long for some things to form around him, first being the indoor combat training exercising that Izuku had fought Bakugo in.

He was at the exact moment that Bakugo had fired an explosion out of his gauntlet, where Izuku had also tripped at the same time.

He closely watched the actions around Izuku as the boy's thoughts at the time were portrayed out loud in the memory.

_"No way... Am I really gonna die? After working so hard to get here? After doing all that I could to make All Might proud? After getting taught so much by Enso, it'll all just end because of a fluke!?"_

As Enso heard this, he saw many flashes of people appear around Izuku, which was his entire life flashing before his eyes.

_"Damn it... Damn it! Why!? I don't want to die! I... I just wanted to become a hero! I-I-"_

Enso detected hints of anger in these thoughts and stared directly at Izuku's angry expression to go with it.

_"I want to live."_

After this last thought out loud, Enso saw the black colors and red eyes Izuku had just started to form around him just before the fire engulfed him, managing to protect himself at the last moment with the small aura around him.

However, when he looked closer, Enso noticed something odd.

_"Red spots?"_

In the aura behind Izuku's head, Enso saw two abnormal shining red spots within it.

_"What are those?"_

The vision then disintegrated away and formed a new one, to where the Nomu had Izuku pinned down and nearly moving to smash his head.

He saw the emerald boy trembling as the Nomu raised its fists, looking scared at first to see his death in a moment.

However, Enso saw Izuku's memory flash once more, giving him a few of the different people he's Izuku met and the events he's been through.

_"I'm not dying..." _He heard Izuku's thoughts echo.

He saw the boy grit his teeth, feeling his body shaking as whatever built up in him seemed to get to a max point.

_"I'm not leaving everyone behind!"_

Enso watched Nomu roared and swung its fist down at Izuku's head.

_"I CAN"T DIE NOW!"_

But right before it managed to kill Izuku, something formed in front of Izuku to protect him, a black barrier made form a black aura of his.

But at the same time, Enso noticed two red spot on that barrier as well.

_"Interesting..."_

The vision then faded away into a world of darkness.

Enso stood in that world of darkness, looking around rather confusingly.

_"Hm?"_

**"Go away..."**

Enso's eyes widened and his head circled around the place, surprised to hear someone.

**"I'll kill you..."**

Enso recognized the voice as somewhat close to Izuku's, but it sounded scared, angry...

Threatening.

_"This hasn't ever happened before when I used this. That voice sounds nearly like Izuku's if not a little more menacing. Could it be his consciousness? No, it must have to do with Ikari."_

**"LEAVE!" **The voice roared.

Enso suddenly saw black limbs emerge towards him in all directions, each one intending to grab him.

_"Guess I'll go."_

Enso opened his eyes and found himself back in the teacher's lounge, then releasing Izuku's head.

"I'm done."

Izuku's eyes shot open and he started panting heavily, looking scared.

"Midoirya, are you alright?" Toshinori asked in concern.

"I-I'm fine All Might, it's just that... Seeing where you almost d-die is pretty scary." Izuku shivered.

"I see." Toshinori said, then turning to Enso. "Did you find anything else out that we don't know?"

Enso was silent for a moment as he stared at Izuku rather intensely.

Izuku started to shiver, "Wh-Wh-What is it?"

"Did you see what happened?"

"Eh? I-I mean, I-I felt myself nearly dying again..."

"Not that." Enso stood up. "There was a moment where something lashed out at me."

"What!? Really?!" Izuku and Toshinori exclaimed.

Enso nodded, "Yes, it was the same energy that you used, but it sounded just like you were telling me to leave or you would kill me."

Izuku and Toshinori turned black and white in shock.

"I-I-I did that?" Izuku uttered.

"It might've been just an automatic defense system of your consciousness because of the pain you were feeling from reliving the memories again." He crossed his arms. " It just further proves that Ikari activates with intense anger and in life or death situations, maybe even just very painful ones as well."

"I-I'm sorry I nearly killed you in my head..." Izuku stammered.

Enso sighed, "It doesn't matter, but I think it's safe to say that my theory of Ikari is correct."

"So, will that mean that I-I'll have to get angry to use it?"

"Yes, but that's the problem..." Enso took a look at Izuku's figure and saw his body shivering with a nervous face. "You don't get angry often."

"Enso, I have another question." Toshinori said.

"What is it?"

"Do you think you may be able to find a precise date where Ikari could've formed?" Toshinori asked him.

Enso looked interested, "Now that you mention it-"

They then heard knocking on the door.

"Eh!?" Izuku and Toshinori uttered.

Toshinori immediately buffed up, **"Yes!? Come in!"**

"The door is locked idiot." Enso said as he walked over and unlocked it.

The door slid open to reveal a ginger-haired girl with teal eyes standing just outside, panting slightly in exhaustion. She was as tall as Izuku and had a high tied ponytail on the left side of her head. What was odd to Enso was how the girl was able to keep some of her hair sticking up as large tufts on her head.

"Hm? Who are you?" Enso asked her.

Izuku shot up from his seat with widened eyes, "K-Kendo!?"

"There you are Midoriya! Thank god Momo told me where you were!" The orange-haired girl said.

"You know her?" Enso asked Izuku.

"R-Right, you're not in the student council! Th-This is Itsuka Kendo, she's the student council president for class 1-B." Izuku explained.

"No time for you to tell him about me, you've got to come with me to the student council room Midoriya! We're having a meeting about the sports festival coming up and need all the representatives and vice representatives!"

"A meeting so suddenly?!" Izuku asked.

"Yeah. Let's go before we waste any more time!" Kendo went in and grabbed Izuku by the rest, then dragging him out of the room.

"U-Um! S-See you guys later!" Izuku called out as he got pulled out of the room with the door somehow sliding closed.

Enso and All Might awkwardly stared at the door before All Might poofed back into his skinny form.

"That kind of scared me..." Toshinori sighed. "We didn't even get to finish talking."

"Was there another issue to speak to him about?" Enso asked.

"Well, it was just gonna be some encouragement for both of you to do your best at the festival, make yourselves known."

"Isn't that kind of bad for me?"

"But Nezu will most likely expect you to do that..."

"Damn, you're right." Enso sighed. "But anyway, about Izuku...

Enso locked the door before glancing back to him, "To help him prepare for the festival, I still think we need to learn more about Ikari. Before Kendo came, I was going to go with your suggestion to try and look into the precise time that Ikari could've manifested in Izuku."

"But you said that you could only look through memories that the person is currently thinking about. And Midoriya has no clue that he even had that power in the first place, so how would you find out when he got it?"

Enso put a hand to his chin, "Simple, by knowing Izuku and the characteristics of Ikari, then the obvious best place to start looking-"

He fully turned his body to Toshinori.

"-would be the first time he's ever felt a large amount of anger."

Toshinori realized why that was the case.

"I see where you're getting at, the moment he felt enough anger for the first time will most likely be when Ikari manifested. But what if Ikari is actually his quirk, then wouldn't it have developed around the age of four? What if the level of anger he felt at one time isn't relevant?"

Enso looked down to the ground with his eyes narrowing.

"I know that moment _will_ be around that age." He declared.

Toshinori was surprised.

"Is there something that makes you think that?"

"Not something..." Enso looked outside to see Bakugo chasing after Kaminari on the school courtyard.

"Someone."

* * *

Izuku was sitting in a council room of the sort between Momo and Kendo, all of them paying attention to Aizawa and Vlad with some papers on their tables.

"So each of you will be charged with passing out, as well as collecting, permission slips from your classes about the sports festival. We will also have to discuss which student will be officially starting the festival with a small speech." Aizawa said.

"When you say 'student', do you mean someone from the entire school?" Momo asked with a hand raised.

"No, we only need a first-year to represent all the others participating." Vlad answered.

"If I may make a suggestion, may I request that Class-B's president make the speech?" Asked the blonde boy with a smug grin next to Kendo, who was Neito Monoma, someone who always seemed to eye Izuku and Momo from afar.

"Me?" Kendo repeated in surprise.

"Yes, of course! We need to demonstrate class 1-B's superiority over 1-A starting with-!"

"I decline." Kendo deadpanned when she started to hear his reason.

"Nani!?" Monoma cried out in shock.

_"He doesn't like our class, doesn't he?"_ Izuku and Momo sweatdropped.

"Why not just let the person who got the most points in the entrance exam do it?" Another representative in the room asked.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Vlad said with a hand on his chin.

Knowing exactly who that was, Izuku shot up from his seat with worried eyes. "I-I don't think this is such a good idea!"

"Why not?" Vlad asked him.

Izuku turned to Aizawa, "S-Sensei! You..." He looked down and sweatdropped with a sigh. "_You _know why that might be a bad idea..."

Aizawa rubbed the back of his head, "The person with the highest points on the exam was Enso Ureshi, but I may actually agree with Midoriya about him. He's rather... cold."

Vlad seemed to understand, "I see... Then how about-?"

"I think that's a wonderful idea!"

The teachers and representatives of the room turned to the doorway and saw principal Nezu sitting atop of Cementoss' shoulder.

"P-Principal!?" Izuku blurted out.

"Am I a bear? Am I a mouse? A dog? I don't even know!" The principal said as an entrance.

"What were you saying Nezu?" Aizawa asked.

"I said that I believe Enso Ureshi would be the best choice to give a speech for the festival."

"What makes you say that?" Momo asked curiously.

Nezu chuckled, "Because although he gives off the cold, heartless impression, he is still very well at understanding people and would be the sort that wouldn't get nervous to be put on the spot."

"B-But, I'm more worried about what he would say." Izuku let him know.

Nezu just waved his paw, "Don't worry about it. I'll take it upon myself to speak to him about it."

"Then it's settled, Ureshi will give the speech." Aizawa said, writing down the name.

_"So easily!" _Izuku and Momo looked unsure.

Kendo turned to them, "Is he really that bad?"

Izuku looked down at his desk rather nervously.

_"Can you really become a hero that your brother can be proud of with that kind of mindset?"_

He remembered those words and gulped down air.

_"This...might not end well."_


	19. Ginger Companion and a Purple Encounter

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show you're appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

"Remember you have a week until the sports festival starts, so be sure to get ready for that! There should still be enough time for you to go and eat something if you rush. You're all dismissed!" Aizawa said, officially ending the representative meeting.

Many students got up from their seats and ran out of the room to make it to lunch, but others like Izuku and Momo simply got up slow and steady as they thought about the festival coming up.

"Let's go get some burgers!" Nezu exclaimed as he and Cementoss exited the room.

"Phew, why did we have to have a sudden meeting at lunch?" Kendo sighed as she stood up from her seat.

"We had to obtain these permission slips for our classes to give students enough time to get them filled out by parents. Deciding a representative to give a speech was just something else they decided to do on the spot." Monoma said as he got up and stretched his arms.

"Izuku, you haven't even lunch yet correct?" Momo asked him.

He realized, "I-I didn't!"

"Then I'll take these permission slips back to our class, I already ate after all." Momo smiled.

"Thank you very much!" Izuku bowed down to her.

"To think that the male of class A would make the female carry those heavy documents... how despicable!" Monoma remarked.

"Could you at least say that _after_ you take some of these?" Kendo sweatdropped as she carried a stack of papers. She then dropped them in Monoma's hands, making the boy stumble in them. "Take these back for me, would you?"

"Wha-!? What are you gonna do?" Monoma cried out.

"I haven't eaten lunch yet either. I'm gonna go." She turned to Izuku, "Can I come with you?"

"S-Sure."

Monoma was shocked, "You're gonna go with a class A stu-ouch!" he was interrupted by Kendo knocking him onto the head.

"Be nice Monoma." She told him with a partially serious look.

"Tsk!" Monoma turned his head away and left the classroom.

"Sorry about him." Kendo sighed.

"No problem. I'll be heading back as well." Momo said, getting out of the room and turning left to get back to class.

"Well, let's go Midoriya." Kendo said, turning to him with a smile.

Izuku nodded, "Right."

They both left the classroom and went into the hall, passing by many students chatting amongst themselves.

"Do you know what's for lunch today?" Kendo asked him.

"Um, I believe that one of my classmates said that it was Nato and Hamburgers."

Kendo raised an eyebrow and partially tilted her head, "Really? Not what I would expect."

"I think Lunch Rush is sick today, that's the reason." Izuku explained.

"Oh okay. I guess that makes sense." The girl said, then remaining momentarily silent.

Izuku snuck a look at her, _"She kind of gives that same mature aura as Momo, but from what I've seen from her during our first meeting, she acts more of a big sister watching over Monoma all the time."_

"Hey, Midoriya?"

Izuku flinched, "Y-Yes!"

Kendo turned to him and rubbed the back of her head rather embarrassingly, "Sorry about the things that Monoma says. Other than his negative feelings for Class A, he's a pretty good person."

"But, why doesn't he like my class?"

They got to the stairs and started walked down slowly.

"Because he thinks that everyone is treating you guys like the best future heroes from taking on the villains that invaded USJ. He honestly thinks that some students from my class should be in Class A instead and vice versa." She explained.

"I mean, does being in a class A or B really show how strong of a hero you are?"

Kendo rolled her eyes, "Monoma seems to think so."

She then stopped at the stairs.

"But... Sometimes I think that's the case too."

Izuku stopped and was rather surprised to hear her say that.

She turned back at him, "I mean, your class has the top _three_ students that scored the highest at the entrance exam."

"Yeah... We do." Izuku said, looking somewhat uncomfortable with the realization.

"Yeah, so because of that and the recent USJ event, now everyone is thinking, 'oh, class A must be better than class B, they fought villains and have the best students.' I hear it now and then. My class can get bummed out about it sometimes."

Izuku looked somewhat ashamed, _"So everyone is just judging our classes by that."_

Kendo formed a small smile and waved her hand, "Sorry, I'm just rambling aren't I? Let's just go get lunch."

She turned and hopped down the rest of the stairs, but Izuku kept still as he thought about the judgment of their classes.

He clenched his hand into a fist and formed a determined, yet also nervous look on his face.

"Itsuka!"

"Eh?" She turned to him rather caught off guard.

He quickly stepped down the rest of the stairs and got in front of her.

"I have no doubt that your class is amazing! The class letters shouldn't matter when looking at who's strong! It should be just based on showing you're strength to the world!"

"Um, okay?" Kendo said, feeling a little confused by his words.

"Sure my class went up against those villains, but now is your class' chance to show everyone what _they _can do! Tell them to do whatever they can to stand out! Tell them that if they really want to aim for the top, that if they feel as if they are being overshadowed, then they should get into the spotlight by giving their plus ultra-performance!"

Kendo remained silent with a look of wonder to the boy.

Izuku clenched a hand into a fist and held it in front of himself, eyes unwavering.

"Tell each person that they should show the world, 'I Am Here'!"

Kendo starred at Izuku with a bewildered expression, not having expected him to suddenly blurt out the things he did.

Her cheeks slightly puffed up as she covered her mouth.

"Pfft!"

Izuku turned black and white.

_"She's laughing!?"_

"S-Sorry." Kendo removed her hand. "I just didn't expect what Yaoyorozu said to be true. You really do call others by their first name immediately."

Izuku blinked as he processed what she said.

He then turned black and white in shock.

_"I called her by her first name!"_

Izuku looked down with his skin matching the red color of Kirishima's head from embarrassment. "S-S-Sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to... I-I was..."

Kendo noticed the boy's sense of humiliation and smiled, going up to him and patting his shoulder. "Hey. It's alright, you don't have to feel embarrassed, I think that habit of yours is kind of cute."

Izuku looked up at her, feeling even more nervous to see her closer.

"But what you said... It really means a lot to me."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked.

"I didn't know what type of person you were when I saw you as the class 1-A representative, but I feel relieved to know that... you're a really cool guy."

She closed her eyes and gave him a toothy smile.

Izuku turned around and fiddled his fingers, taken aback by her smile and praise. "Y-Y-You think so?"

Kendo chuckled, "I know so. You wouldn't discriminate anyone for what class they're put in or for what quirk they have, and from listening to you just now, I know that you would rather encourage people to do their best instead of finding ways to mess with them. You really care about others, don't you?"

Izuku awkwardly turned to her with his eyes looking up and rubbing the back of his head, "I-I've been told..."

"And Yaoyorozu was right, you really do get nervous easily! I never would've guessed that someone like you would be the person to one shot that robot!" She laughed.

_"Why do I feel like she unintentionally insulted me?"_ Izuku sweatdropped.

"Come on! We've wasted enough time talking, let's go before they stop serving lunch!" Kendo said.

"Oh, right! We should probably hurry!"

Izuku followed Kendo at a fast pace, watching her from behind and thinking about one thing she said to him.

_"You're a really cool guy!"_

Izuku couldn't help but smile.

While moving, Kendo snuck glances back at Izuku, smiling at him and feeling more determined than ever about the upcoming festival.

_"Don't worry Midoriya, my class will show you exactly what we can do!"_

She noted the boy's small smile.

_"He's... really nice." _She couldn't help but feel a nice warmth as she thought this.

The two neared the corner of the hall, where Kendo passed by an opening to the left.

As Izuku near the opening, someone with purple hair walked out of it, but he was so close to her at this point to stop.

"Ah!"

"Gyah!"

Kendo stopped when she heard the sound of two people knock into each other, turning back to see Izuku and someone else on the ground.

"Are you guys alright?" Kendo asked as she rushed over to them.

"O-Ow." Izuku said as he rubbed his head. "S-Sorry..."

He looked ahead of him to see Kyouka Jiro sitting on the ground and rubbing her head as well.

"Who the hell-?" Jiro looked up with a pissed off glare to see who knocked into her, but she calmed down after seeing that it was only Izuku.

Izuku on the other hand, shook nervously from her glare.

"Kyoka! I-I'm sorry! I didn't look where I was going!"

"Wait a minute? Kyoka?!" Jiro shouted with a small blush.

_"AH! I DID IT AGAIN!" _Izuku screamed in his head, realizing that he called her by her first name.

Izuku quickly got into a bowing position with his head down, "I-I'm sorry! Force of habit!"

Jiro saw that the boy was really freaking out, helping her realize that he didn't mean anything bad by calling her by her first name.

"Geez, You don't have to freak out like that. I was only a little caught off guard." Jiro said as she got back to her feet.

Seeing Jiro already up, Kendo rushed to Izuku's side and helped pull him up.

"We were kind of in a hurry." Kendo said as Izuku swept his shirt of some dust.

"I _felt _how much of a hurry he was in." Jiro said as she rubbed her slightly red forehead.

"S-Sorry! Izuku uttered out.

Jiro turned to Kendo and raised an eyebrow, "You're... Class B's big sister, right? Kendo?"

"Big... sister?" Kendo repeated, looking slightly embarrassed by this.

"Yeah, you've really been looking out for your class a lot from what I've heard. Especially that one blonde guy who never seems to shut up."

_"Dang it Monoma."_ Kendo sighed. "Sorry about him. I've been trying to make him nicer."

"It's cool, just don't be surprised if a certain explosive obsessed guy ends up blasting his lights out." Jiro warned.

"I'll... keep that in mind." Kendo said, already knowing who she was talking about.

"S-Sorry about running into you Jiro, w-we'll just be going now." Izuku uttered nervously, wishing to go get food.

"Oh, ok. See you in class."

Jiro started to stare intensely at the boy as he and Kendo passed by her, paying attention to just how nervous he was getting.

"Hold on." Jiro suddenly spoke.

Izuku flinched, slowly turning his head to her.

"U-Um, i-is something wrong?" Izuku asked, noticing her focused gaze.

"You're not mad are you?" Kendo asked her.

"No, no, I just want to talk to him about something. You guys don't mind, do you?"

Although she clearly didn't say it with any bad intentions, Izuku somehow felt himself shake nervously as if she had said that as a threat.

"I-I-I'm okay with it." He slowly turned to Kendo, "Y-You could go on without me."

Kendo nodded, "Alright, I'll pick something up for you." She then started walking off in the cafeteria, leaving Izuku and Jiro alone.

Izuku turned to her rather nervously, "S-So what did you want to talk about?"

Jiro could help but feel bothered by how tense he was, getting closer to him and narrowing her eyes, "Deku, there's something I don't get-"

Izuku flinched at that name, "D-D-Deku?"

"Oh, well I hear gravity girl and the ticking time bomb both call you that all the time, so I guess I the name stuck. There a problem?"

"W-Well… I-I guess i-it depends on what you mean, by it."

"What do you mean? I thought they both called you that because it was supposed to be ironic." Jirou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-Ironic?" Izuku repeated.

"Yeah, because it's supposed to mean 'useless' but it's ironic when people call _you_ that because you're clearly not." She twirled her earlobe with her finger.

Izuku felt slightly happy hearing that from her.

"W-Well, that's not really how Kacchan, er Bakugo, means. He called me Deku as an insult ever since we were kids… As for Ochako, she calls me that because she thought it sounded like dekiru, meaning 'You can do it.'"

Izuku then realized, "Wait, y-you said that you thought it was meant to be ironic, so does that mean that you didn't mean to say Deku as an insult then?"

"Hey, I'm not an asshole, I wouldn't just call you that to be mean. But do you want me to stop calling you that?" She folded her arms.

Izuku flailed his hands in front of him, "W-Well, since y-you don't mean anything b-bad from that name, I-I guess you could call me that!" he stuttered.

Jirou then formed the same confused glare that she had before, causing Izuku to shake even more nervously.

"W-What?" he uttered out, turning his head left and right and avoiding eye contact with her.

"Back to what I was gonna ask before, why do you always seem so wimpy and timid, despite having all of that power and cool moments?"

Izuku focused his gaze onto her, "Wh-What do you mean?"

"You're getting nervous just by talking to me right now, yet you're a major powerhouse that saves anyone without hesitation. It's as if your whole personality changes when saving someone, but then you flinch the moment someone touches you." She said as she then poked Izuku on the shoulder.

He flinched.

"See?!" Jiro declared.

Izuku rubbed his head nervously, avoiding eye contact again. "U-Um, I-I don't really know how to explain that... Whenever I see someone in trouble, I always feel like I have to jump in and save them, no matter what happens. But when it comes to why I get so n-nervous sometimes, then I guess it would be because..." He looked down and fiddled with his fingers, "I-I got t-teased a lot when I was small..."

Jiro raised an eyebrow, detecting a small lie in that.

"Teased? Or bullied?"

Izuku flinched.

_"You could just tell by reactions!" _Jiro thought.

"Sorry..." she said.

"I-It's no problem..." Izuku muttered.

She rubbed the back of her head, "Was it Bakugo?"

"Eh?" Izuku didn't completely understand.

"Was it Bakugo who always picked on you? He's always angry at you and I've... heard a few things."

Izuku couldn't exactly lie, "H-He may have picked on me a bit..."

His voice trailed off.

"A bit?" Jiro narrowed her eyes.

Izuku flinched again, "M-Maybe more..."

Jiro stared at the nervous boy for a moment before moving her head closer to him.

"Hey, look at me."

Izuku lifted his head up and saw that Jiro had got uncomfortably close to him, although with a serious look on her face.

_"Eep!"_

He gulped nervously and turned a tinted red as he stared directly into her eyes.

Jiro poked his chest, "You need to man up, you can't just let Mr. explosive disorder push you around like that. You've got to show him that your not worthless and that he can't mess with you anymore. It doesn't matter what he did to you in the past, you're strong now, aren't you? So just prove him wrong. You gotta let him know that you don't want anything to do with him and to just leave you alone!"

She then backed up a bit, giving the boy some space.

Calming down a little, Izuku look rather gloomy.

"Well… I-Its not like I don't want anything to with Kacchan. To be honest, I've always admired him... He's strong, skillful, and full of ambition."

Jiro looked confused, "Wait a minute, you can't really be considering him a friend, are you?"

Izuku let out a small chuckle, "I... I hope we could be friends... I want to use the sports festival as a chance for me to finally show him how much stronger I've gotten. I want to show him that I'm going to rival him to become the number one hero, so he'll finally need to take me seriously and respect my strength."

Jirou was beyond confused, _"He really still thinks of Bakugo as a friend, even after all the shit he put him through?"_

She sighed, "Look, I'm not really one to get too much into other people's business, but just don't let Bakugo do what he wants against you, alright? If something bad happens to you because of him, then I'll make surer to personally come over and knock you on the side of your head and say 'I told you so'."

Izuku formed a small smile on his face, "Th-Thank you for the a-advice Jiro."

"Anytime, so anyway..." She eyed him. "So why are you still shaking exactly?"

Izuku flinched.

"Stop flinching!" Jiro suddenly scolded him.

"I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't be nervous, but I kind of found you a little... intimidating."

"Well, at least that explains why you're acting so wimpy right now."

Izuku felt a sting to his pride, "F-Fair enough... B-But now I could see that you're a really caring person, although pretty blunt. S-So... Could I talk to you again sometime? For advice?"

Jiro formed a small smirk, walking passed Izuku to get back to class. "Sure, but you're buying me a drink next time."

"S-Sure!" Izuku cheerfully said, watching her walk down the hallway.

Until she slipped on a piece of food on the ground left by lunch.

"Gah!" She fell facefirst forward with her butt sticking up.

Izuku got worried and moved towards her.

"Jiro are you alri-i-i-" He froze with widening eyes and an agape mouth as he saw Jiro's skirt flip up from the fall, seeing something he knew that he wasn't meant to see.

_"Glittering purple with a vine-like design!? Why is it-!? W-wait a minute! Th-There's no way that's what I think it is!"_

He realized what he was thinking and turned his head away with a completely red head and buggy eyes, trying not to freak out from what he saw.

Jiro immediately shot up to her feet and basically slammed both of her hands to push her skirt down.

She didn't look back, but Izuku could see that she was shaking now.

_"She doesn't think I saw, did she!?" _Izuku turned around and looked in the opposite direction of the hall, trying to make it seem like he had his attention elsewhere at the time.

Despite that, he was still noticeably red and shaking.

He tried not to think about it, he really did, but he just never thought he would see someone wear something so... bold. It was a miracle that they were the only two students in the hall at the time, or it might've made things worse for Jiro.

The girl then spun in place to face Izuku's direction, although with her head down and shadows over her face.

_"Act cool Izuku, act cool!" _Izuku said, trying to keep calm.

Jiro then walked up right behind him and placed one hand on his shoulder.

"Deku..." She said in a threatening tone.

"EEP!" Izuku shivered as he felt her hand. He slowly turned his head to look back, "Wh-Wh-What is it-?"

He saw a menacing purple aura with a flash in her eyes.

_"SCARY!"_

"I-I saw nothing!" Izuku desperately shouted.

Hearing this, Jiro pushed him against the wall, keeping her right hand on his shoulder with her left leg against the wall on Izuku's other side to keep him from escaping.

The metal tips of her earphone-like earlobes dashed forward and stopped an inch from Izuku's eyes, shutting him up and making his skin crawl at the thought of getting punctured.

"I didn't even ask if you saw..."

Izuku turned black and white. _"Crap! I think I just dug my own grave!"_

"P-Please don't k-kill me." He whimpered, sweating intensely with his hands at his sides.

Jiro was silent for what felt like forever, almost as if she was planning what to do to the boy.

The first words that came out were unclear. "You… _*mumble*_ didn't you?"

"E-Eh?" Izuku uttered, not picking up on that.

Jiro was slightly shaking as she spoke, "Y-You... saw..."

Izuku gulped, turning his head away, "S-Saw what?"

"Don't try to play dumb! I know you saw it! I could hear it in your heartbeat!" Jiro shouted.

_"Jiro's earphone jacks are something to be feared!"_

Izuku felt a chill in his spine when Jiro's earlobes followed his face, still hovering over his eyes.

"W-Well... I... S-Sort of..." Izuku started, but couldn't finish.

Jiro's grip on his shoulder tightened and her earlobes started to shake. "I knew it... You saw it. The l-li-li-li-" She struggled to get the word out.

"L-Lingerie?" Izuku instinctively finished.

She punctured the wall next to his head.

_"EEK!" _He turned pale.

Izuku shut his eyes and desperately rambled, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to look! It was out of my control! I would've looked away if I could but I didn't know that was going to happen!"

Silence then overcame the two, the only movement being both Izuku and Jiro shaking.

Izuku just waited, fearing that if he said anything else, then it might literally come back to puncture him.

She then spoke.

"I-It's not what it looks like. I only wore this because... L-Look, I-I know that…" She tightened her grip again. "It doesn't suit me… I know that I'm not as... 'developed' or 's-sexy' like the other girls in the class... I-I just thought that…"

She got silent again.

"Wh-What? Y-You could tell me." Izuku tried to reassure her.

"Shut your mouth."

He flinched.

She then slightly raised her head to stare Izuku directly in the eyes, where the boy could finally see her adorably blushing cheeks and humiliated watery eyes.

"D-Don't you dare laugh, or..." Her earlobes shined in front of Izuku's eyes. "You're going to be blind for the rest of the day."

Izuku frantically nodded his head up and down.

Jiro then looked down again, shadowing her face again.

"I-I w-wore it... b-because I thought that... that I-I would help me feel more..."

She moved her head slightly closer, letting out one faint word.

"Attractive…"

"Eh?" Izuku momentarily lost all nervousness as he processed the reason.

_"What do I say? I have no idea what to do now, but I know that if I don't say or do the right thing, then I'll end up blind. Think... should I just... be honest?"_

Izuku's eyes glanced down at Jiro's figure, noticing her slender build and nice, short purple hair of hers. Her assets from her shirt were... modest, but in a way, it was rather appealing. Her skin looked rather smooth and with the way it turned in a clear shade of red from being embarrassed just made the girl look...

Adorable.

Izuku's head steamed.

_"What am I doing eyeing her and thinking like this!?" _He turned his head to the side and forced himself to look away.

Jiro noticed this and used both of her hands to grab each side of Izuku's face, forcing his head to stare at her face, despite herself being so ashamed.

"See!? I knew it! You're looking away! You're laughing aren't you!?"

Izuku saw her earlobes move, scaring him to just spouting out everything he had just debated to say.

He closed his eyes and shouted.

"No! I'm not laughing! You're just too cute to look at!"

The moment he finished his sentence Jiro's earphone earlobes stopped.

There were a few students in the hallway coming back from lunch now, with all of them hearing the boy shout that.

"Oh wow."

"A love confession!?" A girl exclaimed lovingly.

Jiro's earlobes retracted back to herself. She let go of Izuku and took two steps back.

Her face showed in the light to reveal her mouth completely agape and her eyes widened with disbelief, completely caught off guard by that.

"C-C-C-Cute!?" She squeaked, putting both of her hands on her cheeks with an adorably embarrassed expression.

Seeing that what he said had an effect on her, Izuku kept going.

"Th-There's not really anything to laugh at Jiro, I-I-I don't think that you have to wear that... 'thing' to be attractive. Y-You're cute without it."

Jiro felt her heart clench as her face steamed. Actually, more like erupted. She covered her face with both of her hands and dashed down the hall.

"Don't say stupid things like that!" she yelled as she left a trail of dust behind her.

_"SO FAST!"_ Everyone thought.

Izuku stared at where the girl went with a deadpanned expression.

_"What just happened?"_

The school bell then rung, making him realize something important.

A loud grumble in his stomach also helped to remind him.

He looked down with a depressing blue aura around him.

"I didn't eat lunch..." he whimpered.

* * *

"You did what now?"

Enso asked Momo in the classroom.

"Um, all the other representatives and the teachers have determined that you should be the one to give an opening speech at the festival." Momo said, although sounding slightly unsure.

"What could you have possibly been thinking for you to have chosen me?" Enso asked, eyes narrowing at the girl.

"Well, it wasn't exactly us. Izuku and I thought that you might not agree, but Nezu himself came in and said to appoint you to do it."

Enso's eyes twitched, "That rodent."

"Rodent?!" Momo repeated, actually surprised to hear him call their principal that way.

The loudspeaker suddenly went on.

_"Enso Ureshi, would you please come to my office?" _Nezu's voice rang.

The class sweatdropped.

"Y-You don't think he really heard him, do you?" Kaminari uttered nervously.

"To call me before class is right about the start, what an idiot." Enso sighed.

_"Why do I have the feeling that you said something bad about me just now?"_ The loudspeaker turned on once more.

"I think he definitely heard him!" Mineta cried out.

Enso stepped over to the door.

"Let's get this over with..." He said as he walked out of the room.

A moment after he left the room, Izuku came in, although hanging his head down with a comedic blue aura of depression.

"Hey Midori! How's it-? Whoa! What happened to you?" Mina asked him.

"You don't look so well, did something happen?" Momo asked in worry.

Nearly everyone heard a loud grumble come from the boy's stomach.

They were all momentarily silent.

Izuku then raised his head up with comedically big and watery eyes.

"I'm hungry..."

"You didn't eat!? I even took the papers for you." Momo said in confusion.

"Y-Yeah, I went to go eat. But then I had an..." He looked down again. "Encounter..."

Jiro in the back was the one to flinch this time as she turned red, burying her face in her arms.

"Midoriya!" Someone called out to him from the front.

Izuku weakly lifted his head and saw some familiar ginger hair by the door.

"Itsu-!?" He slammed his head on the desk to stop himself from saying her first name, surprising everyone around him. He raised it again and revealed a red mark on his head. "Kendo!?" he corrected, unfazed by the bump on his head.

_"He acted as if he didn't just do that!" _Everyone thought.

Kendo held something in her hands that was wrapped in aluminum foil. "I didn't see you at the cafeteria, did something happen?"

"N-Not really... I just took up more time than I thought I had..." The boy said rather sad. "Shouldn't you be in your class? The bell rung you know?"

"Yeah, but because I didn't see you in the cafeteria, I knew that you didn't even get yourself any food, so I got you something." Kendo said as the placed the object wrapped in the aluminum foil-wrapped on his desk.

"Eh?" Izuku quickly opened it up to find a burger steaming.

He then looked up at Kendo with closed, comedically waterfalling eyes.

"*sniff* Arigato!"

_"Oh boy..."_ The class sweatdropped.

* * *

Enso walked to the principal's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" He heard a cheerful voice on the other side.

He slid open the door and saw the principal sitting at his desk, drinking some tea as Enso came in.

"You have got to stop calling me to your office so many times. You do realize that it's class right now right?" Enso asked as he sat down on the chair across from him.

"Meh, you'll be back soon. More importantly! I'm sure you've heard the great news-!"

"I refuse."

"I didn't even finish!" Nezu laughed.

"You should've expected me to immediately reject the idea."

"I did expect it, but you don't have a choice now! We already decided!" Nezu chuckled.

"You're the principal, you can obviously do something."

"But I don't want to. This will be a good experience for you to give encouragement to the students."

Enso facepalmed and sighed, "What makes you assume that I could actually encourage them?"

"Just a feeling. You've always encouraged Midoriya to do his best after all." Nezu said.

"No, I just pointed out facts for him to know if he really wished to become the number one hero. He gave encouragement to himself."

"Then... perhaps you could do the same for the students?" Nezu tilted his head.

Hearing this, Enso removed his hand from his face and stared intensely at Nezu.

"You know that I'll say whatever I want to? Whatever I truly think?"

"I know that you'll say exactly what's on your mind, but that might be good here. Not all of the students were treated fairly in their eyes, maybe you could help reassure them?"

Enso stared at the principal almost with almost a confused look, then narrowing his eyes.

"Why do you have so much trust in me?"

"I don't know what you mean." Nezu said, leaning back in his chair.

"Despite hearing my past, despite knowing that there are many things in stake, you trust me with these types of events and treat it as if it's a game. Why?"

Nezu formed a serious look on his face as he leaned forward now, "Let's just say... this is for you to learn. To help you learn what type of person you wish to be."

"You can't be going back to saying that I should become a hero-?"

"This isn't about that." Nezu interrupted him. "Right now, I only wish for you to realize what you want to do."

"What I want to do?" Enso repeated.

Nezu nodded, "All you're focused on right now is to try and get some sort of clue as to who you are, but... what about after that?" Nezu asked, mixing his tea with a spoon.

"I suppose it all just depends on what I remember. I may remember what I've worked on before, what I wished to be, what I've been good at. Then I'll choose what to do from there."

"But what about the people you've met here? You believe that this isn't your world, so how long do you think you'll actually be staying here for?"

"Until I remember everything. I believe that by simply having more interactions with those my device detects is the key for me to remember who am I. So the longer I stay in this world with Izuku, the more I'll remember until I possibly remember everything."

"So after accomplishing this goal... you'll leave?"

Enso looked down, "Beings should not partake in worlds that aren't their own. I was forced to travel into other worlds to get a sense of who I was, it's the only thing I could do. If I can find out where I originally belong, then of course I'll go back there and stay. It's simply the right thing to do."

"I see... But what about Midoriya? Don't you think he's gotten somewhat attached to you by now?"

Enso looked out the window, "I haven't talked to him about this... but he'll just have to accept that I'll have to leave one day and stay on my own world. End of story."

"Hm, this conversation sure had jumped around." Nezu chuckled, then taking another sip of tea.

"So it has..." Enso sighed.

"Well, you came here to argue about giving the speech, but it seems that you know that you can't get out of it." Nezu laughed.

"I shouldn't even have bothered arguing from the start..." Enso stood up from his seat. "I'll just go back to class."

"Have fun." Nezu said, turning the back of his chair to the boy.

Enso stared at the back of the chair for a moment before leaving the classroom, marching down the hall as he wondered:

_"Just what is going on through that head of his?"_


	20. Scouting The Enemy

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

For the rest of the school day, Izuku could feel a pair of eyes trying to burn a hole through behind his head. Every time he looked behind him, sure enough, he would see the same person staring at him. Jiro would be giving him a somewhat embarrassed glare when he saw her, but the moment they would make eye contact, she would immediately turn away from him with a deeper blush.

Izuku sweatdropped, _"I can't tell if she's angry or just really, REALLY, embarrassed."_

_"..."_

_"Probably the second one."_

Izuku had seen Enso come back from the principal's office, but he noticed that he had a more serious aura around him for the rest of the school day. His head was constantly down deep in thought and he even paused a moment to answer a question from a teacher instead of answering immediately like he usually did.

_"Did something happen? It must've involved Nezu. What did he say to him?" _Izuku wondered, glancing back over his shoulder multiple times.

He glanced over his other shoulder and saw Jiro staring at him once again, who immediately turned her head away.

_"There are so many things I have to worry about today..." _Izuku sighed. So far, he had met with All Might and learned a little more about Ikari that he has to work on, he ran into Jiro and seemed to have made the girl angry, and now Enso was clearly not being himself despite looking like his usual self.

The school bell then rung to end the day.

"Alright! Freedom!" Their current last period teacher, Present Mic, shouted with his hands up as he rushed out the door.

_"He acts more of a high school student than us..."_ The class sweatdropped.

Everyone started standing up and packing away their bags, Izuku stretched his arms before and started to pack his bag before he heard some commotion from the entrance of the class.

"W-Whats going on!?" Ochako uttered out.

"Huh?" Izuku looked back to see over two dozen students right outside their class' doorway, blocking the path as well as eyeing the students rather curiously.

"What business do you have with Class A?" Iida asked, confronting the students with a karate-chopping gesture.

"We can't get out!" Mineta cried out.

Bakugo got his bag and flung it onto his shoulder, eyes narrowing with a rather serious expression as he walked up to the many students blocking the door.

"They're scouting the enemy, small fry. We're the ones who made it out of the villain's attack, so they probably wanna check us out before the sports festival." He was surprisingly calm as he spoke, understanding exactly why those students were there.

He stopped right in front of the crowd, growling right before shouting, "Out of my way extras!"

The crowd was rather taken aback by this, some even stepping back.

"Kacchan!? Too bold!" Izuku uttered as he appeared near him with his hands over his head, complete disbelief that he called out all those students in such a manner.

"Stop calling these people extras just because you don't know them!" Iida called him out.

"I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant." A sudden voice called them out within the crowd.

Many people turned their heads and made space for someone to walk to the front.

A somewhat tallboy with sticking out messy indigo hair came from the crowd of students. He had partly triangular purple eyes with dark bags underneath them, and had a somewhat similar cold look as Enso did, but more... tired.

He continued, "Are all students of the hero course like this?"

Izuku and his friends comically shook their head side to side to show that they weren't like him.

The boy sighed, "Seeing something like this makes me disappointed."

One person of the class spoke out, "It's disappointing to see your quick judgment."

Izuku turned and saw Enso going up to the group.

_"Please don't make it worse!"_ Nearly all of the class thought in worry.

Enso stopped next to Bakugo and in front of the indigo haired student.

"None of us are the same, don't go judging our class simply because of only one student."

The indigo haired boy raised an eyebrow, "Oh? You're not exactly giving us a good first impression yourself."

"I'm simply pointing out the facts, no two people are exactly the same. Every student in this school has a different quirk, each one has a different name, each one has different areas of skill. So it's not exactly fair for you to judge all of our class just because of one or a few people."

The tired teen stared at Enso for a silent moment, before rubbing the back of his head with his eyes looking away with a hint of irritation.

"Fine, I might've been quick to judge, but that doesn't change the problem in hand."

"What is that problem?" Enso asked as he crossed his arms.

The boy put his arm down and looked rather serious, "There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the hero course, because they _couldn't _make it into the course no matter how hard they tried. Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't." Enso immediately responded.

"Then that just means you're all weak small fry that aren't good enough to be in the hero course." Bakugo said to them.

The boy raised an eyebrow, "Not good enough? Do you even remember what was it that determined if people got into the hero course in the first place?"

Many people looked down as they recalled the entrance exam.

"Destroying robots... Could you really determine who's fit to be in the hero course by just that?"

He then glared at Bakugo.

"The school has left those of us a chance to finally prove our actual worth. Depending on our results of the sports festival, they'll consider out transfer into the hero course."

His eyes slightly narrowed.

"And it seems that they may also transfer people out."

Nearly all of Class A recoiled from this, the thought of being moved from the class being scary to them.

His eyes glanced at the rest of the class, "Scouting the enemy? I, at least, came to say it doesn't matter if you're in the hero course. If you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you."

He put a hand in his pocket.

"I came with a declaration of war."

_"This guy is really bold too!" _Most of the students thought.

Both groups stared at one another, some staring in fear of having their positions taken, others hoping that maybe they could come into the hero course, but then there was Bakugo and the indigo teen, who glared at each other.

"Hey, Hey, Hey!" A sudden voice shouted from the crowd once more.

_"Oh what now?!" _Izuku thought frantically.

Someone jumped up from the ground looking rather angry. He had messy gray hair and black eyes that appeared to be tilted dramatically inward. His eyes had thick, jagged, tan-colored substances around it which are presumably his eyelashes, and had sharp, jagged teeth just like Kirishima.

"I'm from Class B next door! I heard you guys fought against villains, so I came to hear about it! Don't get so full of yourself! If you bark so much, it'll be embarrassing for you in a real fight!"

_"What's with all of these bold people!?" _Izuku thought as he turned into black and white colors.

"Tetsutetsu! What are you saying!?" Another voice pushed through the crowd.

Izuku recognized the voice, _"Kendo?"_

Kendo managed to bring herself above the crowd and grab the boy named Tetsutetsu by the ear. "What are you saying to the other class? Don't tell me that Monoma has been infecting you with his stupid ideas?"

"I heard that!" An angry voice rang out in the distance.

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Ow, ow! Hey! That hurts Kendo!" Tetsutetsu said as Kendo started to drag him through the students, turning her head to Izuku.

"Sorry about him class A, he's a nice guy too. He just needs a bit of a talk. I'll see you guys at the festival!" Kendo waved awkwardly. But when her eyes came into contact with Izuku, she smiled at him. "See ya Midoriya." Then she left, dragging Tetsutetsu with her.

"Midoriya?" A student mumbled.

"The one who destroyed that robot with one punch?" Another mumbled.

Everyone's eyes turned to Izuku and people started whispering about him.

A vein of anger emerged on Bakugo, "Huh!? Deku! Why the hell are you making yourself seem like the strongest!? I'll kill you!"

"Hey Midori! You're popular!" Mina joked.

_"Why is my life like this?" _Izuku said with an expressionless face, his entire body turning black and white.

The indigo haired boy heard about enough commotion and turned around, ready to leave, but before he could-

"I understand."

"Hm?" He turned a part of his head back to who said that clear at him, Enso. "What?"

Enso stepped closer to the boy, remembering the conversation he just had with Nezu.

_"I know that you'll say exactly what's on your mind, but that might be good here. Not all of the students were treated fairly in their eyes, maybe you could help reassure them?"_

_"Is that rodent predicting future events unfolding? First that conversation right before the USJ incident, and now this... It may be his high intelligence, but it's still a wonder."_

He stopped arm's reach in front of the indigo teen, everyone stopping their muttering and paying attention.

"I understand why you may have a grudge, or at least feel competitive, against class A and the hero course. I understand why you wish to win against us specifically."

The indigo teen scoffed at him. "You're the strongest one here, aren't you? What makes you think you could understand the things that the other students actually struggle for, only to get sent away from the spotlight?"

Hearing the words, 'You're the strongest one here' Bakugo nearly shouted his brains out, but Kirishima paid attention to the mood and covered Bakugo's mouth, where he, Kaminari, and Sero all struggled to hold him back while listening.

Enso narrowed his eyes, "If I really don't understand, then tell me if this is wrong. You, along with all of these other students gathered here, have quirks that aren't fit for destroying robots at the exam, correct?"

The tired teen's eyes narrowed and he looked more serious than before.

"Well?" Enso asked again, 180'd to the crowd of students. "Do you?"

Many students looked down at nearly what looked like shame.

"I assume I'm correct?" Enso he turned back to Shinso.

The boy's pupils looked left and right from the students, then back to Enso.

"Well, no one disagreed. And I can't either so... Yes. You are."

Enso crossed his arms again and continued. "The entrance exam wasn't fair for everyone, I agree with all of you on that. It didn't show anyone's abilities other than strength or destructive power. There wasn't anything in the exam to test someone's intelligence, there wasn't anything to test quick thinking or reliability, but-"

He turned back to Izuku, who looked surprised.

"-the one thing they did test right, or at least paid attention to correctly, was a person's spirit of saving others."

He turned his head over his shoulder to look at the indigo teen.

"None of you could show off your true abilities of expertise because of the way the exam was set up. I'm sure that some of you deserve to be in the hero course, even if I haven't seen your abilities."

Enso held his fist to his chest. "So if you really think you deserve to be in the hero course, then prove it. Show everyone that you all aren't just some 'small fry' that are hoping to be in a place you aren't ready for. Do your best and use the festival to show where you belong."

There was a moment of silence among the ground, with some of them actually looking determined more.

Izuku smiled, _"He... He's actually encouraging them."_

"Enso telling everyone to do their best… telling them to prove themselves..." Kirishima said with comical tears, "That's so manly- ouch!" He was interrupted as Bakugo bit his hand.

"Would you guys let go of me now you bastards!?" He shouted.

"Such a vile person..." Sighed the tired teen. But then he actually formed a small smirk, turning to Enso. "You know... You're a much better person than I thought you would be, despite looking so... villain-like."

Class 1-A flinched, _"Is that really okay to say!?"_

"I get that sometimes." Enso responded, not fazed at all by the compliment also sounding slightly insulting. "Now, may I ask you something else?"

"What is it?"

"We've been talking, but I don't even know your name, care to enlighten me?"

The teen looked as if he actually considered whether to tell him his name or not, but he chuckled and responded.

"Shinso. Hitoshi Shinso."

"Well Shinso, I'm Enso Ureshi."

"I already know who you are. You've already made quite the impression among many people."

"I see... I hope I changed that impression though."

Enso stuck his hand out.

Many people had anticipation in their eyes, wondering if the two were going to shake hands and mark good terms among the classes.

Shinso turned away, "Sorry... We're not here to be friends."

_"He ruined the moment!" _Everyone shouted in their minds.

"But you can still be respected rivals to one another." Enso didn't hesitate.

Shinso raised an eyebrow, turning back.

_"Just a bit more, a little more." _Izuku hoped.

Shinso then chuckled, reaching as well.

And the two shook hands.

* * *

~{An Hour Later}~

"One, two, three. One, two, three, and spin." Enso called out, watching Izuku move around gracefully as some music played.

Izuku was following Enso's counting and danced to the beat at a fast paste. His feet moved with each said number and the moment Enso said 'spin', Izuku spun in place rather fast while balancing on one foot.

"Now, handstand."

Izuku stopped spinning and leaned forward despite being dizzy, then placing his hands on the ground and sticking both of his legs straight up in the air.

Enso walked over and examined his stance. Izuku was slightly shaking, most notably in his elbows as he struggled not to bend him, and there were small movements in his feet.

"Hm, not perfectly straight yet, but you're nearly there. You've greatly improved." He took a few steps back. "Now, consecutively swing your legs while coming towards me."

Izuku leaned his body forward and when he fell to the ground he rolled onto his back, then sticking his legs out and proceeding to helicopter his legs up while using his hands to shift his body to move towards Enso.

When Izuku got close enough, he used his hands to slightly push his body up while his leg swung right at Enso's face.

Enso lifted his hand up and caught Izuku's foot in it, feeling a mighty impact with it.

"Your swings are strong, good. If you keep on improving, you'll be able able to use dancing effectively at the sports festival."

He pushed Izuku's foot away and the boy twirled along the ground and managed to move upright while spinning, getting back to his feet in a crouching position.

He then noticed Izuku smiling rather cheerfully.

"Did something happen?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Izuku asked happily, stretching his legs. When he got up and turned to his left, he saw Enso's face right in front of his and looking rather menacing.

"What is it?"

_"EEP!"_ Izuku backed up and shivered. "I-It's nothing!"

Enso appeared in front of him again. "Tell me."

"Alright just stop getting close!" Izuku shouted rather scared.

Enso backed up and gave him some space.

Izuku panted from the scare he got, "W-Well, I'm just kind of looking forward to you actually speaking at the sports festival now."

Enso raised an eyebrow, "Why exactly?"

Izuku smiled at him, "Well, today when the other classes checked on us and Kacchan gave them a bad impression of us, you came in and knew exactly what to say. Now I think we're on good terms with those classes at least. So I hope you could do the same at the festival and encourage everyone while also putting out the fire that our class had caused recently from misunderstandings."

"Hmph, I simply pointed out the facts and negativities I've noticed of the school. The entrance exam wasn't well thought out and some quirks are reliable for heroes even if they aren't center around fighting villains or destroying things."

"But that didn't mean that you had to also encourage everyone." Izuku pointed out, smiling.

"Of course I had to encourage them. We may be able to find some actually strong allies."

"Huh?" Izuku's smile faded. "What... What do you mean by that?"

He crossed his arms.

"We'll need allies with a particular set of skills in order to help us out. We'll need people we can work with to obtain information, to obtain power-ups, to fight alongside us. We'll need all the help we can get."

"B-But... for what?" Izuku asked.

"Not yet... I shouldn't say yet."

"Then when!?" Izuku asked eagerly, although very worried.

"When you're strong enough to at least... Run or hold your ground."

"Eh?" Izuku shivered.

"End of discussion, we're moving on to you're training." Enso strictly said.

Izuku looked down, looking defeated. "Fine..."

Enso noticed his sad tone and sighed, "You'll hear soon... trust me."

_"I hope so..." _Izuku thought.

Enso turned around. "We've invested a rather good amount of time in your dancing and you're near a good enough level to use it in actual combat. So now, I think it's time for us to work on to another topic alongside it for you to learn."

Izuku perked up. _"I admit that learning dancing wasn't exactly something that I expected to receive, but I actually think that now it's helping me! I wonder what I'll next!"_

"You're going to learn how to sing now."

Izuku turned comically black and white in shock, sudden lightning from nowhere striking behind him.

"C-C-C-Come again?"

"You didn't hear me? I said you're going to learn to sing-"

"Why in the world would I need that!?" Izuku interrupted him. "You can't possibly be suggesting to sing in a battle to fight, are you!?"

"Not exactly." Enso said, turning back to him.

"B-B-But then- Why do I-? How-!?"

"Calm down, I don't see why you're freaking out from this."

"I-I-It's just that... Singing is not something I can do!" Izuku declared.

"Is your singing voice that bad?" Enso asked him.

"Yes! I mean no! I-I mean- I don't know! I've never sung before and thinking of singing in front of other people is making me shiver to my core! There's no way I-"

*Smack!*

Izuku blinked as a red hand mark was on his face now.

"Eh?"

"Stop freaking out. I'm not going to make you sing in front of a crowd."

Izuku rubbed his cheek, surprisingly calm and not even flinching in pain from the slap.

"Th-Then, why am I gonna learn to sing!?"

Enso sighed, "It's to strengthen your internal organs."

Izuku blinked, "My... internal organs?"

"Your lungs specifically. I'm taking a page out of Present Mic's book and try to have you use One For All in the form of creating sounds waves, or just shouting to be simple."

"I can do that!?" Izuku shouted with his eyes comically shooting out of his sockets.

"I've seen beasts with special abilities to let them roar with so much destructive force that the land around them crumbles. I wish to try something similar with you."

"You wanna make me destroy the ground!?"

"No, I don't think you would be able to do that no matter how hard I would make you try. I wish to have you project your voice in a precise area in front of you with enough force to either hurt villain's ears for a moment for you to strike, or to just muster enough force to send them back entirely."

Izuku raised a finger up, "B-But I could use Delaware Smash to do that! Can't I!?"

"Well, I suppose you can, but ever fighter should have a few secret tricks up their sleeve. What if someone holds you down or wraps something around you to keep your arms close?"

Izuku looked rather surprised, "Y-You really thought about this, haven't you?"

"Of course I did."

Izuku sighed but couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, figures... So I'm going to use singing to strengthen my vocal cords so that I could raise my voice?"

"Precisely."

"You know... If you were anyone else, I would've called you crazy for this idea."

"But I'm not anyone else. So let's go." Enso started to head to the door.

Izuku blinked in confusion, "Eh? Go? Go where!? I'm not going to practice here?!"

"If we were to have you sing here, there would no doubt be noise complaints from the nearby residence and they'll find out that this abandoned building is actually inhabited."

Izuku grabbed his bag and chased after Enso out the door.

"B-But then where are we going?" Izuku asked as he quickly walked down the stairs.

"Somewhere that's meant for you to be loud." Enso declared, the sunset shining at him and Izuku from just on the ocean.

* * *

~{A Few Minutes Later}~

They came upon a small building with signs starting to light up in neon colors due to the sky getting dark, indicating it being nighttime.

Izuku looked up at the doorway and read the rather bright and colorful sign.

**"Scream And Shout Karaoke Bar"**

Izuku had a blank look on his face as he blinked multiple times, staring up at the sign.

"Um-" He turned to Enso, "Don't tell me-?"

"This place has soundproof rooms, good-quality speakers, microphones, and even a few rather spacious rooms. They even serve meals such as Udon, Sushi, and other Japanese delicacies along with over a dozen drinks and different flavored Mochi to eat."

_"Why did you seem to describe the food the most?" _Izuku sweatdropped. _"Is food really the one thing he enjoys?"_

"Let's go." Enso said, walking forward into the Karaoke Bar.

Izuku followed him in and admired the place. They were in a small lobby that had red carpet floor, dim blue lamps, and purple leopard walls all around the place.

Enso went up to the receptionist counter desk.

"Yes? How may I help you?" The middle-aged, brown hair lady asked him.

Enso placed a wad of cash on the counter.

"One medium-sized room for two hours, two large drinks of boba, and a set of every type of sushi you have. Keep the change."

"What the hell is up with you're appetite!?" Izuku shouted behind him with bulging eyes.

"Bless your soul." The receptionist said as she took the wad of cash and gave him a key for a room. "It's all the way down the hall"

"W-Wait!" Izuku cried out.

The two turned to him.

Izuku fiddled with his fingers rather embarrassingly, "D-Do you guys have Katsudon?"

"Yes, we do! I'll bring you one on the house!" The receptionist said proudly.

"Th-Thank you very much!" Izuku bowed.

"I hope the food won't be disappointing." Enso said as he started down the hall.

"Don't worry! I'll make sure it's perfect!" The receptionist said, then running into a door behind her that led into a kitchen.

Izuku followed Enso eagerly all the way into their room.

When they went inside, Izuku noticed a change of color scheme compared to the lobby. The ground had gray carpet, soft-looking black couches against the wall, and just one long, see-through table in the very middle of the room. There were large lamp light over them and even an air conditioner too. In the back of the room was a small wooden stage that consisted of a big screen, a microphone stand, medium-sized speakers on the sides, and a soundbox.

"This place looks rather nice." Izuku remarked in awe.

"The food should be here in... a long time. So for now, let's get started." Enso walked to the soundbox and found a certain outlet in it, where he inserted his device onto it.

"What's that?" Izuku asked him curiously as he sat down on the comfy couch.

A small device with music I've been searching for you to sing."

The television turned on and showed a list of songs.

"Each song will have higher notes than the previous ones, as well as a few unique tones. You'll use these to constantly practice changing your voice and pace your breathing."

He tossed Izuku the microphone, which the boy caught easily.

"For now, I will be playing actual versions of each song, try focusing on remembering the rhythm and lyrics. Then you'll practice singing them in the instrumental versions."

Izuku raised his hand.

"What?" Enso asked him.

"Are these songs from previous worlds, or from here!" Izuku asked him eagerly.

"...You'll figure it out."

_"He didn't answer!"_ Izuku sweatdropped.

Enso pressed play on the first song and Izuku heard the sounds of electric guitars and drums.

He heard a few "OooOOOoooo's!" That went along with the beat and listened.

As the song went on Enso spoke, "Pay attention to the feeling that each word gives, pay attention to the sound of the tone."

After about 3 minutes and 55 seconds, the song faded away and left Izuku nervously shaking.

_"How am I supposed to match that!?"_

Enso picked the instrumental version, "Have you memorized it well?"

"I-I think so." Izuku uttered nervously.

Enso noticed his tense posture, "Take a few deep breaths, I don't want you stuttering throughout the song alright? Just let yourself get absorbed in it, try even closing your eyes, it may help."

Izuku listened and took a few deep breaths, actually seeming to help him calm down.

He stood up at Enso with a determined, yet slightly sweaty expression, gripping the microphone tightly.

"I'll... I'll do my best. I just need another moment."

* * *

~{Meanwhile}~

"W-Wait a second Ashido!" Jiro shouted to her current pink classmate holding her hand and pulling her down the sidewalk with a smile.

"Come on Jiro! It'll be fun!" Mina exclaimed with a toothy grin.

"Could you tell me where we're going!?" Jiro asked her.

Mina stopped and waved her hand and presented a building in front of her. "Right here!"

Jiro looked up and saw neon light signs.

**"Scream and Shout Karaoke Bar."**

"A karaoke bar!? You can't possibly be saying-!?"

"Of course! You had such a nice singing voice when I heard you earlier today! This place is amazing too! So come on, let's go!" She dragged her inside.

"Wait! Hold on!" Jiro said.

Mina went to the receptionist's desk and placed some money. "One room for an hour please!"

"Thank you, but I wish to let both of you know that if you make any orders of food, it will take a while for us to bring it to you because we have a rather large order currently coming."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind! Thank you!" Mina said as she received the key from the lady.

Mina pulled Jiro into second to last room, which had a similar-looking room as the people next door.

Jiro was pushed into a couch where Mina then jumped right next to her. "What should we start with?!" She asked excitingly.

"What makes you think I want to 'start'?!" Jiro shouted angrily.

"Ehhhh? But you came with me!" Mina said in fake sadness.

"You dragged me here!" Jiro retorted, earlobes visibly agitated.

Mina pouted, "Come on Jiro, at least sing one song? I'll sing with you if it makes you feel any better!"

"I said no!" Jiro said, shooting up from her seat.

Mina's cheeks puffed up and she had comedic tears going down her eyes, "How could you be so mean?... I just wanted to hang out together so we could be friends... *Sniff*!"

"That won't work on me! I've seen you do that before already!" Jiro pointed at her, not fazed at all.

Mina turned her face around for a moment, look or irritation on her face. _"Tsk! Dang it!"_

She shot up from her seat and grabbed the girl by her shoulders, shaking her back and forth with more needy eyes this time. "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Plea-!"

"Alright! Alright! Alright! Just stop shaking me!" Jiro shouted, her head feeling dizzy.

"Yippee!" Mina stuck her hands up in celebration.

"Just one song, alright?" Jiro said rather irritated.

"Sure! I'll buy you food too! Hope you like tempura!" Mina rushed to the phone by the door and started placing an order.

Jiro adjusted her now wrinkly U.A uniform as she glared over at Mina making the call.

_"Seriously, she just decided to drag me here after we conveniently saw each other at the mall." _Jiro thought as she took out her phone and started scrolling through her music.

_"What the hell was up with today? I literally got dragged against my will here, there were all those guys from the other classes basically checking us out, and during lunch I ran into Izuku and he-"_

She flinched and her cheeks warmed up as she remembered.

_"No! I'm not laughing! You're just too cute to look at!"_

She dropped her phone into her lap and placed her hands on her cheeks. Her eyes swirled and her mouth clamped closed in pure embarrassment

She started scratching her hair.

_"He said that without stuttering and his heartbeat was so fast! He really wasn't lying! But he still knows what I was wearing! What he goes telling everyone!?" _

Jiro stopped freaking out as she remembered Izuku's smiles and caring personality. _"No... He isn't like that... He's too nice."_

"Alright! So what do we start with?" Mina asked excitingly, but then she formed a look of surprise to see the girl red. "Huh? You aren't that embarrassed to sing are you?"

"N-No! It's just that- You know what!? You pick a song first!" Jiro shoved her toward the tiny stage.

"Yikes! Um, okay... Good to see you getting into it though!" Mina grinned, going to the soundbox and examing the list of songs.

Jiro leaned back and looked up, still red but taking deep breaths, _"Why am I getting so worked up over what he said? He did help make me feel a little better about myself though... But he could've just been being nice..."_

Jiro's earlobes then picked up a certain vibration in the distance, as well as faint words.

"This cruel fate, engraving-"

She leaned her head closer to the wall, trying to find the source of the words. _"Is someone singing next door? I wonder..."_

She stuck her earlobe into the wall, listening in full on the person singing next door.

"-hoping it reveals itself all to me and then I will know just where to go..."

"Alright! I think I picked something good for you!" Mina came back smiling.

Jiro didn't even seem to notice her presence and continued listening, puncturing her other earlobe on the same wall.

"What is it this time? You're not gonna get out of this-"

"Shh! I hear something." Jiro cut her off, listening clearer to the entirety of the room.

She heard an instrumental of guitars and drums, but she knew that it was clearly a person singing the vocals. He sounded familiar, but his voice also seemed to calm Jiro of her embarrassment, now entranced by it.

"Hey! Hey! What do you hear?" Mina pressed her head against the wall, "I can't hear anything! These walls are supposed to be soundproof!"

"Shut up! Let me listen!" Jiro snapped at her. She then closed her eyes and fully took in the voice.

She heard his voice get louder as the beat and music quickened.

"I hear a voice a' calling, telling me to risk it,

asking if I have been going the distance,

singing with a passion that I cannot denyyyyyy!"

"My eyes are swollen with the tears that I've been crying,

but to the rest of the world, ever-smiling,

singing for the courage that I'm dying to shoooooow!"

The drums suddenly rabidly beat before the lyric continued.

"With my peace sign up when I say goodbye,

write the story of a hero!~"

The electric guitars staring playing louder as the person momentarily went silent and waited.

Jiro unconsciously formed a smile as she listened, _"I've never heard this song before. Heh, and the guy's not half bad... He's good even. It's as if he's putting everything he's got into this."_

Mina just waited behind her with a pout.

Then Jiro heard the lyrics change.

"I didn't want to say that I protected you

and you were never weak, I'm number two.

You were stronger than I have ever been

and you mean more to me than you know..."

Jiro's smile slightly lowered, _"This sounds personal..."_

"I have changed myself since the day I yelled,

about how you go on by yourself,

so if you have to laugh, I should tell you that,

I'm afraid that I'm all alone..."

Jiro remained still as she listened to the rest of the song, making out what some of the lyrics could mean, while Mina fiddled with the controller for the soundbox.

This went all the way until Jiro heard the song end with the final lyrics:

"With my peace sign up when I say goodbye,

write a story of a hero!"

Jiro smiled as she turned to Mina. "Sorry about that, I just heard someone singing nice and... kind of wanted to hear it."

Mina couldn't help but feel annoyed that she had to wait in that silence, but she also couldn't' help but grin at what Jiro said.

"Oh wow, if you're the one saying that someone was singing nice, then they must be really good." She smirked.

Jiro turned red, "Wh-What's that supposed to mean!?"

Mina rushed over to her, "Don't stop listening! Listen to who's there now! See if you could learn anything!"

"But... isn't that a violation of privacy?!" Jiro uttered.

Mina deadpanned. "And what were you just doing just now?"

_"Urk!" _She turned away, in defeat. "Fair enough..." She plugged her earlobes back into the wall and listened.

* * *

Izuku let out a breath of relief and even smiled the moment he finished the song, then opening his eyes.

"How did I do- What's with that expression!?" Izuku cut himself off as he saw Ens with a look of shock on his face, one that he's ever hardly seen.

Enso stood up and looked down, walking towards Izuku silently.

"Wh-What is it?" Izuku uttered nervously.

The mentor grabbed Izuku by the shoulder and pushed him against the wall, then looking up with a very serious expression.

Izuku started to sweat nervously. _"Did I do something wrong!?"_

"Did you lie to me?" Enso asked in a serious tone.

"L-Lie about what!?"

"You've claimed that you've never sung before, yet your voice was shining and managed to perfectly match the rhythm and feeling of that song."

"I-I-I swear! I've never done this before! Honest!" Izuku frantically spoke.

Enso let go of him and back up, "Hm, you're clearly not lying, but to think you had a naturally nice singing voice. People are really surprising..."

"Th-Thank you?" Izuku stammered.

"So now I suppose we test out more songs for you. You ready Izuku?"

On the other side of the wall, Jiro completely freaked out, jumping away from the wall.

"D-D-Deku!?" She exclaimed out loud, turning immediately red.

Mina's eyes widened but her eyes sparkled. "No way! That was Midori who was singing 'nice' as you said!? Let's go over there and check him out!" She got up and started to pull Jiro."

"Mina! Wait! Please!" Jiro desperately tried to pull her arm back, but couldn't match Mina's physical strength. Her mind just kept frantically thinking about her earlier encounter with Izuku and how awkward it would be to face him now.

Enso was looking through the list of songs.

"You seem much rather ahead than I thought you would be in terms of controlling your notes and tones, perhaps you could learn how to apply One For All into your lungs much sooner than I thought you would."

Suddenly they both heard a rather rapid knock on their door.

Enso immediately appeared at the door. "Is that already our food? To think they would finish it quickly."

_"Why'd he move so fast!? Is he looking that forward to the food!?"_

Enso opened the door only to see a familiar pink girl with a rather angry and blushing punk girl.

"Enso?! You're here too?" Mina exclaimed excitingly. She then looked past him and saw Izuku sitting on the couch.

"M-Mina!? J-Jiro!?"Izuku cried out, shooting up from his seat.

Enso's eyes twitched, "Why... and how are you here?"

Mina let herself in, still holding a nervous Jiro behind her. "Heya guys! Jiro heard Midori sing from the other room and really liked it! She smiled a lot!"

Jiro suddenly gripped onto Mina's shoulder and her earlobes sparkled threateningly.

"Ashido... I was trying to be nice. But I think I have to shut you up." Jiro glared.

Mina shivered and let her go, rushing behind Izuku. "Midori! Save me!" She comically shouted.

"U-Um-!" Izuku looked at Jiro and the moment their eyes met, both remembered lunchtime and poofed in red.

Enso crossed his arms and his eyes shined red in a threatening glare, the room even diming to a red color for a moment.

"What are you both doing here?" He asked.

The three of them shivered and backed up, _"Scary!"_

Mina tried to keep her cool, "H-Hey you don't have to be so mean you know? Aren't you glad that two cute girls came to talk with you guys?"

"No"

"So blunt!" Mina shouted with bulging eyes.

She turned to Izuku, "Midori, do you think we're cute?!" she asked with puppy dog eyes as she pulled Jiro next her, who cried out "Eh?" in surprise.

Izuku turned red and turned away from them in embarrassment, "Y-Yeah… You're both really c-c-cute…" he managed to say.

Jiro turned into an even deeper shade of red and looked away like Izuku, _"Again with the cute!?"_

Mina formed a toothy grin, "Aren't you just the sweetest Midori" She teased.

A hand then grabbed her head.

"Eh?" Mina uttered, pupils trying to look up.

Enso had her head around his palm and gripped tightly onto it, holding her up. "You never answered my question." He said coldly.

"Owowowow! It's gonna come off! It's gonna come off! Save me!" Mina shouted comically as her legs dangled in the air and hands struggled to pry Enso's hand off her head.

Izuku and Jiro both turned blue in shock, backing up.

"Tell me... please?" Enso said, eyes flashing.

_"He's saying please while holding her up like that!?"_

"Okay! Okay!" Mina desperately shouted.

Enso released her and she landed with a thud on the ground, her head steaming up from pain. "Ow... Ow..."

She stood up, "How could you do that to a girl?!"

Enso reached for her head again.

"Wait! Jiro and I were just conveniently here to have fun until she somehow heard Izuku singing in the other room! So of course we came to say hi to him!" Mina quickly spoke, backing up from Enso.

"So in other words, neither of you have a _real_ reason for being here." Enso said.

Mina rubbed her head, looking rather ticked off now. "Oh come on! We're friends and classmates you know!?"

"E-Enso, be nice. Please." Izuku said.

Enso was quiet before turning away, "Tsk..."

"Excuse me?"

They all turned to the doorway and saw the receptionist lady with a serving tray full of large amounts of food.

_"So much food!_" Mina and Jiro thought.

"Here is your order. But why are others in the same room?" The lady asked curiously.

"Th-They're friends!" Izuku answered.

"Oh! Then I'll bring their meals here later as well!" The woman said as she pushed the tray in. "Enjoy!" She then left the room.

"Good grief..." Enso said as he sat down and examined the trays of food.

Mina and Jiro both stared curiously at the food.

Izuku whispered something into Enso's ear, his eye twitched and he sighed.

"Fine..."

Mina and Jiro looked confused.

Izuku smiled at them.

"Wanna eat?"

* * *

~{A Few Minutes Later}~

"Hold on a moment, so you're telling me that Izuku wanted to have a fighting trick up his sleeve, so you told him to learn how to control his voice by singing so he could scream kinda like Present Mic?" Jiro asked with a somewhat unconvinced look. She placed a roll of sushi into her mouth.

Enso swallowed a roll as well, "Yes, but he wants to it be a reliable attack, so he wishes to attempt to focus the power of his quirk into his lungs and vocal cord to actually scream rather effectively as an attack."

"In his lungs? But what if he uses a lot of power?"

"Then obviously, like his arms and fingers, his lungs will literally. explode."

A mental image of two balloons popping occurred.

"Explode!?" Jiro, Mina, and even Izuku shouted as they turned in black and white colors.

"Wait, why are you surprised!?" Mina asked Izuku, regaining her color back.

"I didn't know about this either! Enso, you could've told me!" Izuku said.

"Well, you wanted to get stronger. It'll only happen if you use all your power or above your limit into your lungs. So just don't be an idiot and you'll live." Enso said as he dipped another roll of sushi in soy sauce.

Izuku hugged himself and started shivering nervously, "T-T-To think that my lungs could e-explode..."

"Well, you heard him. Just don't be stupid and you'll be fine." Jiro nudged him, taking a sip of her drink.

"But I'm curious, Ureshi-" Mina started.

"Just Enso."

"Enso, why are you teaching Midori this anyway?"

Izuku nearly choked on his drink.

"Simple, he wanted me to help him get stronger, so I am. Easy as that."

"Aw, what a nice friend." Mina smiled.

"Okay, I know that you're really strong and all, but do you really think you could make Deku's voice as strong as Mic's? Mic's quirk literally is screaming." Jiro pointed out.

Enso placed his plate of food down, "Of course not. There will be no way for Izuku's voice to scream even closer to Present Mic's high frequency, but I'm aiming for something different. I'm trying to help Izuku have a scream that's focused in a specific direction that would be strong enough to at least move people back and maybe even break certain objects."

"Ooo! Cool! What gave you the idea to suggest that to Midori in the first place? Because of Present Mic?" Mina asked curiously.

Enso glanced up, "I actually got the idea from Jiro."

"Me?" Jiro looked surprised.

"Yes, I've seen the way you've used your quirk to plug your earlobes into objects and use the vibrations to shatter them apart. So I figured Izuku may be able to do something similar, but clearly different, with his own quirk." Enso took a sip of Boba.

Izuku smiled, turning to Jiro. "I guess Enso saw you as good inspiration."

Jiro felt herself getting flustered and turned away from him.

"Which remind me, Jiro, do you play musical instruments?" Enso asked what felt to be out of nowhere.

Jiro looked rather surprised, turning to him, "Wh-Where is this coming from?"

"Please answer." Enso said.

Mina and Izuku looked rather curious.

"Well, yeah... I do know how to play a few…" Jiro said rather embarrassingly, twirling her earlobe and looking away.

"Which ones?"

"W-Well… I think I do the best at the guitar. Can I ask why it's important?" Jiro asked him.

Enso looked up and began to brainstorm ideas, and Izuku could swear that several different math equations were flying in the air.

He then gazed back to Jiro.

"Could it be possible for you to teach Izuku how to play the guitar?"

"Huh!?" Izuku and Jiro both uttered out in surprise.

"You don't have to do it now, but in the future." Enso reassured.

"That's not the problem! Why me!? Why can't you do it!?" Jiro asked him.

"Because I don't play the guitar." Enso responded.

"Urk!"

"I don't see whats the problem."

"Yeah Jiro! You should teach him! Then you could both play _and_ sing at the same time!" Mina said excitingly.

Izuku perked his head to Jiro, "Y-You sing?"

Jiro turned away from him, "A little..." she said as she twirled her earlobe again.

"U-Um..." Izuku looked down and fiddled his fingers. "I-I-I actually would like to learn how to p-play an instrument... from you..."

"Eh?" Jiro blinked.

Mina came behind her and grinned, "Come on Jiro! Midori is begging you to teach him! You can't refuse!"

_"I'm not really begging..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

Jiro thought about for a few moments, putting on a serious expression as she looked from Izuku, to Enso, and then back to Izuku.

She stood up from her seat and looked down at Enso, "What do I get out of this?"

Mina pouted, "Come on Jiro, don't be-"

"I'll buy you a guitar of your choice."

"Deal." Jiro shook his hand with a grin.

Izuku and Mina sweatdropped.

"Isn't a guitar a bit too much?" Mina asked awkwardly.

"Not for me." Enso responded.

Izuku facepalmed with a sigh, _"What is he? Rich? He must still be relying on gambling for money..."_

Jiro turned to Izuku with a grin, "If you're gonna be learning from me, I won't let you back out of it!"

Seeing her suddenly pumped up, Izuku smiled. "I look forward to working with you in the future."

_"This is so weird..." _Mina thought as she awkwardly slurped her drink from a straw.

"Now..." Enso stood up. "Not to be rude, but may you two leave now? I wish to continue Izuku's lessons in singing and having others here will interfere with that."

"Wow, you're like his personal teacher!" Mina said.

Izuku flinched.

Jiro went over to Mina, "Come on Ashido, let's go. We got our food and we don't want to leave our rented room empty." She grabbed her friend and was actually the one to pull her outside.

"Aw, pooey... I wanted to here Midori sing again!" Mina pouted as she went out with Jiro.

"J-Jiro! One moment!" Izuku got up and followed them to the door.

Jiro raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

Izuku formed a red color in his cheeks, "U-Um, sorry about... earlier today..."

Jiro didn't even have to think to figure out what he was talking about, blushing madly in an instant.

"Nani? Nani? What happened?" Mina asked, head frantically looking from Izuku to Jiro.

Jiro dashed down away, "Why'd you bring that up you idiot!?"

"Wait! Jiro! Tell me what happened!" Mina ran after her.

Izuku had a blank look on his face.

"You need to learn to speak to girls better." Enso shook his head side to side from his seat.

Izuku looked down with a comedic blue aura.

"Yes sir..."


	21. The Sports Festival Begins

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

_"I know that being a class representative would be tough and all, but to think they're making all of us come to school at 6 in the morning... They didn't even make the vice representatives come either, just us." _Kendo thought tiredly with a loud yawn.

Kendo, along with all of the other class representatives, sat in a classroom that they usually work in. The sun was just starting to come up outside of the school, making many people narrowing their eyes.

Aizawa was in front of the class, looking tired and somewhat worn out as if he had just gotten out of bed because of getting up so early in the morning.

Actually, that's how he always looked, regardless of when he got up.

All the other students in the class were struggling to stay awake, bags under their droopy eyes, and heads starting to doze off so sleepily that someone's head even fell to the desk before immediately waking up from the impact.

Aizawa was going over a variety of things on the board when he saw the kid slam his head.

"I know it feels too early for most of you, but try and get used to it. You guys should've known what you were getting yourselves into becoming the class reps, it's a huge responsibility after all. Especially with the sports festival coming up, you won't catch a break."

Aizawa glanced around at all the tired students, struggling to stay awake and write down future plans and events that they would have to help organize.

*scribble* *scribble* *scribble*

"Hm?" He heard someone writing rather energetically.

Kendo heard it too and turned to the left to see Izuku madly scribbling down away next to her, eyes wide awake and muttering a storm about everything Aizawa was telling them.

"Midoriya, you're mumbling again." Aizawa said, tossing an eraser at his head.

Izuku raised his left hand and caught the eraser right in front of his face, still muttering away as he scribbled.

_"What the hell is up with this kid?"_ All the other students in the classroom thought.

A view of irritation emerged on Aizawa's head, and his eyes flashed red, his hair also floating up.

Detecting his aura, Izuku flinched and dropped the eraser from his hand, looking up at his teacher.

"Stop muttering."

"S-Sorry Sensei!"

Aizawa's eyes and hair turned back to normal as he sighed, "At least you're wide awake..."

He glanced at the rest of the class and put his marker down. "I think that's enough for today. Mark these events on your calendar and go do what you want right now. There's still plenty of time before class starts after all." With that, Aizawa zipped himself into his yellow sleeping bag and rolled on the floor outside the classroom.

Many people sleepily stood up and put their things in their bags, desperate to get to their classes and possibly catch up on sleep.

Izuku got up and quickly put away his things, feeling slightly flustered for once again muttering without noticing.

"Hey... *yawn* Midoriya..."

Izuku turned left and saw Kendo standing up and fumbling to pack her things up while sleep deprived.

"You alright, Itsu-*ahem*! K-Kendo?" Izuku corrected himself.

Kendo rubbed her eyes, "If _I'm_ alright? I should be asking you how _you're _so alright and awake so early in the morning?"

Izuku looked slightly embarrassed, "W-Well... I-I honestly get up around this time nearly every day for my own training."

"Really? Quite the schedule you got there... I usually train afterschool." Kendo chuckled.

"You train?" Izuku asked, his interest peaking.

"Yeah, I train in Karate and Kendo." She proudly stated.

Izuku let out a chuckle, "I get it! Because your name is Kendo, so it would make sense that you would fight and learn... in..." His voice trailed off as he saw Kendo pouting angrily at him, her tired eyes making her look as if she was glaring.

"Monoma's made that joke too many times. I would prefer it if you didn't act like him."

Izuku remembered seeing Kendo karate chop the back of the class-1B troublemaker's neck several times, making him look down nervously.

"I-I'm sorry..." he meekly let out.

Kendo smiled, "All good. But you hungry? I didn't get to eat this morning because of how early we had to come. The cafeteria should actually be open right now."

"I-I guess I'm a little hungry." Izuku said, forming a small smile.

"Great! Let's go!" Kendo said, leading the way for him.

The two went down the stairs and into the cafeteria, where it was basically empty other than a few different class representatives going to eat as well.

"Good morning kids, here to eat early I see!" Lunch Rush energetically waved. "I do serve breakfast too, let me whip you something special right up! Just sit down anywhere, and I'll be right with you!"

"Th-Thank you, Lunch Rush." Izuku answered.

"Anything for friends of Enso-Kun!"

Izuku turned black and white with a blank face, "Enso... Kun?"

Before Izuku could even ask Lunch Rush about that name, the cooking hero already rushed into the kitchen.

"Sounds like someone has a friend." Kendo joked.

"I-I never expected anyone to call Enso by that sort of name..." Izuku said in disbelief.

"Doesn't he tell everyone to call him by his first name, though?"

Izuku turned to her, "Yeah, who told you that?"

"Yaoyorozu did, says that he's the 'strongest' of your class or something like that?"

"Y-Yeah. For now, let's find a place to sit-"

"I'm back!" Lunch Rush proudly came back out with two trays.

"FAST!" Izuku thought with a face of shock and awe.

* * *

~{A Few Minutes Later}~

Izuku and Kendo sat across from one another, looking at their perfect tray of breakfast right in front of them. It consisted of many things such as perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, and even fluffy pancakes with a design of the 'U.A' logo on it.

"L-Lunch Rush really is amazing!" Izuku said with bulging eyes.

Kendo laughed, "He sure is." She took some of her eggs into her mouth and smiled in delight.

Izuku smiled as well as he poured syrup on his pancakes.

"*Yawn!*."

He looked back up at Kendo, "Still sleepy?"

"Mmm, yeah, just a bit. I ended up watching something late last night, so I didn't get enough sleep... I should hopefully completely wake up by the time school starts, though."

She put a piece of bacon into her mouth as Izuku then asked her, "Hey Itsuka? You mentioned before that you did Karate and... well, Kendo, right?"

Hearing Izuku call her by her first name, she couldn't help but nearly laugh, but decided just to let it go for someone so innocent, "Yeah, are you gonna say what type of training you do? I'm gonna assume that's it's building up your muscles?"

"Actually, I do martial arts too!" Izuku said proudly.

Kendo looked rather excited, eyes looking as if they had woken up for a moment. "You do?! What kind?"

Izuku actually didn't expect to see her get that excited and backed down meekly in his chair, "W-Well, I-I've been learning things from a variety of martial arts... Judo, wrestling, boxing, capoeira, a-a few more..."

Kendo slightly rose from her seat, grinning, "No way! You've been learning all of that and _more_?"

Izuku nervously scratched his chin, "I-I mean, I still have a lot to learn, because even though I'm learning things from all of them, I'm not really entirely 'investing' my time to thoroughly learn each one fully. I had only started about a year ago, so learning _everything_ is still going to take a long time for me, for now, I've just been learning some more than just the basics from each different martial art."

"That's still great! Offers such a larger variety of ways to fight." Kendo said, leaning back into her seat rather impressed. "Although... I've heard about most of them, but what's capoeira?"

Izuku flinched and lightly blushed, "U-U-Um... I-It's uh, actually a-about... d-d-*mumble*..."

Kendo tilted her head, curiously, "Sorry, couldn't hear that."

"D-D... Dancing..." Izuku said, fiddling his fingers and looking down.

The ginger girl was quite surprised, "Wait... a martial art in dancing? I've never heard about that before."

Izuku nervously rose his eyes up to her, his hands interlocked, "I-It's not really known around here... I-It originated in Africa. The funny thing is that there isn't really any stances, it focuses more on being able to perform acrobatic moves and complex maneuvers."

Kendo was intrigued, taking a sip of orange juice as she listened, then speaking. "I kind of wanna see it. I'm really interested."

"Y-You could see it at the sports festival. I'm sure that I'm definitely going to have to use it. I am still practicing a bit with it, but I'm sure I'll be really good with it by the time the festival starts."

Kendo smiled, "You could show me when you fight against me there." She claimed, proudly pulling her sleeve down and flexing her arm.

"Eh?" Izuku stopped being nervous.

"I told my class what you said, although in my own words. But now many of them are much more pumped up than before about the festival. That includes me. So you want me to show my best too? Then I'll show you my best." She boldly declared.

Izuku smiled in a dignified manner, holding his fist up to her. "So will I."

Kendo gave him a toothy grin and fist-bumped him, "Of course you are, you're the one that gave me that whole speech. If you weren't gonna do your best, then I'd knock you on the head!"

_"I don't doubt it..." _Izuku nervously chuckled.

The two were nearly finished with their breakfast now, but Izuku started to notice Kendo beginning to doze off the moment they weren't talking about anything.

_"She must be struggling to stay awake..."_ Izuku stood up and smile, "I'm done now. You want to head back to our classes? They're right next to each other after all."

"Hm?" Kendo slowly looked up, processing his question but smiling cheerfully. "Sure..."

Izuku took her plates, "I'll take these, just give me a moment."

"Sure... You do that..." Kendo rubbed her eyes.

The emerald-eyed teen hurriedly took the dishes to the drop off zone, receiving a thumbs-up by Lunch Rush. "Go get her kid!"

_"Go... get her?" _Izuku wondered in confusion as he hurried back.

But as hot got back to the table, he found Kendo with her head on her arms, peacefully snoozing away.

_"She's already asleep!?" _

Izuku awkwardly stood next to her, wondering what he should do.

"U-Um... Itsuka?" He gently nudged her.

"Zzzzzzzz..." She was slightly drooling.

"W-We should get you back to class, and then you could sleep." Izuku said slightly louder, even nervously poking her face.

"Zzzzzz..."

_"Oh boy, she's out of it... What do I do now?!" _Izuku frantically wondered.

He glanced around the area where the other reps had gone back to class, while also the few kitchen staff in the kitchen helping clean stuff up for more dishes to be made later.

"I-I mean... I-I already picked up M-Mina s-so..." He nervously grabbed her arms and started to tug on her, but he stopped almost immediately and turned red.

_"I-I can't do this! What if she wakes up and thinks I'm doing something bad!? What if someone else sees me!?"_ Izuku glanced up to the clock and saw that there was still plenty of time before class. _"B-But I can't j-just leave her here..."_

He grabbed Kendo by each of the shoulders and started to shake her, "I-Itsuka! Wake up! We have to go to class!"

She didn't even wince, she just smiled peacefully in her sleep.

Izuku gave up.

"I-I have to take her back... Th-There aren't many people around, m-maybe I could just bring her back quick."

Izuku carefully used his right arm to reach underneath Kendo's knees and the other on her back, then lifting her up bridal style.

But even before he took one step, he felt some movement, making him freeze with a feeling of dread and agape mouth.

His eyes looked down to find that Kendo was still sleeping, but she snuggled her head onto his shoulder with a happy smile.

Izuku could feel his body heat rising.

_"I have to go now!"_

He didn't run, but he took quick steps out of the cafeteria.

Lunch Rush peeked at him from the kitchen door, _"So pure..."_

Izuku constantly checked each level he came upon going up the stairs, head nearly snapping as he repeatedly looked left and right to see if the coast was clear.

He tip-toed up all the way up to his class' floor, seeing the coast was clear and letting out a breath of relief.

He hurried into the hall and smiled, _"Phew, I'm glad it's so early, and no one is here yet. Imagine I ran into-"_

As if life cursed him, the door of his class opened, and two people walked out.

Momo and Jiro.

Izuku turned completely blank and white with his eyes even losing his pupils in the shock, comedic lightning striking behind him from nowhere.

_"Why are they here so early?!"_

The two girls seemed to be engaged in a conversation before catching sight of Izuku, stopping on the spot the moment they saw him.

They blinked.

He blinked, turning red as he did.

"I-I-" Izuku uttered, loss of words and feeling his dread build up.

"Deku?..." Jiro glanced down at Kendo in his arms.

"Why... Why do you have Kendo in your arms?" Momo asked, still in shock.

"Y-You see-!" Izuku tried to speak, but Jiro cut him off.

"You weren't going to do something weird to her, were you!?" Jiro snapped, turning red as well with her earlobes rising up and the metal tips flashing.

"N-N-No! I-" Izuku could feel himself shaking.

Momo sighed, patting Jiro on the shoulder. "Izuku would never do something like that... I don't even think he would be able to."

_"Why do I feel like she just insulted me."_

"B-But... Then why are you carrying her? And why in that way!?" Jiro asked, noticing the bridal style carry.

"H-How else was I supposed to carry her!? A-And the only reason I'm carrying her is that she wouldn't wake up when I tried! And I couldn't just leave her sitting by herself!"

"I see, so you were just being considerate of her and bringing her to class."

"Y-Yes..." Izuku nodded.

Jiro and Momo glimpsed at Kendo, who breathed softly leaning against Izuku.

"Well, for now, just bring her back to her class. There shouldn't be any people in class B right now." Momo told him.

"I-I'll do that now-"

"Hmm... Mmm?"

The three glanced at Kendo, whose head started moving slightly.

She opened her mouth and let out a yawn, then using a hand to rub her eyes.

Izuku started sweating nervously.

Kendo slightly opened her eyes and noticed that she wasn't sitting down again, head-turning to the left.

"Y... Yaoyorozu? What are you doing here?" She asked, not even taking notice of the position she was in.

Momo smiled, "Midoriya was just bringing you back to class."

"Midoriya?" Kendo turned left and glanced up, only to see Izuku's face just above hers.

"H-H-Hi!" Izuku stammered.

"Eh?" Kendo took a moment to process what was happening, turning her head from the girls, then back to Izuku.

"Um..." She lightly blushed, "Could you put me down?"

Izuku flinched, "Y-Yes!"

He gently placed her to the ground.

Kendo brushed off her skirt and smiled, "I'm guessing you couldn't wake me up and had to carry me back to class? I'm kind of a heavy sleeper, and I usually wake up on my own. Sorry about making you do that."

_"She's really understanding! I'm so happy!" _Izuku thought with comedic crying eyes.

"What the hell is with that face you're making?" Jiro sweatdropped.

Kendo stretched her arms, "That small nap seemed to help a bit, at least. Well, I'll see you guys later!" She walked rather fast to her classroom and slid the door shut behind her.

Izuku let out a breath of relief with his arms and head down, _"I got really lucky things didn't go south..."_

In class 1-B's classroom, the instant Kendo had closed the door, she placed her back on it with her head looking down.

She started shaking.

She covered her mouth with her hand, and a large blush formed along with completely wide-awake eyes.

_"H-He carried me! He carried me! I can't believe I fell asleep and he had to carry me! That's so embarrassing!"_

She clenched her hand to her chest, nervously, _"This is the first time a boy had to carry me... and in 'that' way out of everything!"_

She turned back to the door and cracked it open just enough to peek through it. She saw Izuku explaining to Momo and Jiro what had happened that led to him carrying her, flailing his arms in embarrassment as he told them.

She recalled the toned feeling of his arms, staring at his arms covered by his uniform.

_"He... He didn't get into U.A for nothing." _She clenched her heart,_ "And getting carried... wasn't really that bad..."_

She closely stared at Izuku's plain, yet somewhat cute face, a face that anyone could tell someone is of pure innocence.

Kendo used a finger to start twirling her hair, _"Now that I actually look at him, he looks... kind of adorable, especially when he gets so embarrassed like that."_

"I can't believe a student from the other class is bringing out such a side to you..." Someone said in a somewhat disappointed tone behind her.

"KYAH!" Caught completely off guard, Kendo turned around with her fist enlarge and punched the person behind her, sending him to the wall and crashing through some desks. She blinked and found Monoma lying on the floor, face to the ground with a small amount of blood from the back of his head.

"Monoma! I'm so sorry! You were in here!?" Kendo rushed over to him and crouched down.

Monoma simply turned his head and formed a smug grin, blood comically spurting like a fountain from his head.

"I didn't think you actually a cute side."

He got punched again.

* * *

~{Afterschool That Day}~

He cartwheeled over a swinging leg that attempted to sweep him off his feet.

He then jumped, spinning majestically in the air and avoiding three speeding dodgeballs thrown at him.

Upon landing, he shuffled his feet and twirled to add momentum before swinging his leg to perform a final high kick towards someone's head.

His opponent raised his forearm up and blocked the high kick right before it could slam into the side of his head, the impact of the kick echoing in the dojo where the two males training then remained still.

Izuku had his leg positioned up high, panting hard and sweating as he kept his gaze focused on Enso. His white t-shirt was soaking in sweat, and his high leg was slightly shaking after fighting for so long.

Enso was the one who blocked Izuku's high kick, breathing steady and wearing sweat pants along with a pure black t-shirt, but still wearing his dress shoes for some odd reason. Both of them were back within the dojo once more, having another session of training to prepare for the upcoming festival just a few days away.

"Hm, your dancing skills are becoming near-flawless now." Enso praised.

Izuku grinned, "Thanks." He then pulled his leg back and spun to a lower level, sweeping his leg onto the ground at Enso's feet.

Enso simply jumped up rather high and landed several yards away from him in a crouching position.

"I think that's enough for today. You've clearly had a good grasp on breakdancing and capoeira. Using it against someone in the festival will no doubt catch him or her off guard by your movements."

Izuku let out a breath of exhaustion and used his arm to wipe the sweat off his head. _"But it won't catch Enso off guard..."_

Enso started stretching his arms, "Have you been practicing what I told you about?"

"*Pant* Huh?" Izuku looked over to him, looking confused by what he meant.

"Have you been practicing to sing and scream to strengthen your vocal cords?"

"Oh!" Izuku shyly smiled, "W-Well... I-I have. I've been going back to that karaoke bar you showed me before... The receptionist lady lets me use the rooms without paying sometimes, she thinks I'm training to become a singer..." He sweatdropped with a blush.

"But, how do you think your vocal cords are doing?" Enso asked him.

"Well, in terms if will they be strong to handle One For All... Th-They're actually able to handle a small amount of its power."

"I see- Hold on." Enso cut himself off as he realized something. He marched over to Izuku and grabbed him by the head, eyes flashing red. "What do you mean by, 'They're able to handle a small amount of power'?"

Izuku started to sweat nervously rather than exhaustion now, his pupils rolled to the side to avoid eye contact. "I-I-I-I might've... tried to charge some power a-already by myself..."

Enso tightened his grip around his head, pulling him in slightly closer. "Charged power where?"

Izuku started comedically water falling sweat, "M-My lungs... a-and vocal cords..."

The grip tightened.

"Owowowowow! You're gonna crush my head!" Izuku shouted.

Enso released his grip, to which Izuku fell to the ground clutching his head.

"You tried doing that without me and even without All Might. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? What if you blew up your lungs?"

Izuku looked up with comedic tears from pain on his head, standing back up. "I-I was really careful! More than careful! I wanted to use as much time as possible to implement the training of my voice!"

The red-eye teen sighed, rubbing his eyes with two fingers. "So... How did it go then?"

"W-Well, I'm alive." Izuku chuckled awkwardly.

"I'm serious."

Izuku detected a threatening tone, "I-I was able to create enough force to send a few objects flying..."

"How heavy?"

"A-A few chairs and even tables easily..."

Enso removed his hand from his face and raised an eyebrow, "You were able to move tables?"

"Well, I may have been practicing with it... a few times."

Enso knocked him on the head, "Idiot."

"Gak!" Izuku uttered from the hit. But he immediately looked back up, despite the red bump on his head. "B-But now, I think that I can use it at the festival!"

Enso stared at him with a hand on his chin, "Is it really that strong?"

"W-Well, I wouldn't say that it's _too _strong. But I still think I could use it."

"Then show me."

"Eh?"

"Use it on me, right here, right now."

"B-But-"

"Brute Style" Enso raised his arms up as if shielding himself as he was surrounded in a white aura, "Now."

Izuku still looked somewhat nervous but nodded in agreement. "I'll do my best."

He narrowed his eyes, _"I know I've practiced this before, but I have to be extra careful right here. This is going to be the first time I ever tried this against a person. Not only that, but I've only practiced a few times, and I have to remember that if I invest too much power into my lungs and vocal cord, then _*gulp* _they may explode... I can't just focus One For All into my internal organs though, there's no way I could control it like that, I have to concentrate power into my entire body first before could invest energy into my internal organs. I have to use the current amount of One For All that I could control, but my lungs can only just handle that-_

"Stop mumbling and just get to it already." Enso interrupted him.

Izuku flinched, _"I-I keep doing that!"_

Enso put a leg forward and the other one back, forearms still in front of him.

The emerald hair closed his eyes, _"Okay, you've done this before... Focus..." _He took repeatable deep breaths, feeling his lungs expand with each one. _"Your body has already adjusted to five percent of your power, so your lungs and vocal cords should be no different and, therefore, should be able to handle that amount of power too."_

Enso saw the green electricity appear around Izuku, making him prepare himself.

Izuku could feel his breathing slightly quicken by his lungs taking power, he kept taking big breathes with some sweat dripping down the side of his head.

He felt his chest building up somethings, let it come up.

_"One For All-"_

Izuku partially opened his mouth, slightly shaking.

"Houston-"

He took one last breath before letting loose.

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLL!"

Izuku screamed from the top of his lungs, the air visibly vibrating as a destructive soundwave was blasted towards Enso.

Enso stood still and took the full impact of the attack, feeling a force slam into him and kick up stronger winds passing by him. His hair violently flowed behind him, and he pushed his weight down closer to the ground, yet he felt his feet slightly getting dragged back by force.

This only lasted a couple of seconds, as from performing such a shout with one breath had Izuku have to breathe. He panted heavily and hunched over, clenching his chest with his hand as the force all died down.

Enso's white aura faded away, and he looked to the ground, seeing marks of his feet visibly from getting pushed back._ "It was indeed stronger than I expected..."_

He walked over to Izuku, who raised his head to look up at him.

"Did *huff* I *wheeze* do- *cough* *cough*, -good?" Izuku mustered out.

The cold teen stared down at Izuku for a moment before patting him on the back.

"You're ready."

Izuku forced a smile, despite feeling so out of breath, "*pant* Really?"

Enso nodded, "The festival isn't too far away. Focus everything in practicing your dancing style and... 'Houston Howl?'"

Izuku flinched, then fiddling his fingers, "I-I well..."

"Taking after All Might in naming your moves? Are you really going to make _all_ of your choices based on what he would do or think?" Enso crossed his arms.

"B-But, it matches well with Detroit Smash and Delaware smash..."

The mentor facepalmed, "Try naming something your own way for once..."

"Yes, sir... Izuku said, looking down.

"Back to the festival, you still have a small time frame for you to practice, so use that time to improve further your dancing footwork and voice projection. Keep dancing, keep singing, do what you can to keep those abilities up."

Izuku stared rather perplexingly at Enso, "Are we going to continue meeting up before the festival?"

Enso shook his head side to side, "No, I think it's better to leave the rest of our time for you to choose the goal that _you_ wish to improve or just focus on."

"So... beating you then?" Izuku joked with a chuckle.

"If that's what you want." Enso simply responded.

Izuku's smile faded as he glimpsed back up at Enso, looking rather serious now, "But... I don't even know the full majority of what each of those styles of yours does... Tsu and Mineta told me that you used that 'Snipe Style' again and... a new style that you told me you weren't going to use for its 'intended purpose.'

Enso froze in all manner of movement, eyes staring intensely at Izuku.

Izuku stood up straight, now looking somewhat nervous from the stare by his mentor, "Th-They said that you... sliced apart the Nomu with your dagger... And I know what dagger that was."

The red eyes of Enso just continued to stare.

"It was the same style as the one you used to freeze everyone in place of lunch, wasn't it?"

That was when Enso's mouth moved, "Legendary Style- Reaper Of Worlds."

He flared up in a fiery black aura of intense nature, eyes also lighting up red as his dagger manifested into his hand.

Izuku was instantly overwhelmed by this intense aura, falling back onto his behind and even backing up in fear.

_"I-It's the same feeling of f-fear I felt from last time? Is this what his style d-does?"_

Enso took a step forward towards him, with Izuku flinching as the sound of his foot echoed. He came upon Izuku and glared down at him, black aura looking as if it would burn the boy any moment.

But then it faded away, Enso's dagger disintegrating in blue and leaving the boy still.

Izuku gulped nervously, "S-So... It really was the same thing you used during lunch?"

Enso nodded, "Yes... I mainly used it for intimidation or to 'finish off' someone. But for now, I'm trying to avoid using this style, despite it being my strongest one..."

"I see, well... Would you ever use it against me?"

Enso stared at him rather intensely again.

Izuku got up and started flailing his arms, "N-Not in that way! I meant if you would choose to use it at the sports festival to only fight against me if I was forced to make you bring it out!?"

"Oh." Enso turned around and head to the middle of the room, "Of course I would bring it out if I was being overwhelmed, but I obviously wouldn't kill you with it."

_"That's reassuring, at least." _Izuku sighed.

"But that depends if you can even force me to bring it out in the first place." Enso said as he crouched to the ground and picked up a few dodgeballs.

Izuku flinched at that, _"I'm clearly much stronger than before... but does he not think that I could beat him?" _

He couldn't help but feel irritated by that.

"Enso!"

"Hm?" Enso turned his head to him.

Izuku looked much more firm than before, eyes staring at Enso.

"For the rest of this time, I'm going to find a way to beat you. I'm gonna fight through you and whatever style you throw at me! I'm going to win the festival, I'm going to make sure no one forgets me! I'm... I'm going to show the world that... 'I Am Here!"

An eyebrow was raised by Enso, "So... That's what you're really going to focus on? So be it. But just remember, there are several others who you have to beat along the way."

Izuku clenched a hand into a fist, thinking of a certain explosive boy.

"I know that..."

* * *

~{Later That Night}~

Izuku was sitting on his desk with his All Might desk lamp turned on, and his notebook wide open in front of him.

He scribbled in his hero analysis notebook, writing down everything that came to mind about the abilities of his classmates. Writing down the knowledge he had of their quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as how he could fight against them if he ever had to.

But of course, he couldn't rely on these plans all the time, because there's no telling how his classmates could improve or change before the festival.

"Kacchan is really strong and can adapt to nearly any situation... Todoroki can cover such a large amount of space from using his ice, but doesn't he have flames too? And Enso... I don't even know where to begin."

Izuku sighed as he stretched his arms up, looking to at what he wrote about his teacher.

**Enso Ureshi**

**Has a quirk 'Quirk' that allows him to release energy in a variety of ways, to which he has adapted into four different styles, each with their own genres of strengths-based on what I've seen or heard from my classmates.**

**Brute Style: **A style where Enso courses his energy around his body to form a sort of white aura/barrier similar to Kirishima's quirk. This barrier massively increases his defensive and offense capabilities by how dense it can be. He then aims to overpower his opponent with the brute force of his attacks. But there must be a limit on the amount of force his aura can take since Kirishima reported seeing it shattered by the Nomu. The barrier also looks to hinder some of Enso's movements by how it outlines around his body, making him slightly slower.

**Punk Style:** A style that I haven't seen as much as Brute Style, but from what I've seen and heard, Enso's aura turns blue, especially around the head. He has shown signs of using telekinesis to move around objects and can also look into the minds/memories of people, under certain conditions. The person has to be thinking deeply and not focus on keeping Enso away from their mind. Iida has also reported a move Enso used of this style called 'calm mind' to sense a wide area of his surroundings.

**Snipe Style:** A dangerous style that I've only seen once at the quirk assessment test, but heard about a lot from Ojiro and Kirishima again. Enso develops a yellow aura around him, especially around his legs, and goes into a state-centered around speed. From Kirishima's description, his moves acted as if he 'moved like a bullet,' focusing on avoiding any enemy attacks while delivering fast, but precise strikes.

**Legendary Style- Reaper of Worlds:** The last, but most dangerous and terrifying of the styles I've seen, Enso's eyes flash red and he develops a black aura, but it's also when he finally forms his sharp dagger. According to him, this is his strongest style and he only uses it 'if he truly desires to murder an opponent,' but he can also just go into it for intimidation. Many classmates reported seeing Enso use many moves to slice apart the Nomu with this style and it seemed as if all of his stats were strengthened at the time as well.

Izuku dropped his pencil and shook his hand, feeling it go numb from some much writing.

"So much variety of fighting... And I didn't even think about what he could do even without these styles. Could he shoot energy projectiles while in each of these styles? How fast can he switch them? How long do they last? There's still so much I don't know... Then there are his different moves in each style..."

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking outside to the darkness that was night time.

"This going to be my most difficult challenge so far... Making an impact at this festival and going up against so many people..."

Izuku thought about Enso and the claim he made to him.

_"For the rest of this time, I'm going to find a way to beat you. I'm gonna fight through your brute style and show everyone that... 'I Am Here!"_

Izuku smiled, _"I have to live up to that claim."_

* * *

~{The Day Of The Festival}~

"Um, Izuku."

Izuku finished putting on his shoes nervously and turned around at his mother, Inko, standing with a small, but worried smile.

"Don't do anything to hurt yourself, I don't want you to overdo things anymore." She said, almost as if that was a plead.

Izuku could tell that she was excited, yet also worried for him.

He smiled at her, gleaming as the morning light shined down on him. "Mom, you know what kind of festival this is." He chuckled. "But don't worry, I'll be fine. And right after I show you how much stronger I've gotten at the festival, then I'll promise that I'll introduce you to my trainers."

Inko smiled at him, then hugging him rather tightly. "Alright... Make me proud, Izuku."

After the hug, Izuku cheerfully jumped out the door and over the railing of the balcony.

"IZUKU!?" Inko rushed to the balcony, only to find Izuku already running down the street. "Use the stairs next time!" She shouted from afar with angry fumes.

Izuku just laughed.

* * *

"The first years are the ones to look at this year!"

"They survived a villain attack and even helped fight them off!"

"Did you hear that Endeavor's son is a first-year as well!?"

Kamui Woods walked through many food and entertainment stands set up around just outside of the sports festival stadium, already building up lines by the number of people showing up just to see the event. He, along with two other friends and fellow heroes, Mount Lady and Death Arms, were there to help work as security for the sports festival.

But he wasn't enjoying any of it, for a different reason.

One person had been on his mind for over a year, giving him shivers as he thought about those eyes...

Those emotionless eyes.

"Come on, Kamui, you can't be thinking about that guy again, are you?" Mount Lady asked, taking a mouthful of takoyaki into her mouth.

Kamui flinched.

"Again, huh?" Death arms came from behind him and patted him on the shoulder. "You can't keep letting that guy get stuck in your head. You had one bad day, so what? No innocents got hurt and, from how you explained it, it just seems like that guy didn't mean to be there."

Kamui's hands tightened into fists, _"No Death Arms... That isn't it..."_ He kept walking through the people. _"That look in his eyes, it was of someone who had a disregard for anything but himself."_

He looked down. He remembered the long-black hair, those red eyes, that odd suit, it was clear that he was no ordinary person.

_"Whoever you are, I'll find you... I'll make sure of it."_

"I can't wait to see the first years!"

Kamui glanced up at the screen.

* * *

Izuku took a deep breath as he stared at the small scars on his arm, each one telling a different story. He, along with the rest of his class, was within the participant waiting room, feeling nervous with them.

"Man, I wanted to wear my costume!" Mina said sadly, glancing down at the U.A gym uniform she was wearing.

"To keep everything fair, we can't." Ojiro said to her.

Izuku turned his head to Enso, who was slightly tugging at his U.A gym shirt, shoulder-length hair still hanging behind him.

"You nervous?"

"Of course not."

"Figures..." Izuku sweatdropped. He then stood up and turned to his class with a smile, "Everyone, are you ready? We should be entering soon."

"Sure we are class rep!" Kirishima grinned.

"Good! Then how about we-" Izuku was cut off.

"Midoriya."

"Hm?" He turned his head and saw Shoto Todoroki, cold eyes similar to Enso's staring intensely at him.

"T-Todoroki? What is it?" Izuku asked, surprised to see the quietest student in the class actually want to talk to him.

The rest of the class were as equally shocked to hear Todoroki call to Izuku and turned their heads to them.

Todoroki narrowed his eyes.

"Looking at things clearly, I think I'm stronger than you. Especially if you don't even know how to use 'that power' you've shown at the first hero lesson."

"Huh? Wh-Where did this come from?" Izuku asked, surprised by this bold claim from his own classmate. "Who knows? Y-You might be? I don't even know for sure."

"Yes, but… All Might has his eye on you, doesn't he?" Todoroki brought up.

Izuku was shocked to hear him say that. _"Did he find out about One For All and my connection with All Might?!"_

Todoroki continued, "I'm not trying to pry about that. But-" His cold aura filled the room. "-I'm going to beat you."

_"He's... He's going to go for me?" _Izuku's eyes widened, and his pupils shook a little.

Enso raised an eyebrow. _"Does he think that All Might recognizes Izuku as the strongest? So, he wants to beat him just because of that?"_

"Oh!? Is one of the best of the class making a declaration of war?!" remarked Kaminari from his chair.

Mina walked up to Todoroki and put her hands on her hips with a pout, "Hey, isn't it a little rude to start picking a fight with your fellow classmate?"

"We're not here to be friends anyway." Todoroki snapped back, then turning around and proceeding to walk away. "So, what does it matter?" He finished, finally going to leave the room.

That is until Enso spoke from his chair.

"Do you really believe you could beat him with an attitude like that?"

Todoroki stopped, partially turning his head back with a glare.

"What?"

"Throughout all of our classes, throughout all of our hero lessons… I haven't seen you use your full power even once. Why is that?"

"I'm not obligated to tell you anything." Todoroki said with some venom in his voice.

"Oh? Did I strike a nerve?" Enso raised an eyebrow. "Then clearly there is some sort of reason as to why you aren't using your full strength. But..." He stood up and stared directly at Todoroki. "If you keep at that, then you'll lose."

Todoroki now fully turned around to face Enso with a glare, "What makes you say that exactly?"

"A number of things actually, statistically speaking. But the one thing that makes me sure of it..." He pointed a finger at Todoroki, "Is because you won't use 'your' full power."

Enso and Todorooki intensely stared at one another, the class getting worried at all of these declarations.

Izuku stepped between them and stared at Todoroki with a determined look, "Todoroki… I don't know what you have against me, or what you think you'll achieve by beating me, but I'm not going to lose. If we ever face off against one another, I'm gonna give everything I have against you. I should expect you to do the same if you really do want to win."

Todoroki just turned around and left.

Everyone then heard Present Mic's voice in the stadium.

"Hey! Attention audience! Swarm, mass media! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, the U.A sports festival is about to begin! Are you ready!?" He shouted.

"Let's go, everyone!" Izuku said, looking much more serious than before.

_"Izuku..."_ Momo looked a little worried that what Todoroki said could've gotten to him.

Soon they began to head outside, hearing Present Mic ramble on. "It's time for the students to enter the first year stage! You know who some of them are, don't you!? The miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel! Hero course Class 1-A!"

Izuku and his class stepped onto the field, seeing hundreds of people in the audience. He felt some of his anxiety start to build up. "Th-That's a lot of people. Hopefully, we can give them a good demonstration of our abilities." he said, looking over at Iida to calm down.

"Indeed, we will have to give it our best performance in order to impress everyone." Iida said, looking around at the crowd.

Izuku turned his head and saw the other classes coming out as Present Mic presented them.

"They haven't been getting as much airtime, but this class is also full of talent! Hero Course, Class 1-B!"

He then caught sight of Shinso coming out with other discouraged looking students.

"Next up, general studies classes C, D, and E!"

Izuku then saw a particular group of students with a variety of armor and gadgets of the sort, including a girl with pink dreadlocks who looked decked out.

"Support course, classes F, G, and H are here too!"

There was the last group that Izuku couldn't tell what they were.

"And business course, Classes I, J, and K!"

_"What the hell is the business course?"_ Enso wondered.

"We're just here to make those guys look better, huh?" One of the general studies classes said in sadness.

"I'm not really feeling it..." Another agreed.

Enso turned the corner of his eye and saw Shinso tightening his hands into fists.

_"Hm..."_

They all gathered around a stage, where Midnight, the R-rated Hero, stood proudly, cracking her whip.

"Time for the player pledge speech!" She yelled proudly in her microphone.

"Why the hell is that lewd woman the umpire for this high school event?" Enso asked, his eyes twitching in disbelief at what U.A was thinking.

So many men in the crowd starting cheering.

"I think that's your answer..." Izuku disappointingly responded.

Midnight cracked her whip and pointed it down at someone in the crowd, "Representing the students, is Enso Ureshi of Class 1-A!"

Many people curiously looked around, while much of Class A turned to him in shock.

"Eh!? That guy!?" Mina asked with bulging eyes.

Izuku realized and grabbed his own hair, "We never told our class about this, did we!?"

Momo turned to him, "You're right... We were so focused on the festival that we forgot to tell everyone about the speech."

"But why him!?" Mina asked Izuku.

"I mean, he did get first in the entrance exam." Sero pointed out.

"The principal himself said that he should do the speech." Momo also added.

Enso reluctantly stepped passed his class and his eyes turned to the other classes, scanning all of the different types of people.

"Hey... Isn't that the guy that froze everyone during lunch?" Izuku heard one of the other students say.

"He sure doesn't have the look of a hero…" another added.

Izuku was partly worried, _"Does he really look that scary?"_ He looked up, remembering the first time he met him, _"...I don't even have an argument."_

He stepped up the stage where everyone became silent and Midnight backed up to give him some space.

* * *

Outside of the stadium, Kamui just finished helping a lost child find his parents when he realized that there was an unnatural silence from the stadium.

"Hey, look at that guy." Death Arms said rather intrigued.

Kamui glanced up to the screen, but his eyes immediately widened.

Those red eyes.

That long black hair.

That unnatural cold look.

"It's him!"

Death arms and Mount Lady both turned to him.

"Who?" Mount Lady asked, although without a hint of interest as she ate another piece of takoyaki.

"The one I told you about who was on the building that night!"

Death Arms couldn't believe it, he glanced up at the screen to Enso and then back to Kamui. "Seriously? Are you sure it's him!?"

Kamui gripped his hands into fists. "I'm positive... I would never forget that face."

"But what's he doing at the festival, and with the students at that?"

"Let's find out." Kamui started marching towards the stadium.

But Death Arms put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Easy there Kamui, I know you're angry, but we can't just arrest him during the festival, especially after what happened with the students at the USJ. It'll cause panic among the citizens here."

"Then what do _you_ think we should do then?!" Kamui asked him.

"We wait. As soon as this whole festival stops, then we'll confront him. For now... Just try to enjoy the food. Right Mount Lady?" Death Arms turned his head to the shorter woman next to him.

Mount Lady was just staring curiously at the screen, tilting her head in a slightly confused look at Enso's face. _"Why do I feel like... I've seen him before?"_

"Mount Lady?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, just let me enjoy the food."

"How selfish..." Death Arms and Kamui both sweatdropped.

Kamui glared back at the screen, eyes narrowing as a name and title appeared to introduce the student speaking.

**Enso Ureshi- Top Entrance Exam Scorer**

"If he really is at the top..." Some traces of wood slowly starting growing on Kamui's arm in frustration. "Then it lets me know that he must be even more dangerous than I thought."

* * *

Enso raised his head and glanced around at the audience staring down at him, somewhat interested in his rather cold eyes but long silky hair.

"So that's him, isn't it?"

"The one who got the highest score at the entrance exam?"

"Of course, _he's_ in the hero course then, so much for the rest of us, though." Someone remarked.

"If only we had such amazing quirks..."

Something about that wasn't right to Enso, he immediately snatched the mic from the stand and turned around to the group of students.

"And you believe that complaining about not being in the hero course will solve anything? How disappointing."

Class 1-A turned pale, _"Is he trying to antagonize them!?"_

The students that spoke didn't show themselves, but many other students looked to be slightly offended by Enso's statement.

Izuku and Momo prayed that allowing Enso to be the spokesperson wouldn't backfire too much.

The crowd listened rather curiously.

"Many of you complain about not having the opportunity to be in the hero course, you keep bringing up that it must be great for them to have 'quirks' that let them join the hero course, and I'm sure that many of you constantly antagonized those in the hero course for merely being there."

He pointed a finger at the students, "If you're constantly thinking that way, then that just demonstrates how immature and unready any of you are for you to join the hero course. You don't deserve it."

"Eh!? What the hell!? You think you're better than us then!?" One student shouted.

"Stop messing around!"

"Don't get full of yourself class A!" the other students shouted, booing Enso and giving him thumbs-downs.

"M-Midoriya, I think that was a bad idea!" Kirishima said.

Enso closed his eyes before opening them with a menacing flash of red that lit the area. "Shut it."

This was enough to scare nearly all of those riling students to silence.

"This is exactly what I mean; you're just taking out your frustrations on me and class-A because you aren't in the hero course. But will constantly complaining about it and antagonizing us help you at all? Will it really get you into the hero course?"

Many people thought about it, some looking down in thought while others still looked angry.

"I understand that the entrance exam wasn't fair for many of you. Just destroying robots? How foolish. There's no doubt that several of you have strong quirks that aren't destructive, yet the exam only tested the destructive capabilities for quirks. Someone can have a quirk that isn't fit for destroying robots, but that person could end up becoming quite a strong hero in the future, it's not just about the quirk they have."

Enso turned his head and looked up at someone in the commentary room.

"Right, Aizawa? You would know, you're one of them after all."

"Don't bring me into this..." Aizawa answered back in the commentary room next to Present Mic. "But even I agree that the entrance exams need to be changed a little."

Toshinori turned to Nezu next to him, who simply took a sip of tea.

Enso turned back to the classes, "But now you actually have the chance to prove your worth to everyone. Are you going to waste this chance to keep alienating class A, or are you actually going to do something to show where you really belong?"

His eyes narrowed, "Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to insult any of you, but it's clear that not all of you are fit for the hero course. It's your decision whether or not you're ready, but it'll be your skills and effort that will show everyone else if you truly are ready."

He turned his eyes to the audience now, "Now for the audience out here, especially those of you 'heroes,' don't do something as foolish as to judge the students solely on quirks. Judging others only on quirks is a foolish option. There is clearly more to it than that, view everyone on an equal level until _they_ prove amongst themselves who's stronger."

He narrowed his eyes at everyone, making him look scarier on the big screen. "I'm sure that many of you had the quirks to make it easy for you to become heroes, so you wouldn't know just how hard these students have to fight for their spots to become the heroes they want to be. Maybe you could even learn a few things from them."

Enso carefully placed the microphone back on the stand, saying one last thing.

"Appreciate everyone's hard work. And everyone here work your hardest, it would be a disgrace to U.A. if you don't. Give it your all."

Many students were stuck in a bewildered silence by his speech, watching as Enso walked back to his class.

"Plus Ultra!"

Many people's attention turned to Kendo, her quirk activated and giant fist stuck up proudly from saying that.

Everyone else in the crowd and even the students joined in.

**"PLUS ULTRA!" **Everyone else shouted, the crowd riling up in excitement.

Izuku smiled at Kendo's action, she caught sight of him glancing at her and gave him a toothy smile back.

Seeing that everything seemed to have worked out, Enso turned around and started walking off the stage.

* * *

Death Arms stared in a rather curious manner at Enso, his speech leaving him quite impressed.

"Are you really sure-?"

"Yes!" Kamui interrupted him. "He was the one that flung me!"

Mount Lady finished eating her food and turned to the wood hero, "Are you really going to arrest him after the festival is done? Crushing a kid's dreams of becoming a hero?"

Kamui glanced down in thought, _"But... is he really an innocent student?"_

* * *

"Now, let's get started right away!" Midnight yelled, cracking her whip once more. "The first game is what you'd call a qualifier! Every year, many students drink their tears here!"

"That's a harsh way of putting it…" Izuku muttered.

"Now, here is the fateful first game!" Midnight yelled as a holographic screen appeared with a lottery spinner on it. "This year it's-" the movement on the spinner then stopped. "-this!"

**Obstacle Course Race**

Izuku had a severe look on his face as he saw this, "An obstacle course race..."

"How boring" Enso muttered.

"All eleven classes will participate in this race! The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium- about four kilometers!" Midnight shouted as a map of the race emerged on the screen.

"Our school's selling point is freedom! As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do! Take your places everyone!" she finished.

Everyone moved to the starting gate that had three green lights lit up.

Izuku stepped next to Enso and started stretching his arms and legs seriously.

"Snipe Style." He heard Enso mutter next to him, yellow aura brightly shining around him.

Izuku could feel the aura around Enso vibrating as if about to blast at any moment.

_"That style is all about speed. This race is perfect for Enso..." _He turned his head and narrowed his eyes to the starting gate, _"I'll have to do more than just my best!"_

Izuku turned his head left and saw Todoroki near the front of the group, a chilly aroma starting to develop on his right side. _"He's getting ready to use his quirk? Then that must mean-"_

"On your mark!" Midnight shouted.

_"-he wants to start off by freezing everyone on the ground while they're rushing through the tunnel!"_

"Get set!"

_"I have to stick to the walls, so I don't get frozen with them!"_ Izuku finished his thoughts.

"Start!" Midnight finished.

The ground froze solid.


	22. Obstacle Race and Team Forming

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

The instant Midnight yelled 'start!', a horn blared and all of the students bolted into the tunnel. They did all they can to make it through the tunnel first, bumping into each other, shoving each other aside, and even trying to pull others back to push themselves ahead.

But Izuku knew better than to just rush in with the rest of them, especially after feeling the air turn cold around him.

_"I gotta jump!"_

He channeled Full Cowling and leaped over everybody just as the floor started to freeze underneath him. He shot towards the walls and just focused on not falling down.

He landed on the wall with his feet, then immediately jumping off and continuing forward by repeatedly jumping from wall to wall in a zig-zag manner.

He made it to the end of the tunnel in no time and jumped out into the light, grinning as many other students came out with him.

He saw Momo using a staff to pole vault over the ice, Aoyama used his naval laser to fly over, and nearly all of his other classmates were making it over one way or another.

Izuku stuck his legs out under him and landed on the ice, using it to skate forward and catch up to Todoroki.

He caught sight of a yellow blur zooming over him and getting ahead already.

_"Enso's so fast! So this is his Snipe Style's movement!?"_

Izuku reached the end of the ice and jumped off of it, landing on the dirt ground and proceeding to keep a steady but fast pace ahead with the others.

Ahead of him, Enso stopped and looked up once he caught sight of their first obstacle, _"For the love of god..."_

Izuku's pupils shrunk when he also caught sight of many large bodies ahead. _"No way!"_

Large and small robots alike rushed towards the upcoming students. They were all the different types of robots that had appeared at the entrance exam, but what made this sight worrying were the number of giant zero-point robots also within the bunch.

_"Are they crazy!?" _Izuku thought in worry, stopping in place due to being unable to get through easily.

He then saw one of the giant robots get entirely frozen with a coat of ice, stopping its movements in place.

Izuku caught sight of Todoroki running ahead between the frozen robot's legs.

_"There's my opening!"_ Izuku was just about to launch forward, but the giant frozen robot suddenly began to fall forward, pieces of it falling apart as it did so.

_"Crap! It'll be too risky to go forward now, or I could get crushed! So..."_ Izuku channeled power and leaped into the air._ "I'll just have to jump over instead!" _

He landed on a falling arm of the now destroyed robot, moving fast enough to run along it for a moment quickly before leaping off and landing onto it's falling head.

Upon landing on the head, Izuku didn't hesitate to leap off once more and get even further ahead, _"I'm getting ahead!"_

"Get out of the fucking way, Deku!"

_"Or not."_

Izuku couldn't even turn around entirely before he felt a sudden explosion on his back, sending him out of the way.

"Gah!"

Izuku flew through the air and clashed off another robot piece before tumbling along the dirt ground to a stop.

He rubbed his head with one eye open, "Ow... Ow..."

Looking ahead, Izuku saw Bakugo flying over the robots with his explosions, along with many other students passing him urgently.

"Damn it, Kacchan!" Izuku yelled as he slammed his fist into the ground in frustration. He stood up and looked next to him at a piece of the robot's armor that had fallen off.

_"If I even get even close to Kacchan, he'll just blast me. But if I use this piece of metal as a shield, then I could probably fend him off!" _Izuku picked up the piece of metal and grabbed the large cable it had hanging to wrap it around him himself.

_"Not too heavy, and it doesn't hinder my movements; now I just have to catch up!"_

"Snipe Style- Ricocheting Bullet."

Izuku saw the yellow blur that was Enso bolt right above everyone and towards one of the zero-pointer robots.

It was only a second, but during that time, Enso bounced off the robot's left arm, to the right one, and then up to the head, each hit obliterating the pieces he jumped off.

The robot's pieces scattered all over the place, and Enso flew through the air and towards the racers ahead.

_"Enso wasn't ahead already? What was he doing?!"_

"Th-Thank you!" He heard someone yell.

Izuku looked left and saw a few students staring at Enso as he left, visible wounds already on their bodies from the robots.

_"He... stayed behind a moment to help?" _Izuku shook his head side to side and focused, _"Get back into the game!"_

Izuku continued running all the way to the second barrier of the race, but he, along with many other students, stopped in their tracks when they saw a vast chasm.

"Hey, hey! The first barrier's a piece of cake, don't you think?! But what about the second?"

The entire area ahead consisted of a giant pit with many pillars with ropes connecting them.

"If you fall, then you're out! If you don't wanna run, then crawl! It's "The Fall!"

_"What kind of stupid name is that?"_ Enso wondered as he stared ahead at Bakugo and Todoroki, who were already passing the pit.

"One blasting over the pits while the other skates along the rope? Hmph."

Enso crouched down and surrounded himself in his yellow aura once more.

Ochako and Mina came upon Enso, focusing their attention on his shining aura.

"What's he doing?" Mina asked curiously.

"Snipe Style-Ricocheting Bullet... again."

Enso exploded forward in a fit of speed, but instead of going over the rope, he altogether avoided it and went towards the pit.

"He's falling!?" Ochako shouted.

However, they saw that Enso had aimed towards the side of one of the massive pillars and bounced off it while leaving a dent. He bounced from pillar to pillar to travel across the chasm without stopping. Once he was all the way across, he blasted up with one last leap and landed on the ground once again, this time on the other side of the second barrier.

"He got across in an instant!" Mina's eyes comedically bulged out of their sockets.

Enso brushed himself off and continued to speed forward.

At the same time, Izuku had just gotten to the second barrier and grinned, quickening his running speed towards the chasm.

His body lit up once more, "Full Cowling!"

He leaped across the gap high in the air, landing on one of the many platforms in the area.

He proceeded to jump over from platform to platform.

_"This is meant for me!"_ He laughed as he landed onto another platform, leaping once more towards the end.

_"Wow, Deku is so incredible…"_ Ochako thought with mesmerizing eyes. She then blushed and shook her head, _"Focus Uraraka! Less thinking, more doing."_ She thought as she began to easily float herself across with her quirk.

Izuku landed at the end and continued to run with the piece of metal still attached to him.

"Here we are at the final barrier! The reality here is…"

An explosion went off on cue, making Mic smile.

"It's a minefield! It's set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs! By the way, these land mines are for games, so they're not powerful, but they're loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!" Present Mic energetically yelled.

_"First place is already up there!? I have to hurry!"_ Izuku saw the minefield ahead and also viewed Enso standing by the beginning, looking deep in thought.

_"What's he doing?"_

At the same time, Todoroki was ahead, carefully taking long steps to avoid the mines in the field.

_"I see. This is an obstacle that puts those in the lead with a disadvantage. Trying to keep it entertaining while giving those behind a chance-"_

The half-and-half teen's thoughts were interrupted as explosions that weren't of mines were getting closer behind him.

He turned around and narrowed his eyes to see Bakugo blasting towards him with an evil grin, "This doesn't affect me!" He blasted right next to Todoroki, "Bastard! Don't declare war to the wrong person!"

The blonde teen reached his arm forward and attempted to blast Todoroki, but the teen stepped to the side on time to miss the blast.

"And now we got someone new in the lead!" Present Mic shouted. "And it looks like the rest of the pack are starting to catch up!"

Bakugo tried to blast Todoroki again, but the teen used slapped his arm away and tried turning it around by reaching his own arm out to freeze Bakugo, but the explosive teen knew better and kicked his hand away.

"Are the top two going to keep fighting with each other!? Will they give a chance for others to catch up!?"

At the same time, Enso finished his thinking and crouched on the ground, taking a deep breath.

_"From watching the other students set off the mines, I estimate that the time of detonation after each mine is activated is exactly half a second. So in order to outrun the mines before they can explode on me, I have to be even faster."_

"Snipe Style- Piercing Shot." He muttered.

Then he pierced through the field, passing by dozens of mines and setting them off behind him.

"Nani!? Nani!? What's this!? Someone is completely blazing through these mines!"

Todoroki and Bakugo stopped for a moment as they heard a chain reaction of mines exploding in a row getting, the sounds getting closer behind them.

_"What the fuck!?"_ Bakugo thought.

Todoroki's eyes widened.

In front of the path of pink smoke, Enso blazed forward with the pure intent of passing whatever was in his way, eyes unwavering towards Bakugo and Todoroki.

"Like hell he'll pass me!" Both Bakugo and Todoroki pointed their hands to the oncoming person and sent an explosion and a barrage of ice simultaneously at the direction he was heading.

Enso narrowed his eyes and jumped upward, getting rather high in the air and completely avoiding the explosion and ice beneath him.

"He avoided both of the lead's attacks with such grace! He's jumping over them!" Mic shouted.

Bakugo and Todoroki looked above them as Enso momentarily covered the sun from how high he jumped, also about to pass the two at the moment.

Bakugo grit his teeth, "You think you could pass me edgelord!?"

He forgot all about Todoroki and blasted himself in the direction of Enso's path high in the air, getting in the way to keep him from passing.

Enso narrowed his eyes and suddenly started spinning his body in the air, adding speed and momentum before sticking his leg out and swinging it forward at the human time bomb.

Bakugo's eyes widened, _"Those moves... They're-!?"_

He didn't finish the thought as Enso's leg came at him, forcing him to raise his arms up and block the kick. However, since he was still in the air, it was easy for Enso to send him to the side.

_"This bastard!" _Bakugo thought with furry.

A tall pillar of ice suddenly came upwards at Enso, but he saw it coming and fired two energy balls from his palms, exploding the ice but also sending himself back into the air.

He landed on the ground, crouched over with his legs slightly open to avoid a mine right underneath him. He raised his eyes up at Bakugo and Todoroki, both glaring at him and looking ready for anything.

_"They both recognize me as the threat that can pass both of them... It makes sense because they know that if I get even one moment, then I'll literally run across all of this and leave them behind..."_

"Oho! Look's like they're at a standstill! It seems that the two in the lead trying to slow each other down have recognized a new threat! They have a common enemy and have stopped fighting!"

The trio stared at one another in a moment of silence.

Todoroki tried to make the first move and run ahead, but Bakugo immediately created an explosion in front of his path. Todoroki was forced to back up, but stomped the ground and sent ice in front of Bakugo, which he back away from as well.

Enso flung two energy spheres at the two of them to make them move aside.

Both jumped to opposite sides to avoid the energy spheres that Enso threw. Seeing a clear path in front, Enso tried to bolt between them to get ahead, but Todoroki instantly created a trail of ice right in front of his path to block him.

Enso jumped over it, but Bakugo knew that he would and blasted into his path once more.

"Die!" Bakugo swung his arm to blast him, but Enso shot another energy sphere at him, which collided with his explosion, creating an intense enough blast that sent each other in separate directions.

Seeing them fighting in the air, Todoroki tried to run ahead from bellow, but three more energy spheres were sent in front of him and exploded to the ground in front of him. These explosions also set off many mines in the middle area too, resulting in an entire wall of pink smoke and dirt that walled of Todoroki from going forward.

Enso landed on the ground once more in a crouch, being surer to avoid any mines near him.

Bakugo landed as well with an evil grin and smoking hands, "There's no way I'm letting either of you pass me!"

"Tsk!" Todoroki clicked his tongue in irritation.

Enso glanced his head to the many students just getting the minefield, spotting a confident emerald eye teen who looked rather determined to win.

And looked to have a plan.

_"Well, if I'm not getting ahead, then..."_ He turned back to Todoroki and Bakugo, getting into a fighting position. _"I should wait, if they shift their attention away from me even for a moment, then I'll be as good as gone."_

In the meantime, Izuku gripped his fists tightly as he saw the three powerful students ahead.

_"I can't run with my One For All here or I'll risk getting blown up, but if I run normally, then I'll never catch up to them! Todoroki, Kacchan, and even Enso are all fighting for first place, slowing each other down, so I have to take this chance to get ahead of them in one moment!"_

Izuku looked all around him, taking note of the many mines that the students avoided at the start of this third barrier.

He saw someone set off a mine and get back in the air from the explosion.

Izuku grinned. _"Bingo."_

He pulled the piece of metal of the robot from his back that he was holding:

And started digging.

* * *

From her room, Inko noticed her precious child digging into the ground.

"What's he doing?"

She watched as Izuku went from mine to mine, digging carefully and scooping them out with the piece of metal he had to gather them together.

He had gathered up a rather worrying number of mines, grinning as they were all piled up in on hole now.

Inko's eyes widened. "W-Wait, he can't possibly be thinking about -!?"

She didn't even get to finish that thought as Izuku firmly held to the piece of metal in front of himself with a look of determination, then giving himself a running start.

"Izuku!?"

"Sorry, but I have to borrow your idea Kacchan!" Izuku yelled as he dived right onto the pile of mines with the metal underneath him.

A giant explosion of pink erupted from the ground and brightly ignited the sky in pink color.

Everyone was forced to stop and keep their ground so that they wouldn't be sent back by the powerful winds created by the force of the explosion. Each person covered their eyes so that the dust kicked up from the powerful gusts of wind wouldn't get into their eyes, wondering what the hell just happened.

"There's a huge explosion at the back!? What's with that force!?" Present Mic yelled.

"Oh look, one of my students did something crazy... again." Aizawa remarked in no surprise.

Ochako covered her eyes until the dust and winds died down, then moving it aside only to something come out of the pink clouds of smoke.

Her eyes opened fully, _"Is that...?"_

She saw Izuku, riding a scrap of dark green metal with a massive grin on his face.

_"Deku!? No way!"_ she thought in awe.

"What!?" Toshinori yelled from his seat.

"I hope this wasn't influenced by Enso's teachings." Nezu chuckled, taking a sip of tea.

"Was it an accident, or was it on purpose!? Either way, Class A's Midoriya is in hot pursuit of the lead!"

Todoroki, Bakugo, and even Enso turned back to see what had happened, yet Enso wasn't that surprised to see Izuku flying.

Izuku, holding onto the metal for dear life, soared towards them with a look of victory in his eyes. The boy felt his hair being blown back as he sailed through the air, flying high above everyone before seeing the three in the lead, only for them to be gone too in a moment's notice.

Which meant one thing:

_"I passed them!"_

"He passed them?! Izuku Midoriya is now in the lead!?" Present Mic yelled.

_"Yes! I flew just like I planned!" _Izuku then gulped nervously,_ "But I didn't think about landing…"_

He then heard some explosions behind him that sounded to be getting closer and closer, "Deku! Don't get ahead of me!"

Izuku slightly turned his head to see Bakugo blasting forward and Todorki running across a path of ice he made to catch up.

_"Wait, where's Enso?!"_

Izuku saw Enso still back where he just was, crouching position and yellow aura flaring.

_"He's going to try and pass us all with one leap!"_

His hands gripped tightly on the cable he had and tugged on it.

_"I can't let him pass me now, I won't!"_

Enso let out a deep breath, "Snipe Style- Piercing Shot."

Like a bullet blasted from a gun, he exploded forward once more, outrunning the mines exploding as he went over them.

Todoroki and Bakugo were getting near Izuku, but Enso was going to pass them _all _in a second.

Izuku grit his teeth, _"If I won't be able to retake the lead..."_

The world moved slow as Enso, Todoroki, and Bakugo came near him.

_"...Then I can't let them get ahead!" _Izuku pulled the cord of the metal with all his might and swung it down, slamming it to the floor.

Dozens of mines exploded right underneath the group, creating one collided explosion that sent Izuku flying even farther ahead.

He tumbled along the ground but spun himself back to his feet, then coursing One For All through his body and continuing to run.

"Would you believe it!? He cleared the minefield in an instant! Eraserhead, your class is amazing!" Mic commented.

Izuku didn't look back, he didn't slow down even a little, he was running as fast as he could and using One For All to speed up to the full extent his body could handle.

_"Those explosions will only slow Enso down for a few seconds at most! If I slow down for even a moment, if I lower my pace at all, then I know he'll pass me! It's not over! Don't look back, just keep running!"_

Bakugo and Todoroki came out of the smoke and kept running, desperately trying to chase after Izuku with their teeth grinding together.

But a third person passed them so unexpectedly, so fast, that they didn't even process that he had passed them in a moment.

"Ureshi is relentless in speed! He passed Bakugo and Todoroki immediately despite that explosion getting in the way! He's nearly up with Midoriya now!" Present Mic Shouted.

Bakugo's eyes widened, _"When did he-!?"_

_"-pass us!?" _Todoroki finished the thought, just as shocked as Bakugo.

Hearing Mic's claim that Enso was catching up, Izuku desperately increased his speed. He used more power than his body was able to handle comfortably, resulting in painful stinging going through his legs with each step, but he didn't care. He wasn't gonna get passed if his life depended on it.

But even with a more significant increase in speed, it wasn't enough.

He heard Enso coming right behind him, the air whistling as he ran.

Izuku turned his head back and stared with opened eyes as Enso came right behind him, literally only a few feet away in an instant.

_"No way... Even after all of that, Enso's Snipe Style is still too fast..."_

Time seemed to slow as Izuku found his eyes staring directly into Enso's eyes, eyes that seemed to be giving him a message stating that he would pass him no matter what.

_"I've come too far to get passed... I can't get passed now!"_

He gritted his teeth as Enso took another step, nearing his side to around.

"I'm not getting passed!"

Izuku swiped his arm at Enso, and something unexpected happened at that moment. Something that only those heavily paying attention to Izuku would've seen at the very moment.

A burst of black flames came from Izuku's arm when he swung it, flaring right in front of Enso's path.

This only lasted a second, but it was enough to catch Enso off guard.

"!?" Enso was alarmed and instinctively jumped to the side to avoid the flames.

But the flames were put out as fast as they came in.

"Nani!? What was that!? Ureshi retreated and Midoriya still remains in the lead!" Present Mic shouted.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes behind the bandages he still had wrapped around his face.

_"What the hell was that, Midoriya?"_

Izuku didn't even notice what he did, he just kept running and running.

_"I'm so close! I'm so close!"_ He made it into the final gateway tunnel and continued down the corridor.

Upon landing, Enso stood up, looking shocked.

_"What was that?"_

He heard explosions behind him and glanced up at Bakugo heading for him.

He narrowed his eyes and bolt forward in a blinding flash once again, also getting to the tunnel.

"Ureshi is still blasting forward without giving any chances!"

Izuku panted heavily as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but he heard a blazing person coming behind.

Enso was once again only a moment away.

"It's gonna be close!" Present Mic shouted, shooting up from his chair.

Izuku did one last leap out of the tunnel, hand reaching forward.

_"One more push!"_

Enso came right beside him.

Many cameras flashed right at that moment.

"Photo finish!" Mic yelled.

Izuku landed on his feet and stumbled forward while Enso skid to a stop, kicking much dust up.

The crowd cheered with applause.

"Did you see that!?"

"It was such a close call!"

Izuku laid on the floor panting, his body feeling slightly sore from overexerting himself momentarily in order to give himself that last push.

He shakingly stood back up to his feet and glanced around at the crowd, listening to everyone cheer for him and Enso.

"We already have that finish on video! Let's get a replay on that!" As Present Mic shouted this, the screen changed to show the exact moment where Enso and Izuku came out of the tunnel.

It rewinded and played in slow motion. Despite Izuku fast and closer to the finish, Enso had been at such a speed that he had reached the finish line with him.

"The first place winner is... 

On closer inspection, the footage revealed that Izuku's hand had stuck out right at the finish line to cross first.

"...Izuku Midoriya!"

The crowd shouted even louder.

"Izukuuuuuuuuu!" Inko yelled as she saw him first on the TV, tears waterfalling down her eyes in happiness.

Izuku's eyes also teared up as well, looking up to the crowd at Toshinori, who grinned happily down at him.

Enso glanced up at the crowd as well, but at a specific person of his own.

Nezu waved at him proudly.

Enso just sighed and turned away.

Nezu laughed.

"That was such a close race! Ureshi was hot on his tail! He was a speedy boi!"

Izuku felt a warmth coming from his palm and glanced down at it, looking slightly puzzled about something during that race.

_"Enso suddenly backed off when he was about to pass me. But... I don't remember why. Everything went by so fast, but all I remember doing was swinging my arm at him."_

At the same time, Enso stared intensely at Izuku as he recalled that exact moment as well, the memory flashing in his mind.

The moment he was going to pass by Izuku, something had happened. He had seen the black color come out of Izuku's hand when he swung it at, he saw the black flames come out for a split second, and...

...He had seen Izuku's eyes also turn red in that split second.

He already an explanation for these things, Izuku must've been under the influence of the other power he had, 'Ikari' once more. But one thing that made him confused as to why did it come out at that specific moment? And in the form of flames at that?

He noticed Izuku staring into his own palm, looking confused himself but still crying.

_"Does he not realize what is it that he did? I'll have to speak to him about it later..."_

Bakugo and Todoroki now came out of the tunnel and finished as well, both of them visibly shaking in anger.

Bakugo clenched his hands into fists, his mind flashing back to when Enso had somehow spun in the air to add momentum to a kick.

He remembered someone with similar moves like that, the same person that had utterly 'defeated' him during the battle training in their first hero lesson class.

He turned his head to Izuku and Enso, one crying and the other one staring at the one crying.

_"Those two..."_

Bakugo remembered Izuku's words from that same day after school:

_"In our class, E-Enso is… h-he-he's my mentor. He taught me all of the moves I've used up to now, he taught me to develop my body so that I could actually use my quirk, and... he became my friend."_

He gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing. _"No way... That bastard really is..."_

Todoroki panted and also turned to Izuku's direction, eyes narrowing at him. _"I only saw it for a moment... but..."_

He remembered the exact moment Izuku swiped his arm at Enso, recalling what came out.

_"Flames..."_ His hands clenched into fists and his eyes glared so intensely that he could probably pierce someone with it.

* * *

Kamui and Death Arms both stared up at the screen in shock.

"I can't believe this. The kid we scolded a year ago and the one that I had encountered a year ago are the first two to finish the race?" Kamui asked in disbelief.

"You think it's a coincidence? Maybe they're friends." Death Arms chuckled. "But you can't disagree that the Ureshi kid shows lots of promise. Did you see him at the beginning of the race?"

Kamui looked down, _"He saved a few students from the robots in the beginning... Despite knowing that it would slow him down."_

Mount Lady just continued to stare at Enso, eyes invested to the screen, and looking rather frustrated.

_"Why... Why do I feel like I've seen him before?"_

* * *

Tomura Shigaraki sat at his desk in a dark room with a computer screen right in front of him. He had started watching the sport's festival from the beginning, now examining both Izuku and Enso on the screen while scratching his neck in frustration.

"Those brats…" he muttered in anger. He remembered the two kids that irritated him the most of all the other students.

One, a green-haired kid that was acting like he was some sort of next All Might, the one kind of a person he hated the most.

The other one, someone that ruined all of his plans to kill the symbol of peace and take away the monster they built for it.

_"I'm going to kill them... I swear... The next time-"_

The man-child's thoughts were cut off as he got a notification on his computer of someone requesting to video call.

He clicked it, where a static screen that read **'Audio'** appeared over the sports festival tab.

_"Hello, Tomura. Are you doing well?"_ A static, powerful voice said over the call.

"Yes Sensei, I'm doing alright..." Shigaraki answered.

_"Good. It's reassuring to know you haven't let your loss get to you too much. Have you been watching the sports festival? I've heard that there have been some interesting students already."_

Shigaraki minimized the tab to keep watching the festival, the other person still on the call.

"Yes, Sensei, I've been looking at it. Those two kids on the screen right now... Those were the ones who messed up our attack on U.A." Shigaraki said.

There was silence on the other side as the person examined Enso and Izuku on his side.

"Sensei?"

_"Interesting..."_

Shigaraki was confused, "Sensei?" he asked again.

_"Ah, sorry Tomura, I was just thinking."_

"About what?"

He heard the person chuckled, _"No one important. Just keep watching the two of them, Tomura. After all, you'll be meeting them again someday."_

Shigaraki didnt know what his Sensei could've meant by this, but he listened and just continued to stare at the screen.

* * *

The rest of the students began to come out through the tunnel one by one.

Izuku saw Ochako run out and heading towards him, panting a little with her body shaking.

"*Huff* Deku! *gasp*, you were amazing! *Pant*" She stopped in front of him and looked up at him, "First place is amazing!"

Izuku blushed at how close she was and hugged his own head in embarrassment. "U-Um, i-it wasn't much! I just got lucky!"

A few more class 1-A students came out of the tunnel, including Momo, who was visibly tired with her shirt open.

"I can't believe I fell behind..." She panted.

Ochako caught her breath and stood up straight as Momo came up to the two, "Good job Yaoyorozu!"

Izuku, still embarrassed, turned to her. "Y-You were great in the race!"

"Izuku… help me…" Momo uttered out with desperate eyes.

"Eh? What's wrong!? Are you hurt!?" Izuku asked worryingly, his previous embarrassment disappearing.

Momo turned around so that her back faced them, "Th-This…"

On her back was Mineta, holding on with his quirk balls with a disgusting look on his face.

"I killed two birds with one stone!" Mineta proudly laughed.

"M-Mineta!? This is the sports festival! At least try to act decently here!" Izuku grabbed him by the back and tried to pull him off.

"Hey! Stop it! Leave me be!" Mineta barked at him.

Izuku then raised a hand up in a karate position, "Sorry, Mineta!" He then karate-chopped the back of the boy's neck, knocking him out instantly.

"ACK!" He turned completely white and fell off of Momo, landing face-first onto the ground.

"Thank you, Izuku." Momo said with a sighed of relief.

"N-No problem Mo-" Izuku turned back to her, only to just realize that her shirt was completely open, revealing her black bra.

He immediately turned around and covered his face with his hands. "M-M-Momo! Y-You should-! Um- It's showing!"

"Eh?" Momo looked down and saw that her shirt was indeed open, but she didn't seem too fazed by it, due to her hero costume being revealing in the first place. "Oh, I supposed I should cover myself up."

She fixed her shirt up and gazed back up at Izuku's flustered state. Knowing how innocent the boy was, something about seeing him so embarrassed made her smile, she couldn't help but want to tease this kind of boy.

She crouched over a little and got close to his head, "Do you like it?" she whispered.

Izuku jumped in surprise and took a step away from her. "I-I-I… U-Um! I-I don't-!"

Momo giggled at his reaction, while Ochako had a blank expression to her face.

_"Jiiiiiii"_

Mina suddenly came out of the tunnel looking out of breath, but the moment she saw Izuku, she somehow regained her energy and smiled, then running towards the door.

"Midoriiiiii!" She dove at him.

"Eh?" Izuku didn't even fully turn around before Mina crashed into his chest, tackling him to the ground. "Ack!"

Momo and Ochako were both shocked by her sudden appearance.

The moment they landed to the ground, Mina pushed herself just a little above Izuku and grinned. "You were awsome, Midori! I saw you fly all the way across the minefield!"

Izuku slightly moved his hand and rubbed the back of his head, "Nngh... Wha- Mina!? What are you doing!?"

"What does it look like? I'm giving you a congratulation hug. You don't like it?" Mina asked, looking down at him with sad puppy dog eyes.

"N-N-No, it's not that! Th-Th-They're pressing against me!" Izuku stuttered, feeling a soft sensation of Mina's round assets up against his chest. His entire body, from his head to his toes, turned completely red in flustered.

Mina formed a mischievous grin on her face, "What's pressing against you?"

Izuku flinched.

The girl then lowered her head closer to his ear and whispered:

"Per-vert" putting emphasis on both syllables.

Izuku whimpered.

Two hands then grabbed each of Mina's shoulders and pulled her up.

"Eh?" Mina blinked as she looked left and right at the two who pulled her off.

Mina and Ochako both had cross veins on their heads as they held Mina up, visible glares on their faces.

"That's enough Mina… you're making him feel uncomfortable…" Momo said, clearly irritated.

"You're getting a little too close to him, don't you think…?" Ochako firmly stated.

"E-Eh? I-I was just teasing him a little." Mina nervously sweat as she looked from Ochako then Momo.

Izuku nervously stood up and turned away from the girls, nervously fiddling his fingers.

Midnight then got their attention, "The first game of the first year stage is finally over! Now let's take a look at the results!"

A list of names appeared on the screen in the order that the students finished the race. Izuku glanced up and saw his name on the top of the list, making him smile happily as he was reminded of what he accomplished.

From there, it was just the rest of the students that came in order. In second place was Enso, Todoroki in third, Bakugo in forth, and so on.

Midnight continued, "The top forty-two contenders made it through to the next round! It's unfortunate for everyone else, but don't worry! Even if you didn't make it, we've prepared other chances for the rest of you to shine! The real competition begins next! Give it your all!"

The crowd cheered on for the students.

"Now then, here is the second game, I already know what it is!"

Behind Midnight, the lottery spinner popped up again.

"What could it be? What could it be? Here it is!" As she finished, the spinner stopped.

**Cavalry Battle.**

"A cavalry battle?! I'm bad at those…" Kaminari said.

"Let me explain, the participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish!"

The screen showed a projection of four teachers holding All Might up with a headband.

"It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle! Your headbands will each have a point value depending on what place you got in the race! But the team leader your team carries will have all the headbands together!"

"A point-based system, like the entrance exam, huh? That's easy to understand." Sato said.

"In other words, each team is worth different points depending on whos on the team!" Ochako exclaimed.

"I see!" Mina said.

Midnight got irritated and cracked her whip, "You guys don't hold back even though I'm talking, huh?!"

"S-Sorry!" Ochako apologized.

She continued, "Anyway, yes, that's right! And the points assigned go up by five, starting from the bottom. So 42nd place gets five points, and 41st place gets ten points… and the point value assigned to first place is-"

Izuku looked all the way up the list as Midnight shouted:

"Ten Million!"

Everyone got quiet.

Izuku blinked as he registered exactly what he heard.

_"T-Ten million!?_" He started sweating buckets with eyes wide open and mouth clamped shut.

"Oh? Ten million?" Shinso grinned from afar.

Neito Monoma grinned as well, "So in other words, if you take down the first place player's team..."

Izuku looked around at everyone staring at him.

**"You can stand on top no matter what place you're in."** Nearly everyone said simultaneously, staring at the poor boy with looks of greed and desire.

Izuku felt himself trembling. _"Well, that's what I get for getting first..."_

Everyone's eyes seemed to flash menacingly red at him.

But someone else's eyes flash red back at them.

Nearly everyone surrounding Izuku now backed up in a comedic fear.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked and saw that Enso had walked in front of him, glaring at everyone with his own menacing look and raising a shielding arm in front of the boy.

Izuku had flowers around him, _"No way... Enso is protecting me?!" _He thought with comedic tears of hope and happiness as if a princess getting protected by her prince.

"My points." Enso then declared.

_"IS HE CLAIMING ME AS HIS PREY!?" _Izuku's hope immediately turned to terror as the flowers around him wilted and he shivered.

Midnight cracked her whip and got everyone's attention.

"I will now explain the cavalry rules for those of you who don't know how it works! The time limit is fifteen minutes! And as I said before, each team is worth the total of its member's points! The riders will wear an easy to take off headband with the total number of points on their foreheads!"

The screen showed All Might with a number **50** headband on his head, giving a thumbs up with his teeth sparkling.

_"Is that actual footage of him?" _Enso wondered.

"Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out and keep as many points as they can! Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it will be to manage them!"

Midnight pointed her whip up, "You can _all_ use your quirks, but remember that this is still a cavalry battle! You'll be removed if your attacks are trying to make people fall on purpose!"

"Tch." Both Bakugo and Enso said, turning their heads away.

_"They both had the same idea!?" _Izuku thought.

A timer appeared on the screen, reading 15 minutes.

"Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams! Start!" Midnight yelled.

Izuku stood nervously and immediately tried to turn to Enso, but he saw the boy completely disappear in a crowd of people swarming him in an attempt to ask him to be _their_ teammates.

_"N-No way, who could I make a team with?"_ Izuku frantically looked all around him.

He then caught sight of Mina, seeming to give up trying to reach Enso, and looking all around at others.

Izuku nervously walked up to her, knowing the friendly terms they were on.

"U-Um Mina? I don't suppose that you would want to be on my team, w-would you?"

Mina turned to Izuku and rubbed the back of her head with an unsure look, "Sorry Midori, I would if you had gotten lower in the race, but I don't want to be targeted for the entire game, you know?"

Izuku turned blue and looked down with all hope lost, "Th-That's fine..."

Mina saw Izuku's sad, puppy-like expression and couldn't help but feel a little bad.

She walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Izuku immediately turned red and put a hand to where Mina just kissed him, backing away a little with eyes looking as if they were going to explode.

"Wha-Wha-Wha-?!"

Mina grinned at him, "Think of that as me making it up to you. Try not to worry too much, I'm sure you'll find a team!" She then left him and headed towards Bakugo.

Izuku just stood in place, completely dumbfounded.

_"A-A-A girl just kissed me!?"_

"I see some of you are thinking too much! I suggest getting a move on!" Present Mic shouted.

_"Crap! I need a team! I know! Momo can-"_ Izuku turned his head with hope, only to see Momo already speaking with Todoroki and even Iida.

He felt his confidence going down, looking slightly depressed. _"Even Iida? What... What do I do now?"_

"Deku!" someone called to him.

Izuku turned his head robotically to the left and saw Ochako.

"Let's be a team!" she said with a bright smile.

A sprinkler of tears came from Izuku's eyes. "Ochako! Thank you so much!"

He instinctively wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"E-E-Eh?!" She heavily blushed and her eyes widened, but she didn't hate it.

He then let go and stare at her, tears waterfalling from his eyes.

"Is it really okay?! Everyone will probably be after me because of my ten million points!"

Still blushing, Ochako smiled, "If we run away the whole time, then we'll win, right?"

"U-Um… I think you're overestimating me, Ochako…" Izuku said.

"Like I would! Your one of the strongest students in the class! And..." She closed her eyes and preciously smiled, "It's better to team up with people you get along with!"

Izuku covered his eyes with his arm from the blinding smile and felt himself blushing a little.

"Eh? What's wrong, Deku?" Ochako asked him, noticing his reaction.

"Oh, nothing…" Izuku rubbed his eyes, "Its just that… you're so bright that I can't look straight at you…"

_"Eh? He said that so casually...!?"_ Ochako thought as she got flustered once more, tugging on her own arm.

She felt her heart beat faster.

"Th-That's really sweet of you to say…"

After finishing rubbing his eyes, Izuku took a deep breath and spoke of the matter at hand.

"We still need to find two other members, though..."

"What about Enso? Don't you think you would wanna be on the same team?" Ochako asked, hopefully.

"Well..." Izuku turned to the crowd of people surrounding where Enso was standing. "I don't think-"

As if it was on cue, Enso jumped high from the middle of the crowd and landed right beside Izuku and Ochako in a crouching position.

_"He jumped to escape!?"_

Enso stood up and dusted himself off.

"Such annoying and persistent students..." He commented as he turned his head back to the crowd, all of them currently surprise that he jumped away.

A few people were about to step towards him, but Enso walked beside Izuku and Ochako, crossing his arms as if declaring his place.

_"So when he said 'my points'... Enso actually just wanted to team up with me?" _Izuku thought with sparkles around him happily.

When everyone else saw Enso teaming up with Izuku, the ten million beacon, they reluctantly turned away and started making teams among themselves.

Enso turned to Ochako. "So, Uraraka was the only person actually willing to team up with you?"

Izuku and Ochako sweatdropped.

Enso then glanced around at all the other students, "So who's going to be our last teammate? Everyone else is starting to form their teams, including..."

Izuku looked to where Enso was glancing and saw that Todoroki had made his team consisting of himself, Momo, Kaminari, and Iida.

"That's… a very scary team." Ochako said in a worried manner.

They then saw Bakugo in a group with Mina, Sero, and Kirishima.

"That's terrifying." Izuku gulped.

Izuku then saw a team Kendo and three other class-1B girls. Kendo saw him looking her way and gave him an apologetic look that basically said, 'no hard feelings, but we're probably going for you.'

"We don't even know what all these other students can do." Enso remarked.

They heard a creepy giggle.

"As I thought, this is great! You really stand out!" A voice that the trio had never heard before said from behind them.

The three turned around to see a short girl with thick, pink shoulder-length locks grinning madly. She wore red and gold steampunk goggles above her head and fingerless gloves, along with wearing many sorts of gadgets that were around her body.

The most notable gadgets she wore were some rather large speed assisting boots, and something that looked like a jetpack strung over her shoulder.

She suddenly got assertively and _awkwardly_ close to Izuku, her face only a few inches from his.

"Team up with me, person in first place!" she said.

"Ahh! So close! Who're you!?" Izuku shouted with his body trembling by how close she was.

The girl backed up and chuckled, then removing her goggles to reveal her unique eyes.

Izuku's own eyes widened as he saw the pattern in her yellow eyes.

_"Cross-hairs?..." _He thought, mesmerized by her wide and yellow cross-hair irises.

"I'm Mei Hatsume, from the support course!" The pink-haired girl said proudly.

"Ah! I saw her during the race! She used her gadgets to move across the second barrier!" Ochako pointed out.

"I don't know you, but let me use your position!" Hatsume asked of Izuku, getting close again.

"Shes… extremely honest, almost hurtfully…" Izuku pointed out.

Enso walked up to Hatsume and crouched down to the mechanical speed boots she wore.

"Are these inventions yours?"

Hatsume proudly put her hands to her hips, "You betcha! Everything on me are all of my cute babies!"

"Cute... Babies?" Ochako repeated into a question.

Hatsume then rushed forward inches away from Izuku again. "If I team up with you, then I'll inevitably become part of the team everyone's watching the most, right!?"

"Wha-?!" Izuku backed up by how close she got again.

But she just rushed in front of him again, "If that happens, then my super cute babies will inevitably be seen by the big companies!"

"W-Wait a second-!" Izuku actually jumped back a yard away.

But Hatsume somehow appeared in front of him once more, "So in other words, those companies will see my babies!"

Many question marks started appearing all around Ochako's head in confusion by what she was saying.

"W-Wait a minute! Babies? Big companies? What are you talking-"

"And, I think you guys will also benefit!" Hatsume said, getting closer to Izuku as he backed up again.

_"Oh, she's not interested in me…"_ Ochako realized with a deadpanned expression.

"Calm down." Enso comedically karate chopped Hatsume on the head, making her fall face-first onto the ground with a red bump.

Izuku and Ochako both formed open mouth looks of shock.

"Enso!? Why did you hit her!?"

"Because she's only listening to herself..." Enso sighed.

"Is she okay!?" Ochako crouched down to help Hatsume up, but was shocked to suddenly see the girl shoot back up to her feet with the same excited expression as before.

"The support course develops equipment that helps students deal with their quirks!" She energetically shouted, the red bump from Enso's attack pulsating.

_"She treated that hit like nothing!?"_ Izuku and Ochako both thought in disbelief.

Enso raised an eyebrow, "So you make equipment for other students?"

"I have a ton of babies, so I'm sure you'll be able to find one that you like-"

Enso suddenly gripped Hatsume tightly by the head and turned her to face him with his red eyes shining. "I asked, do _you_ make equipment for the other students?"

Hatsume shivered at his menacing aura but still kept a stoic smile.

"You betcha! I've created all tons of babies ranging from weapons, suits, and even babies that help control, enhance, or implement quirks in different ways!"

Enso let go of her and looked rather intrigued, _"If we have someone like her on our team, no... If we have connections with someone like her in general, then it would provide useful in helping Izuku and any other allies get stronger in order to prepare for..."_

He turned to Izuku and gave a thumbs up, "She's our last member."

"EH!? That easily!?" Izuku cried out.

"Wait, wait, wait! We shouldn't decide that quickly!" Ochako added.

Hatsume then magically pulled out a chest of the sort and opened it, revealing several gadgets that sparkled.

"I guarantee that I'll have anything you'll need to help you with this cavalry battle and more!"

_"Where did she pull that out of!?"_

"U-Um, th-they're nice and all, b-but-" Izuku's eyes then lit up as he saw a specific item in the chest of gadgets.

Hatsume noticed his gaze and grinned, "Oh, has this caught your eye?" She pulled out a jetpack of the sort, "I made this based on a certain hero's backpack, adding my own original twist to it." she stated proudly.

Izuku formed a happy expression and was actually the one to get close to Hatsume this time, "Are you talking about the Buster Hero: Air Jet?! I like him too!" He fanboyed.

"Really!?" Hatsume exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, his agency's close, so I went to tour it before! I've seen all of the gadgets he's ever had!"

"I think we're gonna get along just great Izuku Midoriya!" Hatsume smiled gleefully.

"Oh… I see. They're already getting along…" Ochako thought to herself with a blank expression.

"Jealous?" Enso turned to her.

She flinched and started flailing her arms with a blush, "Wh-What do you mean?! What's there to be jealous about? Nothing, that's what! Ahahahaha!"

_"So obvious..." _Enso sweatdropped.

He then walked up to Izuku and Hatsume as they continued to speak.

"What's your quirk?" Izuku asked excitingly.

"My quirk is called 'Zoom'! It allows me to enhance my visions to, as the name suggests, zoom in on whatever is in my line of sight. If I focus really hard, then I can see things as far as five kilometers!" Hatsume answered.

"That would make you amazing at sharpshooting Mei!" Izuku said, sounding very impressed.

"Thank you, I've done some practice when I was small before creating babies! What's your quirk Izuku!?" The now named Mei asked him back.

_"Not only did she completely ignore the fact that Izuku called her by her first name, but even SHE addressed him by his first name back so casually?"_ Enso sighed.

"Five minutes left! Ka-chow!" Present Mic warned.

Hearing this, Enso knocked both Mei and Izuku on their heads, leaving a red bump on each of them.

"We're getting off track, we have our team now, but it won't matter if we don't have a plan."

"O-Ow... Ow... Okay." Izuku said.

Mei smiled excitingly despite the bump, "Whatever plan you have, my babies can cover for it!"

"So, what's the plan, Deku?" Ochako asked him.

Izuku looked down with a hand on his chin in thought, "Well... We're going to run away."

"No shit Sherlock." Enso remarked.

They all sweatdropped.

Izuku ignored him and moved on, glancing at all the other teams, "There are some pretty intimidating teams out there, but I'm mainly worried about Bakugo's and Todoroki's teams. They'll both definitely be aiming for us."

"I'm pretty sure _everyone_ will be aiming for us." Enso interjected.

Izuku flinched, "F-Fair enough..." He took a deep breath and clenched his hand into a fist, "Then we have to be ready for anything!"

He turned to their last teammate with a serious look, "Mei, we'll use your gadgets to maneuver around the battlefield and avoid the other teams."

He then turned to Ochako, "Ochako, you'll use your quirk to keep everyone but yourself weightless so we can use the jetpack Mei showed me to easily fly in the air!"

He turned to Enso, "Enso, I'll be the front horse, you'll be the rider-"

"I refuse."

_"No hesitation!?"_

"B-But, you're the best person to become the rider! You have a bigger variety of attacks that would make you as a rider an advantage to us!" Izuku explained frantically.

"However, that would mean that I would have to act and instruct us as the leader, only I believe that I'm not qualified for that. You have the quick thinking, the strategy, the power, and give off the influence a leader needs."

Izuku looked surprised, _"He thinks highly of me that way?"_

Enso poked him on his forehead, "You're the rider."

"R-Right..." Izuku said, looking slightly unsure but going with it. "So if Enso is the front horse, then he'll be our main source of offense and defense. Since I'll be the rider, I'll be supporting us by flicking my fingers to push away people with shockwaves."

Hatsume raised her hand, an unwavering smile still on her face.

"Y-Yes Mei?"

"That sounds like a nice plan! But I don't know any of your quirks yet, so I don't know which babies to bring!"

"I-I don't think we'll need many gadgets, but I suppose we should tell you our quirks." Izuku agreed.

At the same time, Shinso eyed their team from afar, sighing in disappointment. _"Damn, and here I was actually thinking about getting them to willingly help me... They got their team already, though."_

He turned his head to a few people still standing around.

He caught sight of a few Class A students and grinned. _"They'll do. They're in the hero course after all."_

Shinso casually walked up to one person first, someone who had a crow-like head and was crossing his arm.

"Hey, you wanna join my team?" Shinso asked, waiting for an answer expectantly.

The personed turned and was Tokoyami, eyeing Shinso rather suspiciously.

_"He is..."_ Tokoyami remembered Shinso from that time he came to their classroom.

He thought about it, examing Shinso was quiet for a moment before sighing and making a decision.

"I agree to join." Tokoyami answered.

_"Great, now he'll be under control of my-"_ Shinso stopped, blinking for a moment and doing a double-take.

"Come again?"

"I said that I'll agree to form a team with you." Tokoyami answered once more.

Shinso was at a loss of words.

"There something wrong?"

He then chuckled. "Nah, I just... honestly didn't expect you to agree." he grinned again.

"I was there when you came to our classroom. After listening to Ureshi's speeches and hearing how you were struggling to join the hero course over a lack of a combative quirk, I found it quite admirable how you're still working hard to join our classes."

"Oh, um..." Shinso rubbed the back of his head, eyes looking away. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Is it just you and me forming a team so far?" Tokoyami then asked him.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Shinso grinned as he glanced at two other 1-A students, Aoyama and Ojiro, looking around.

"I'll fix that in a moment."

* * *

~{A Few Minutes Later}~

The countdown on the screen finished and a timer rang.

Midnight held up her whip. "Now then, it's about to get started!"

Present Mic got on the microphone "Alrighty-!" He noticed Aizawa sleeping next to him. "Eraserhead, wake up!" he said, tapping on his co-commentator.

Aizawa didn't open his eyes.

Mic stared at him in a second of silence before reaching underneath his desk and pulling out a megaphone, turning it on and pointing it at Aizawa's ear with a grin.

He took a deep breath, "ERA-" but was interrupted right before his voice peaked by Aizawa, suddenly grabbing him by the throat.

"Don't you dare." Aizawa's cold voice rang.

Present Mic choked. "Ecchh! We're stcharting."

_"What are they doing?"_ Much of the crowd sweatdropped.

Aizawa let him go and Mic immediately turned to the microphone as if nothing happened. "After fifteen minutes to form teams and talk strategy, twelve cavalry teams are lined up on the field! Now raise those battle cries! Its time for U.A's bloody battle!"

Izuku got on top as the rider, wrapping the ten million point headband around his head. Sure enough, Enso was in front as the leading horse, while Ochako was on the left, and Hatsume was on the right sides as the other horses.

He then strapped on a mechanical backpack of the sort that he got from Mei, checking the switch on his hand.

_"Okay, I got this set up..." _

He glanced down at Ochako, who had put on the speed-enhancing boots that Mei was wearing before.

_"She put those on as well."_

Izuku took a deep breath, taking a look at all of the teams staring at him.

"Are you guys all ready?"

"Yup!" Ochako answered.

"Of course." Enso said.

Hatsume simply giggled.

Izuku had a determined yet serious look on his face.

"I'm counting on all of you!"

"Let's count down to the brutal battle royal!" Present Mic shouted.

"Three!"

"We're aiming for-" Bakugo cracked his knuckles.

"Two!"

"-one thing." Todoroki finished.

"One!"

**"The ten million!"** Every other contender thought.

Midnight cracked her whip, "START!"

"I was supposed to say that!" Mic complained.

Nearly everyone ran to the ten million points.

"Here they come!"


	23. Cavalry Battle

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Izuku's eyes widened as he saw every single team running towards him.

_"I knew that we would be targets, but this is still overwhelming!"_

"It's a battle for the ten million points!" Tetsutesu shouted as his team got closer.

"Get ready to run!" Izuku called out to his teammates.

"Like hell! Get'em Honenuki!" Tetsutesu shouted to his front teammate.

_"Honenuki?"_ Enso wondered. He then saw the ground in front of Tetsutestu's front horse suddenly look as if it was shifting, but also spreading towards them.

_"The grounds changing. But I don't want to find out why."_

"Hold on and keep balance." Enso told his team.

The three listened as Enso formed an aura of white.

"Brute Style..." He raised his right foot up, and the aura around it vibrated intensely.

Bakugo and Todoroki's eyes widened.

"Back up! He's doing something!" Bakugo knocked on Kirishima's head.

"Iida, turn!" Todoroki instructed.

"Earth Tremor!"

Enso slammed his foot into the ground before the class B student's field changing quirk could reach them.

The ground violently shook and cracked around Izuku's team, dirt and stone pillars erupted upwards and were sent flying towards the other teams, cutting off the ground changing quirk the class B student did while shocking everyone else in the process.

"Eek! Back up!" Hagakure shouted to her team, consisting of Jiro, Sato, and Koda. They, along with many other teams, were forced to stop and retreat due to the scattering wave of rock and stone coming towards them from Enso's move.

"Nani!? What is with that amount of brute force! Just shattering the ground and using it as a _weapon _against the other teams!?" Mic shouted.

Izuku was stunned, _"Another move I've yet to see from Enso... How many moves has he already created in each one of his styles?"_

Many teams had backed off.

However, not everyone was fazed by the flying pieces of the earth.

From her spot as the rider, Kendo grew her fists and literally punched each piece of rock and stone out of the air as it came to her, grinning as her team continued to Izuku.

"Gotta try better than that!" She beamed.

A few rocks were smacked, grabbed, and shattered in the air, which Izuku saw that Tetsutetsu's other team member was using her green hair to stretch out and get rid of the rocks.

"Nice job Shiozaki!" Tetsutetsu grinned.

_"Vine-like hair? They stretch really long too." _Enso narrowed his eyes.

Then some explosions occurred, which was obviously Bakugo blasting away everything that came at him.

"Are you telling me to keep away you shits!?"

"We have to move! Ochako! Mei! Look away!" Izuku yelled as he pressed a red button of a switch.

The jetpack Izuku wore activated abruptly, sending his team flying into the sky with the help of Ochako making them weightless.

They soared over many teams underneath them, feeling some relief that they headed to the other side of the arena.

But Enso saw something from the corner of his eye and warned them, "Earphone jacks coming behind us."

Izuku didn't hesitate and slightly turned his back, "I got this!"

He saw the incoming earlobes heading right for him, he raised his arm and aimed his fingers at them, charging up One For All's power.

"Delaware Smash 5%!"

He flicked his fingers and sent a rather strong gust of wind that forced Jiro's earphone jacks back.

"Sorry, Jiro!" Izuku called out as his team flew to the other side of the battlefield.

Jiro couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, "This guy!"

"Wow, Midori is flying! That's so cool! But he still has the ten million! Onward!" Hagakure cheered out.

Jiro grinned, _"We'll get you, Deku."_

Getting to the other side of the field, Ochako pointed out the mechanical boots she was wearing down and directed her team to land safely to the ground.

Upon landing, they started to run at a steady jog as Hatsume glanced up at Izuku, "Well? What do you think of my babies!? Aren't they cute?"

Izuku nodded and looked down at Mei, "These have great mobility! These 'babies' are amazing!"

"Right, aren't they?" Hatsume replied cheerfully.

Hearing no praised to her, Ochako pouted, "It's because I'm making them float..." She muttered under her breath.

Enso noticed her face, _"So obvious..."_

In the meantime, Hagakure directed her team to Izuku's direction. "Keep going! We're going to keep going after them!"

"Hey, wait! Hagakure! Your headband is gone!" Sato pointed out in shock.

"Eh!? When did that happen!?" Hagakure screamed.

Meanwhile, Neito Monoma carried her headband with a smile. "So simple..." He sighed rather arrogantly.

He glanced around at the other teams, looking for more prey.

Only for his eyes to meet with Shinso's a few yards away, both having another person's headband.

"Oh." They both uttered at the same time.

They stared at each other as the horses underneath them ran, both teams looking rather unsure of what to do.

"What should we do?" Tokoyami asked Shinso from the bottom.

Shinso grinned and spoke to Monoma.

"I see you've already nicked someone else's points. What team was it?"

Monoma just smiled back and put a thumb and finger to his own lips, bringing them across as if showing that he was zipping his mouth shut.

Shinso slightly frowned, _"He must've seen me use my quirk at one point during the race... To think he would've seen it and figured it out how it works so quickly though, he's smarter than he looks."_

Shinso didn't want any trouble so early, so he smiled and decided to appeal to Monoma. "We both wanna make it to the next round, and I'm sure you understand what is it that I'm going through, so how about I go to this side, and we forget we saw each other?"

Monoma nodded his head up and down as an answer, to which both teams ran off in separate directions.

Shinso looked down at Tokoyami and his other two teammates, "Keep going by the edges of the arena, we want to lay low for a while."

Dark Shadow came out of Tokoyami and stretched up to Shinso, **"We're not going for the ten million?"**

"Hell no. I want to guarantee a spot in the next round." Shinso answered, keeping an eye out for anyone coming near them.

Tokoyami looked somewhat nervous as he looked back to the other teammates he had, Aoyama and Ojiro, only... their faces looked rather empty.

"Shinso?" Tokoyami called to him.

"Hm? What is it?" Shinso glanced down at him.

"What... What did you do to them?"

Shinso knew what he meant and chuckled. "Exactly what you saw me do. But don't worry about them, they'll be alright. They should even thank me later. I'm bringing them to the final round after all."

"I see..." Tokoyami glanced forward and focused. _"To think that he has such a quirk... How terrifying."_

"Not even two minutes have passed, but this battle went from archenemy to free-for-all!" Present Mic shouted.

Izuku smiled, _"We got some pressure taken off us!"_

"To the right!" Ochako shouted out.

Izuku looked right and saw Kendo's team running towards them, consisting of the bellow shoulder-length dark green-haired girl, the chin-length gray-haired girl, and the mushroom-shaped brown-haired girls of class 1-B.

"Company on the left side too." Enso warned.

Izuku looked left and saw Hagakure's team coming towards them again.

"Midori! We need your points, please!" Hagakure called out.

"Not that easy, Hagakure!" Izuku shouted. He then turned back to his group, "We need to keep moving!"

"Tokage! Now!" Kendo called to one of her teammates.

The dark-green haired girl called Tokage of Kendo's group grinned and stuck her left hand out.

Then her hand and head split off from her body.

"EHH!?" Izuku and Ochako shouted.

But Tokage's head and hand didn't just come off, they actually levitated and dashed towards Izuku's head.

_"What the hell kind of quirk is that!?" _Izuku screamed in his head as the two body parts came at his head.

Enso swiped his left hand out and sent three white energy spheres flying towards the body parts, but both the head and the hand swerved in the air, avoiding them.

_"It's like she's controlling them telekinetically." _Enso thought in shock.

Izuku saw the head and hand zone in on him, but he managed to smack away the hand right before it could reach his headband.

He caught sight of the head opening its mouth from above him to try and catch the ten million points between her teeth, but Izuku raised both hands up and caught the girl's head in his hands.

He stared at Tokage's head, his eyes widening to see it blink suddenly.

"Um, hey. You mind giving up those ten million points for me, please?" The girl's head asked with a grin, revealing her point teeth.

"KYA!" Izuku pulled his arm back and yeeted her head back to her team.

Kendo caught Tokage's head in her large hand rather easily.

"Sorry, Kendo! I missed it! I even tried asking him nicely for it." Tokage said as Kendo passed her back to her body.

"It's alright! Let's just keep going!" Kendo instructed.

"Deku! Behind us!" Ochako yelled.

Izuku turned around to see Jiro's earlobes stretching quickly to his head once more.

"Yikes!" He instinctively reached up and grabbed both of her earlobes from the air, holding them tightly.

"Mmph!" Jiro stopped and started twitching with blush and slightly scrunched up expression forming on her face.

"Jiro! Are you alright!?" Hagakure asked her.

Jiro's legs started shaking, and her body grew hot, _"Let go, idiot! Please let go please! Don't let this happen here!"_

Izuku noticed her reaction, _"Ah! This must be hurting her!"_

He let go, and his team kept running away.

Jiro retracted her earlobes back and turned her head with a blush.

"You alright?" Sato asked her.

"J-Just, give me a moment..." Jiro answered. _"That idiot... Why does it keep being him doing things!?"_

Meanwhile, Izuku's team remained on the move, heading in the opposite direction of Kendo's team.

"You can't run forever, Midoriya!" Kendo grinned.

"Actually, that's the plan!" As he said this, Izuku pressed the switch and the jetpack activated once again, sending his team flying upward into the air once more.

Kendo looked up at them as they flew. "Dang it..."

She then formed a smile in the corner of her mouth, "He's got a good team."

Once in the air, Izuku let out a breath of relief.

_"That was close... Kendo's teammate really surprised me with her quirk..."_

"Down below!" Mei announced.

"Eh?" Izuku looked down, but his eyes widened as multiple projectiles came at him.

"Hang on!" He turned his back, so his jetpack turned and jerked them to the side, avoiding a barrage of purple balls and a tongue and getting farther away.

Izuku looked down and saw that the attacks came from Shoji, who had his arms made to make a dome over his back. Although there was an immediate problem, he noticed...

There wasn't anyone else who was him.

"Shoji is all by himself?!"

Izuku then formed a look of realization.

"No... Those purple balls and that tongue definitely was from-!" before he finished, the dome on Shoji's back partially opened, and out came a barrage of purple balls and a long tongue again.

Izuku aimed his fingers down.

"Delaware Smash 5%!" He flicked his fingers and another force of air shot at the barrage and sent the balls of hair, as well as the long tongue, backward.

Tsu's head poked out from Shoji's back, "Not bad, Midoriya."

"Using one body to hide the smaller ones, how unique." Enso said, slightly impressed.

Two large explosions suddenly rang near their flying team that caught their attention.

Izuku turned to the other side and saw a trail of smoke coming from the ground, leading up to a human missile heading right towards him.

"Kacchan!?" Izuku uttered in shock to see him flying.

Bakugo let out two more explosions from each of his hands and sent himself flying directly at Izuku.

"Don't get carried away! Damn, Deku!" Bakugo yelled as he reached his hands out, sparks starting to fly again.

"Eep!" Ochako uttered by how close and dangerous he was getting.

"Enso!" Izuku yelled.

"On it." Enso swung his arm and released a small wall of scattering energy spheres from his palm.

"Tch! Damn it!" Bakugo saw that he couldn't get passed the many spheres, so he pointed his palms forward at the incoming spheres and released two massive explosions in front of him. "DIE!"

Bakugo's explosions hit all the spheres in the air and caused them all to explode at once, the force of which, causing Bakugo and Izuku's team to get sent back in opposite directions.

However, the force was also strong enough to disperse Izuku's team and send them scattering in the air.

"Wah!" Mei cried out.

"Guys!" Deku shouted in desperation.

"NANI!? Team Midoriya has fallen apart but is still flying!?" Present Mic shouted with his face close to the screen.

Izuku was still flying since he had the jet pack on, but he knew that none of his other teammates had one.

But instead of seeing them falling to the ground, Izuku saw them floating in the air.

However, Ochako was falling.

"Ochako!" Izuku was about to fly downward.

"I'm fine!" she shouted, tapping her body to activate her quirk on herself, now suddenly floating up. "M-My quirk is still active, just go get them! I can float myself!" Ochako reassured him.

Izuku nodded, trusting her. "R-Right!"

He activated his jetpack and first flew to the closest person, Mei.

As he flew towards her, he couldn't help but feel worried.

_"Ochako was using her quirk on the three of us to make it easy for us to fly through the air, but she couldn't use it on herself, or she would end up getting sick after a bit of time. If she keeps using her quirk on herself for too long, then she won't be able to keep herself from being sick! I have to get our team back together!"_

Bakugo had just landed back in his team's arms after the confrontation he just finished attempting against Izuku's team, but seeing his rival's group split up in the sky, he saw a moment of vulnerability.

He grinned.

"Throw me back up!"

"Eh!? But-" Mina started.

"DO IT!" Bakugo shouted.

"Eep!" Mina, Sero, and Kirishima mustered their strength to toss Bakugo upward, to which the teen then used the space to point his palms back and blast himself back towards Izuku.

At the same time, Izuku hugged Mei out of the air, staring at her face. "Mei, are you alright!?"

Mei's eyes were spirals from spinning in the air for so long, but she grinned upon feeling some of Izuku's toned muscles pressed against her, "I am now, did anyone ever tell you that you're beefier than you look?"

"Eh?" Izuku blushed.

"DEKU!" Bakugo shouted, two massive explosives sounding in the air.

Izuku flinched and turned around to see Bakugo flying near him once again, his hand reaching for Izuku's headband with a menacing grin.

Izuku's eyes widened, _"Oh no! He came back so fast!?"_

"I don't think so!"

Everyone saw Enso and Ochako both fly through the air with Enso holding the girl's hand tightly.

He then pulled Ochako around him in a circular motion, spinning in multiple full circles.

Before suddenly throwing her right towards Bakugo.

Ochako stuck her legs out in a dropkick fashion and grinned: "Improvised special move- Flying Meteorite!"

Her feet both crashed right into the side of Bakugo's torso, kicking him away from Izuku.

"Nngh!" Bakugo was sent backward in the air, looking even more pissed off than ever.

"YOU TWO!?" He screamed furiously before once again getting pulled back by Sero's tape.

"Ehhhhh!? Ureshi and Uraraka tag-teamed Bakugo from the air! I thought attacks to people aren't allowed!?"

"Only if the attacks are trying to make people fall off their teams on purpose! But kicking them away while the person who is separated from their team and in the air doesn't count!" Midnight answered.

"Still! What is wrong with these kids!?"

Izuku was shocked, _"But how did Ochako and Enso come together!_?_"_

Enso pointed a palm behind himself and formed an energy ball in it, but he immediately let it explode behind him in order to send himself forward towards Izuku.

Izuku formed a look of understanding, _"Amazing! He copied Bakugo's technique to move in the air!"_

Izuku, still holding onto Mei, flew using the jetpack and grabbed Ochako.

"That was amazing, Ochako!" he said with sparkling eyes.

"Praise me later! For now, we have to get back in formation!" Ochako giggled.

As Enso came near them, he said, "I'll provide cover." and proceeded to fire multiple energy orbs randomly around them, letting them exploded in the air to create a wall of smoke that covered his team.

"Now he created a smokescreen to hide from other teams!"

Bakugo landed back in his team's arms with an ache in his torso from Ochako's kick, "DAMN IT!"

_"He's really pissed!" _Mina, Sero, and Kirishima thought nervously.

After a few seconds of the smoke in the air, Izuku's team came out of it back in order and started falling back to the ground.

"Team Midoriya is back in form!" Mic said.

The crowd riled up in cheers.

They landed smoothly to the ground, thanks to Ochako, and kept on running.

Ochako let Izuku stand on her shoulder as she put her fingertips together rather dizzy, "R-Release!"

The group felt their gravity return, hinted by them feeling Izuku get slightly heavier.

Izuku glanced down at the gravity girl, "Thank you, Ochako! We would've fallen if it weren't for you!"

Ochako looked nauseous but forced a smile, "Heh, thanks... But... I don't think I'm gonna be able to do that again."

Izuku looked serious,_ "She must be starting to feel sick from using her quirk on herself, I don't think we'll be able to fly up again."_

"Okay, for the rest of the battle, we'll have to remain on foot. We can't risk Ochako getting sick."

"S-Sorry..." Ochako muttered, looking ashamed.

Izuku smiled at her, "Don't be! We would've gotten disqualified at that moment if it wasn't for you!"

Ochako smiled.

"As expected, nearly everyone is still after the first place team!" Present Mic shouted.

"Don't repeat the obvious." Aizawa sighed.

Izuku saw more teams heading towards him, including Bakugo and his fiery anger.

_"Crap..."_

Kamui was in the break room watching the sports festival from a television placed in there, holding a bottle of water in his hand and looking rather shocked by the events unfolding in front of him.

"Those class A guys really are great." Death Arms said in astonishment.

"I didn't think I'd see a whole team fly..." Mount Lady added, munching away at the free food available.

"..." Kamui just kept focusing on Enso, "Yes... Great indeed."

"Seven minutes have passed! Let's look at the scoreboard!" Present Mic yelled, pressing a button that projected a screen that showed several rankings.

"Here are the current rankings on the screen! Class A is- Wait a minute."

Everyone looked slightly shocked and confused at the scoreboard.

"Other than Midoriya's team, class A isn't looking too good... Huh!? Bakugo's team has zero points!?" Mic screamed in disbelief.

Bakugo's eyes widened, "What?!" He put a hand to his head and found that his headband was gone.

He turned left and saw Monoma holding his points.

"He got us!" Mina cried out.

"Damn, and here I was thinking that I could sneak away." Monoma grinned.

"Give that back, we'll kill you!" Bakugo shouted.

Monoma's team stopped for a moment to let their leader turn back and speak, "Despite what your speaker said about our classes earlier, it's clear as day to see that even Class 1-A can be predictable too."

"Huh?" Bakugo looked pissed.

"All of you went for the ten million points, all of you tried to make it to the top to show off."

He tied the headband to his head.

"My class went the smarter path to just stay within the ranks, making sure that we at least move on. After all, there's no point in hustling to be at the top if you can just guarantee to move on, right?"

He narrowed his eyes with a smug look.

"So we just kept to ourselves enough to pass, while also examining everyone's quirks and abilities from the back. Getting ourselves ready for when the battles really do get important."

_"They did this as a class!?"_ Kirishima thought in shock.

"This is much better than being temporarily on 'top' and having everyone go after you in the next round." Monoma chuckled as he glanced at Izuku's team running away.

"I suppose we should be going now. See ya." He finally waved as his team started running.

Bakugo grinned evilly with a menacing aura, "Kirishima..."

Kirishima looked up at him, "Hey Bak-AH!" he noticed just how bloodthirsty their rider looked.

**"Change of plans, before Deku, we're going to crush them!"** Bakugo's voiced echoed in a chilling matter.

"R-Right!" Their team then proceeded to chase after Monoma's team, aiming for total abolishment.

Shinso watched them from afar with a grin, "That was a bad idea. He should've just left that guy alone."

"Yes... Bakugo is relentless." Tokoyami agreed.

Shinso looked down and patted Dark Shadow. "At least I won't have to worry about seeing him in the finals, I'm sure."

He looked up at the timer, "Just a bit of time left." He then glanced at Izuku's team running, "How long can they last, I wonder?"

At the same time, Izuku watched as Bakugo's team started heading straight for Monoma's team, giving himself a small sense of relief as his own team continued running.

_"Phew, I can worry about two fewer teams coming for us now, especially since one of them is Kacchan's. Hopefully, this makes things easier on us-"_

He felt his teammates skid to a halt underneath him, making Izuku nearly lose balance for a moment.

"What happened-!?"

His eyes widened to see Todoroki's cold eyes staring right at him, the rest of his teammates looking just as dangerous.

Izuku sighed, "It won't be that easy, huh?"

"The cavalry battle is in the second half! Who will win the ten million points in the end?!"

Izuku looked right and saw multiple teaming honing in on them.

"Keep moving!" Izuku shouted, his team starting to run away.

"Iida forward!" Todoroki yelled.

"Yes!" Iida activated his quirk and blasted faster than running speed.

_"How are they moving that fast without falling!?" _Izuku wondered as he looked behind them.

He suddenly saw that Momo and Kaminari both wore roller skates behind Iida, letting Iida basically pull them rather than run themselves.

_"They'll catch up to us in no time!"_

"Yaoyorozu, prepare to guard us and conduct electricity!" Todoroki instructed. "Kaminari you-"

"I know what I have to do!" Kaminari yelled with a grin.

Izuku saw a metal come out of Momo's arm and connect to the ground, a tarp of some kind also arising out of her stomach. He also saw some sparks of electricity starting to come out of Kaminari.

"Enso!" Izuku called out, hoping he noticed it as well.

Enso looked back and saw what Toodorki's team was doing, "We have to turn." he said, eyes and aura turning white.

His team stopped and quickly turned so that Enso was facing Todoroki's team, raising his right foot with his aura vibrating around it.

"Brute style..."

Todoroki grabbed the tarp passed by Momo and pulled it over him and his team, covering everyone but Kaminari.

"Indiscriminate shock-" Kaminari started, "-1.3 Million volts!"

He released electricity all over.

"Now!" Izuku yelled to Enso.

"...Earth Tremor!" Enso finished, stomping his foot and cracking the earth underneath once again. A wave of dirt and stone shot up from the ground around Izuku's team, essentially making a wall that took the electricity coming at them.

The rest of the teams weren't so lucky.

Everyone else felt the full force of the charge from their own teams, feeling their bodies stiffen up and get electrified in place.

When the electric current weakened, Izuku aimed his finger at the mound of dirt and stone that had been sent up from the ground and flicked his finger.

"Delaware Smash 5%!"

The force was enough to pick up many pieces of the earth scattered and send them straight at Todoroki's team.

But Todoroki noticed the debris and pulled the tarp off, "Yaoyorozu!"

Momo pulled out a grenade of the sort and tossed it in the air right at incoming debris. It went off and expanded foam that enveloped all the flying pieces, stopping them in place and causing them to fall down and breaking apart.

"Less than six minutes left..." Todoroki noticed on the timer.

He grabbed the metal pole Momo made with his right hand and froze it and, due to it connecting to the ground, it also froze the terrain and kept expanding to the other teams around him.

Every team was left stuck in place in shock by their feet frozen solid.

"Nani!? Todoroki froze the crowd of teams in place!"

"He kept them all still with Kaminari's quirk only to then freeze them... Only Midoriya's teammate managed to keep a wall of dirt to keep the electric currents and ice from getting to them." Aizawa added.

Kendo was still recovering from being electrocuted and rubbed her head, _"Man, that really stung..."_

But then she realized that something was missing from her head.

_"My points!? Where-!?"_

"I might as well take these, sorry." Todoroki said, holding up their points as he got ahead.

Kendo looked shocked, looking down at her team, "Can you guys move?"

"No, our feet are literally frozen to the ground!" Tokage said.

Kendo pouted, looking rather frustrated. "Damn it!"

She put her hands on her face and sighed. _"After I promised Midoriya that I would see him in the finals too..."_

"I think the only way to guarantee that we can stay away from them is by flying!" Izuku shouted to his team.

"But won't we need gravity girl to make us floaty again! What if she gets sick?!" Mei asked worriedly.

"I-I can do it if it's just you guys!" Ochako tried to reassure them.

"There's no time, we're at a dead-end." Enso warned them.

Their team stopped right by the out of bounds line, unable to back up more.

"Move to the right-!" Before Izuku could finish, cut off their path to the right, then immediately afterword their path to the left was cut off by another wall of ice.

_"He's cut off our escapes!"_ Izuku thought in distress.

"Team Midoriya has nowhere to go! And team Todoroki is heading towards them!" Mic shouted.

"Enso! Can you do something about this ice!?" Izuku asked him.

"I can make a big enough path for us to go through, but that requires much more intense force. And I don't wish to risk you falling off again. For now, our safest bet is to stall here."

They then saw Todoroki freeze the ground heading towards Izuku's direction, but Izuku's team just stayed on Todoroki's left and avoided the ice.

_"Damn, he's paying attention. He knows that I'm not using... 'his' power." _Todoroki thought in anger.

"Get closer!" he then shouted to Iida.

"Right!" Iida started to move forward with his speed.

Enso's eyes and aura then shined blue.

"Punk Style..." He stuck his left hand into the air and fired over a dozen white energy spheres into the air.

_"What's he doing!?" _Iida wondered, prompting him to stop in place.

Enso's eyes flashed in their blue color, and the energy spheres in the sky also turned completely dark blue.

"...Mind Storm" Enso finished his move by swinging his hand down and sending all of the energy spheres raining downward at Todoroki's team.

Todoroki's team spotted the rain of energy coming down at them and were shocked.

_"But if it hits us, then that'll clearly be a penalty!"_ Todoroki thought in confusion by why he fired the attack.

"Guys!" Momo passed him and her other team members shields at an attempt to take the attack. They all held their shields up in an effort to cover themselves from the barrage.

But instead of directly hitting them, the energy spheres suddenly changed directions and started circling around Todoroki's team at fast speeds instead.

"What the hell!? They're around us!" Kaminari exclaimed in shock.

Todoroki saw Enso with his hand sticking out, looking rather focused with his eyes completely blue.

_"He's controlling them with his head!"_

Izuku looked down at Enso, _"Such a strong move, to be able to control his own projectiles in that way."_

"Team Todoroki is surrounded by Ureshi's insane energy balls!? How are they gonna get out of this!?"

"I'll just keep them there until the time is done. If they try to move, then they'll blow themselves up so it won't count towards us." Enso said, maintaining his focus.

_"That's so evil, Enso..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

Todoroki grit his teeth, "The bastard..."

Iida then raised his head, "Everyone, there's not much time left. It's clear that the only way to get out of this is by moving right through it. So... I'll take it. You won't be able to use me after this, but I'm counting on you!"

Todoroki, Momo, and Kaminari looked confused.

"Iida?" Todoroki said.

Iida took a deep breath, "Hang on tight! Make sure you get it, Todoroki!"

Iida's engines suddenly burst out with blue flames, "Torque over _Reciproburst_!"

Iida blasted forward faster than ever before, his body slammed into the energy spheres that were spiraling in front of him and they exploded on him on contact.

The multiple small explosions stung, but Iida knew that he had to keep going.

_"NNgh! Not yet!"_ At the given moment, he ran so fast that despite taking the first hits from the projectiles, he managed to outrun the chain reaction of explosions from the other energy spheres, keeping his other teammates fine.

"Move-!" Izuku saw Todoroki's team there, but then suddenly, they weren't.

Iida continued to move forward away from Izuku's team before he felt his engines sputter and was forced to stop, panting hard with bruises and even a few burns on his chest and clothes from taking the initial first explosions from that trap.

Everyone was shocked, Todoroki was too, but he held something in his hand that made what Iida had done entirely worth it.

The ten million points.

"What was with that sudden explosion of speed!? Team Todoroki now has the ten million points while team Midoriya has zero!"

Enso turned his head with his eyes widened. _"He ran right through that wall? To think he'd do that while I was so focused."_

"We have to get it back!" Izuku shouted, looking stressed out and sweating hard.

Enso's eyes turned back to red and flashed, "Roger."

"Let's go!" Ochako shouted.

Izuku's team turned and started running towards Todoroki's team.

"Keep moving!" Todoroki shouted, snapping his team out of their stunned stated.

"Two minutes remaining!" Mic shouted.

Izuku felt his hope crumbling, "There's no time to keep running! I have to do something now, or we lose!"

Ochako looked up anxiously, "Don't worry, Deku! You'll think of something, you always do! Don't let Iida leave us in the dust like that!"

Izuku looked down at her with a taken aback look, _"That's right..."_

He clenched his hands into fists, _"Everyone's counting on me! Come on, Izuku! Think!"_

He looked down at Mei's goggles.

He glanced at the smoke still left behind by Iida.

He remembered Bakugo flying through the air.

"Ochako! Could you still use your quirk on me to make me float?!" Izuku asked of her.

"Eh? If it's just you, then sure!"

Izuku then grinned as he thought of a plan.

A stupid plan.

But at this point, it was all or nothing.

"Everyone! We need to turn to the side so that Ochako can point her mechanical boot to Todoroki's team! Ochako! When we turn, you point the bottom of your boot to blow air to the ground so that we kick up a wall of dust that'll cover Todoroki's sight!"

"Eh!? Won't that cover our line of sight to?!" Ochako asked, clearly confused.

"Don't worry, just do it! Enso, once the dust is kicked up, find out where Todoroki's team is located and how fast they're going!"

"Alright."

Izuku's team then turned so that Ochako's electric boot was blowing air at an angle to kick up large clouds of dust from the ground in front of her.

"Eh!? What's team Midoriya doing!?"

Once the dust was kicked up, Izuku's team stopped and let Enso focus, blue colors appearing around him.

"Punk Style-Calm Mind." He closed his eyes and felt the entirety of his surroundings around him.

"Ochako, use your quirk on me!" Izuku said, reaching his hand down to her.

Ochako looked curious but touched him, "There!"

Izuku felt himself slightly floating but used his hands to hold on to Enso's shoulders while pushing his feet down.

Todoroki turned and saw the dense wall of dust obscuring his sight, _"What are they doing?"_

After a second, Enso opened his eyes, "Eleven o'clock and at about five miles per hour!"

"Thank you!"

Izuku then reached down and grabbed Mei's goggles, pulling them off of her head.

"Wha- my baby!" Mei cried out, her yellow eyes revealed with shock.

"Sorry, I have to borrow these!" Izuku yelled as he put them on.

"One minute remaining!" Mic yelled.

"I'll leave the rest to you guys!"

"The rest to us-?" Enso didn't finish as Izuku's body glowed in orange, red, and green colors.

_"Please let this work!"_

Izuku took a deep breath, "Full Cowling!"

He then used his teammate's hands as a footing to jump off and dive into the wall of dust.

"Midoriya left his team!?"

"What!?" Toshinori yelled from his seat by what he saw.

Izuku had jumped in the direction that Enso had pointed out Todoroki's team was going, even estimating where they would be when he came out of the dust.

With his 5% increase in power and with Ochako's quirk, Izuku soared forward in the air at blazing speeds, hands behind him as he flew.

And by wearing Mei's goggles, Izuku's eyes were protected by the dust he passed through, not letting any of it obscure his sight.

He had only been in the wall of dust for about a second, then coming out of it flying with a serious expression that showed just how determined he was to get his points back.

Todoroki was staring at the clouds of dust as his team kept running, but in just a moment of blinking, he suddenly saw Izuku fly out and heading right towards him.

He was taken aback, _"He really jumped!?"_

Izuku stuck his right hand out and aimed for Todoroki's head, only to see that the multiple headbands he was wearing were inside out.

The world slowed as his thoughts went rampant.

_"He turned them inside out to hide their point values, but he took the ten million last and put it on, so it must be the one on top!"_

Seeing Izuku reaching his arm out, Todoroki instinctively lifted his left arm up and formed some flames on it.

Izuku was surprised to see flames for the first time from the boy, but he didn't let that faze him from doing his next actions.

_"But if I want to actually grab the ten million, then I have to move his arm aside!"_

Izuku channeled power into his right arm and pulled his own arm inward rather than reaching for one of Todoroki's headband.

Before he got close to him, Izuku swung his arm with enough force to create a gust of wind, pushing Todoroki's arm to the side and leaving him vulnerable as he got close.

Todoroki didn't know what happened, he felt a breeze on his arm and suddenly saw it to the side, but what shocked him even higher were the few flames on it.

_"My left...?! What am I-!? _

_"Now's my chance!"_ Izuku then reached out left arm and aimed for the headband on top.

_"This one!" _

He finally snatched only one of Todoroki's headbands as he passed by him.

"Midoriya snatched _two _headbands!"

Izuku grinned as he flew forward but came to a sudden confusing thought.

_"Wait... two?"_ He glanced down at his hand and only saw one headband, _"How-?"_

"But where is he gonna land!?"

Izuku blinked as he realized that this was a problem. Since he was flying forward quickly, especially without gravity, he would reach the out of bounds any second.

He clenched his teeth together, _"There's only one thing I can do now!"_

Quickly pointing his right hand to the ground while tightly gripping the headband in his left hand, Izuku started to charge power and make his fingers glow rather violently.

"Delaware Smash... 100%!"

An explosion of force came from Izuku's finger as he flicked it, propelling himself back and soaring into the air. Huge gusts of winds passed by all the teams and forced them to cover their eyes, but the winds also reached the audience, amazed by this.

"Man, what's with that power!?"

"Look, he's flying!"

Izuku was hundreds of feet off the ground.

"NANI!? Midoriya just turned himself into a human missile and is flying sky high! Wait a minute, isn't that too high?!"

Due to Ochako still having her quirk on, Izuku's lack of gravity made him fly even higher.

Ochako saw this and looked terrified.

"Oh, no!" She didn't hesitate to put her fingertips together.

"R-Release!"

Izuku regained his gravity and stopped at the peak so high above the stadium that everyone looked like ants below.

He blinked.

Then he started falling.

_"EEEEEK! I'm falling fast! I'm falling fast!"_

His eyes started watering from the wind getting into his eyes.

Actually, he was wearing Mei's goggles, so it was actually his own scared tears.

_"Crap, crap, crap!"_

"Midoriya is falling too fast! If he hits the ground, then it'll be a messy SPLAT!"

"Don't give that image!" Aizawa shouted.

Toshinori stood up with an intent to buff up and save him, but-

"Hold on now." Nezu grabbed his wrist.

Toshinori looked down at him, "But then he'll-!"

"Don't worry." Nezu chuckled, looking down at Enso below.

Izuku felt himself getting dizzy and closed his eyes.

_"I trust them... They'll get me..."_

"IZUKUUUUU!" Inko screamed from her seat, her eyes inches from the television screen and her apartment flooding from the amount of tears she was waterfalling.

Izuku heard the concerned cries of the people underneath getting louder and louder, indicating that he was getting closer to the ground. Their voices muffled as Izuku felt his ears muffle up all sound.

_"Please!"_

He then abruptly stopped in the air.

_"Eh? Is it what I think it is?"_

Izuku hesitantly opened his eyes to find himself just entering from the top of the arena, finding himself staring at the crowd, who looked rather shocked by what happened.

He had intense blue colors around him, the same color as the aura from a specific person.

"NANI!? Midoriya stopped in mid-air!?"

Izuku smiled already slightly turned his head, seeing the person's intense blue eyes and aura focusing on him.

_"Ens-WHOA!" _Izuku suddenly felt his body get yanked downward at a diagonal angle.

He flew down until feeling himself land into a pair of arms.

_"Nngh... My head... That was too sudden."_ He weakly removed Mei's goggles off of his eyes and saw the bright sunlight shining down on him, also finding the eyes of his team looking down at him as well.

"You're a real idiot, you know that?" That was the first thing he heard.

"Heh... Hi to you to Enso." Izuku smiled.

"Welcome back, Midoriya!" Mei giggled.

"And that's a SAVE by Midoriya's team!"

"DEKU!"

Izuku flinched, _"Oh, come on!"_

Bakugo started blasting towards him over the ice, "Just give me your damn points!"

Enso raised a hand up and started forming an energy sphere.

Todoroki's team started running towards then with fire in Todoroki's cold eyes.

But...

"Wait! Wait! Time's already been up!"

Bakugo fell to the ground.

"..."

There was a moment of silence.

Then the crowd cheered.

"That's it for the U.A battle royale here!" Mic laughed.

Kendo looked up at the screen as Izuku's team was shown to everyone.

"Team Midoriya! Or actually, Midoriya specifically. We didn't see the points you grabbed from Todoroki in that fast pace and hella intense moment! Show us if you made it to the next round or if you'll end up crying miserably!" Present Mic grinned.

"Way to put them on the spot like that." Aizawa sighed.

Izuku was placed onto his feet, with Mei looking excited, Ochako looking worried, and Enso remaining emotionless.

Izuku nervously held the facedown headband in his hand, everyone staring at the screen at him now.

He turned it face up, but a look of terror formed in his eyes.

**70 Points**

A sense of dread overtook him as he realized.

_"Todoroki must've changed positions of the headbands he wore, they... they..."_

His hand tightly gripped around the headband, his eyes starting to water.

_"They got us..."_

"Huh? What are you crying for?! Stop keeping us waiting and show us the other one!"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked_, "Other... one?"_

Izuku saw his teammates staring at him confusingly and turned to his left, where a second headband was wrapped around his shoulder.

"Wha-!?" He didn't have time to question it as Enso swiped the second headband and stuck it up to everyone.

There was a moment of silence.

Then a loud cheer from Mic.

"Team Midoriya got back the ten million points! That automatically makes them in the first place!"

"YEAAAAAAHHHH!" The crowd screamed.

"To think that they got back their points in the last second, that's amazing!"

Izuku blinked multiple times, staring at 70 point headband in his hand. He didn't feel as excited as he should've been, he wasn't celebrating like everyone else.

He was confused.

His mind flashed back to when he had grabbed Todoroki's headband, vividly recalling the events of what happened.

_"Wh-What? I only grabbed one headband, I know I did! So how did I get another onto my shoulder?"_

"Now, let's look at the top four teams moving on!"

Izuku glanced up at the results on the screen.

"First place, as I said before, is team Midoriya! Getting back in their top spot in the nick of time!"

The crowd cheered once more as Enso handed Izuku back the ten million point headband, to which Izuku was still confused about.

"In second place! Team Bakugo!"

"Man, to think Bakugo would target one team because he took our points..." Mina pouted.

"Oh well, second place isn't that ba-"

"DAMN IT!" Bakugo cut Sero off, repeatedly slamming the ground angrily.

_"Wow..."_ They sweatdropped.

"Third place! Team Todoroki!"

"To think Izuku would risk it all to come and get his points back..." Iida said.

"It sure sounds like him, doesn't it?" Momo chuckled.

Iida smiled, "Yes... It sure does."

"Fourth place, Team Tetsute- Huh!? What!? It's team Shinso!? When did you come from behind!?"

Many people were shocked and confused to find that the team that didn't have any excitement coming from it was the one that passed to the next round too.

Shinso spun the headbands from the tip of his finger and grinned next to Tokoyami.

"See? Everything worked out fine. Hopefully, I don't go against you in the finals."

Tokoyami looked to Ojiro and Aoyama, both looking very confused as to where they were.

"What happened?" Ojiro uttered.

"Thank you for your hard work." Shinso said before walking away.

Tokoyami, stared off as he left, looking into his own palm, "We... didn't do much, did we?"

Dark Shadow came out, **"No, but don't worry! We'll show them our stuff in the next round!"**

"These four teams will advance to the final round! Give a round of applause!"

Izuku wiped his eyes of the tears that had started to form up before, not looking happy.

_"What happened?"_

"Hey, Izuku!" Mei said next to him, "You mind giving me back my goggles now?"

"Eh?" Izuku looked down in his other hand and saw that he was indeed still holding the inventor girl's goggles. "A-Ah! Sorry!"

Mei giggled, "No worries!"

Izuku handed her back the goggles with a small smile, eyes focused on them as Mei took them.

"What? You like them? Sorry, but they're my personal babies!" Mei said.

"N-No, I'm looking to take them. It's just... They helped win us the game. Without them, I couldn't have seen been able to snatch our points back clearly. So... Thank you, Mei."

Mei formed a gleaming smile and gave him a thumbs-up, "You're very much welcome!"

Izuku saw her yellow cross-haired eyes shine momentarily by the sunlight as she smiled, mesmerized once more by their uniqueness.

Mei noticed him staring.

"What's wrong? Were you checking me out my eyes? Pretty bold, aren't ya?" Mei said with a mischievous grin, playfully nudging Izuku with her elbow.

Izuku immediately turned red and backed up, flailing his arms in front of him, "N-N-No! I-I mean yes! I-I mean... I-I just saw them and... well-"

"Just messing with ya! I know they're weird!" Mei reassured him.

"Weird? N-No! I didn't think that! I-I thought that… they look pretty... Like gemstones." Izuku muttered embarrassingly.

Mei had a blank look on her face.

"Ah! Sorry for saying something so weird!" Izuku nervously backed up.

Mei put her goggles back on and turned around, "No, you didn't say anything bad. It's just that... You're one of the only people who's ever said that to me."

"Eh?" Izuku didn't expect that.

He suddenly felt a pain in his finger.

"Ouch! What the-!?" He turned and saw that Enso had grabbed him by the hand. "E-Enso?"

Enso didn't say anything, he kept his gaze on Izuku's hand, holding it up and examining his finger.

"What's this?" He asked, pointing out the one swollen and broken finger Izuku has.

_"Ah, that's right... I had to break my finger to launch myself into the air with 100% of One For All..." _Izuku remembered.

"I thought we got over this, 'breaking your own bones' thing?" Enso told him.

Izuku shook a little nervously as he answered, "W-Well… This was the only thing that I thought about to get our point back to you guys. We were short on time."

Enso sighed and let go of Izuku's hand. "Listen... Izuku, the more you break your body, the harder it will be to heal it back. I only have a few more of those 'supplements' left, and even if I use one on you, having a significant injury may still issue you with nasty scars even if it heals. So... don't push yourself too much."

Izuku looked at his broken finger, thinking about Enso's words and looking slightly sad. "Sorry... I'll be more careful."

"Good, go to Recovery Girl to heal that and then eat something. Our next battles will be the most important."

Enso then put his hands in his pockets and proceeded to walk away, leaving Izuku there wondering about his choices.

Ochako pouted, "Can't he just be happy that we won?"

Mei went next to Izuku and chuckled. "Wow, he doesn't really seem to like you."

Izuku chuckled for a brief moment, turning towards the two of them with a small smile.

"When he says something like that, it just shows that he cares."

Todoroki stared at Izuku from afar, glaring at the boy as he recalled what happened in that one instant.

_"I was overwhelmed... I actually instinctively tried to use my left side..."_

Todoroki glanced down at his left hand.

_"But it wasn't just that... Midoriya grabbed the wrong headband, I know it."_

He clenched his hand tightly.

_"And yet..."_

His mind flashed back to the exact moment Izuku snatched a headband from him.

_"I saw something else..."_

He saw something behind Izuku at that exact moment, something that he couldn't explain.

_"Red eyes..."_

Todoroki looked back up at Enso in the distance, who was walking out of the arena.

_"It wasn't Ureshi, those eyes I saw... were different."_

He started following Izuku out of the arena, eyes narrowing.

_"Who... or 'what' was it?"_

"Now we'll take an hour break for lunch before we start the afternoon festivities! See ya!" Present Mic announced.

Everyone else got up and started moving.

"Hey, Eraserhead, let's go grab food."

"I'm going to sleep..."

A thump was heard.

"Well then... See ya next time!"


	24. A Cold Intermission

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{Breakroom}~

Kamui stared at the television screen, just finishing to watch the cavalry battle end.

"Wow, that kid was crazy. Blasting himself back that high into the air." Death Arms chuckled.

"I kind of thought that he was gonna splat." Mount Lady said without even looking that worried.

Death Arms turn to Kamui, "So... What did you think?"

"I think he's rather... interesting." Kamui entwined his fingers. "But I hope that we can see his full potential in the next round."

"Well, we're going to have to watch it from outside. We have to get back on shift." Death Arms said as he stood up.

"..." Kamui turned his head away, _"Damn it..."_

* * *

~{One Hour Intermission}~

The students were leaving the stadium and heading for the cafeteria, so many hungry after the cavalry battle.

Hagakure walked up to Mina rather cheerfully, "Great job on making it to the next round Mina! I'll be rooting for you!"

Mina smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, even though Bakugo only included me on his team to counteract Todoroki's ice, I still say I really helped the team out."

"Did you see Midori fly, though? Wasn't that insane!? He was like 'boom!' and then went 'weeeeee!' in the air!" Hagakure said, her arms sleeves energetically moving around to show how excited she was.

Mina laughed, "Yeah! He was so cool! He's done so many amazing things since I've met him!"

Although invisible, Hagakure was grinning, "You mean when he made your heart skip a beat during the hero lesson battle?"

Mina's cheeks formed a dark shade of lilac color, "H-Hey! You said you wouldn't bring that up!"

Hagakure squealed. "But it was the first time that I've ever seen you blush because of a guy!"

"Q-Quiet! I was just caught off guard, okay!?" Mina looked rather mad, "One moment he's acting all wimpy and then the next he acted so…so cool!"

"Exactly, that's why he's amazing!" Hagakure said, blushing herself despite not showing on her invisible face.

"Let's just go eat..." Mina pouted, marching off ahead.

"Eh? Wait for me!" Hagakure ran after her.

At the same time, Ochako started running in place right beside Iida, cheeks puffed out and pouting angrily.

"Iida, I didn't know you had a special move like that! No fair!" she said.

Iida adjusted his glasses, "It has nothing to do with fairness! I just never said anything about it until now!"

Momo walked up to the two, "Still, despite having Iida's special move, we were caught off guard by Izuku suddenly flying right at us. I should've known that he would've done such a thing." She chuckled.

"He didn't tell us about his plan either, he just came up with it on the spot once we got our points taken." Ochako chuckled.

"But I didn't expect to see him flying so high, I got anxious." Iida said.

"Speaking of Izuku, have either of you two seen him?" Momo asked, realizing that Izuku wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Actually... where is Deku?" Ochako repeated while looking around as well.

* * *

~{Faculty and Student Entrance}~

Izuku and Todoroki stared at one another from opposite sides of the corridor in silence. Todoroki had both of his hands in his pockets, whereas Izuku had his own hands straight at his sides, shaking nervously at the cold teen's emotionless stare.

Both teens were alone, as everyone else was off getting food.

Izuku gulped down air and asked, "Wh-What did you want to talk about?"

Todoroki remained silent as the shadows on his face seemed to make his eyes shine at Izuku.

"U-Um, if we don't hurry, the cafeteria will probably be crowded."

The cold teen said nothing once more.

Izuku took a deep breath and formed a stern expression, "L-Look, if you're not gonna say anything, then I'll just leave."

He took a step to go outside, but that was when Todoroki spoke.

"I was overpowered."

Izuku stopped and looked at him, shocked to hear that.

"Overpowered so much that I broke my pledge."

Izuku glanced at Todoroki's left hand, _"He didn't want to use his fire even if it would clearly give him an advantage..."_

Todoroki pulled his left hand from his pocket and glanced down at it. "Iida, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu… none of them felt it..."

He looked up at Izuku, "At the last instant when you came flying at me, I was the only one who was overpowered…"

His eyes narrowed, "Only me, someone who's lived with a person who's been obsessed with All Might's power for so long, that I know how it would feel to experience it after just hearing descriptions from 'him'..."

Hearing All Might get brought up in this, Izuku tensed up.

"What… Wh-What does that mean?"

"It means that I felt something similar from you based on what my old man has said about All Might's power..."

Izuku's pupils shook in fear of what Todoroki was implying.

"A force that can move any immovable object, a force that can overwhelm you easily, with one move, even your quirks look similar in a way..."

Izuku kept his mouth closed and stared intensely at Todoroki.

"Midoriya... are you...?" Todoroki formed a glare as he was going to ask his question.

Izuku shivered but prepared for the worst.

"...All Might's secret love child?"

Izuku's face deadpanned and turned comedically black and white. _"Eh?"_

He blinked.

_"Secret... what now?"_

His mind instantly flashed back to what Todoroki before the start of the festival.

_"All Might has his eye on you, doesn't he?"_

_"THAT'S WHAT HE WAS THINKING!?"_

"Well... are you?" Todoroki asked again.

"N-No, of course not!" Izuku stuttered. "After all-!"

Izuku stopped himself as he remembered something, then looking down at the ground and rubbing his own arm with a sad look on his face.

"Even _I_ wouldn't know if he's my father or not..."

Todoroki raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?"

Izuku glanced up as he genuinely thought about it.

"Well... I never knew my father was growing up. I was just told that he disappeared when I was young. My mom… never told me anything about him. All I ever knew was his name..."

Todoroki raised an eyebrow.

Izuku sighed as he remembered, "Hisashi... Midoriya... That was all I was told."

Todoroki's cold expression still didn't change. "I see... But then there is still a chance that All Might may be your father-"

"No, that's not possible." Izuku deadpanned without hesitation. "His real name is Yagi Toshinori, it was given out to the public many times. Look at him, then look me, there are so many differences between him and me that it wouldn't even be possible for him to be related to me in any way of blood."

Todoroki sweatdropped, _"He shot down my thinking so fast..."_

He then closed his eyes, "But... 'any way of blood'? So that means that there is a different way that the two of you are connected that you can't talk about, right?"

Izuku flinched.

"I see, so that's the case." Todoroki concluded just by Izuku's action.

Izuku nervously averted his eyes away now.

There was a moment of silence between them. Todoroki stared intently at Izuku while Izuku just averted his eyes from a direct gaze from him.

Todoroki spoke again:

"I'm sure you know that my old man, Endeavor, has been stuck as the number two hero for a long time."

Izuku turned back to Todoroki, looking confused.

He continued, "So if you have something from the number one hero… then I have an even more reason to beat you."

_"He really thinks me as that important for him to beat..."_ Izuku thought as he closed his mouth nervously.

"My old man has a strong sense of desire to rise in the world. As a hero, he won a name for himself by using force... Because of that, the living legend, All Might, is a great eyesore for him."

"B-Because he wasn't stronger than All Might?" Izuku concluded that to be the only case.

Todoroki turned his head to the side.

"Yes... Since he couldn't surpass All Might, he moved onto a backup plan he had."

"N-Next plan? What sort of plan would he think to have? And why tell me this?" Izuku asked worryingly.

Todoroki made eye contact with Izuku with a glare.

"You've heard of quirk marriages, right?"

Izuku's pupils shrunk. "Wh-What? Wh-Why would the number two hero...?"

"You seem to know about them. Well, they became a problem for the second and third generations of superhumans. Choosing a spouse based only on strengthening your own quirk and passing it onto your children..."

"F-Forcing people into marriage." Izuku stuttered. "Y-You're not saying that Endeavor-?"

"It's exactly what you think." Todoroki cut him off, a tone of anger in his voice. "He had the money and accomplishments, able to win over anyone he wanted by using it. Including..."

Todoroki looked down, shadows on his eyes.

"My mother."

The world darkened around Izuku and Todorki, with Izuku's mouth agape and eyes widened all the way.

_"S-So, he really did..."_

"My damn old man is only trying to fulfill his own desire... Repeatedly trying again and again in order to raise a child that had the potential to surpass All Might."

Todoroki's pupil shrunk, and his eyes narrowed in pure anger as he said this aloud.

His fists started shaking, "It's so annoying… He acts as if he owns me as if I'm sort of tool for him to use..."

"T-Todoroki?" Izuku whimpered.

The boy just continued, "In my memories, my mother is always crying.

He raised his left palm up to his face, feeling upon the large scar on his face.

"'Your left side is unsightly'... This was what she said to me…" He grit his teeth, "...as she poured boiling water on me."

Trails of sweat came from the side of Izuku's head, pupils shaking as he took in all of this disturbing information. He didn't know how to react…He didn't know what to say. He was too shocked to speak, only able to listen.

Todoroki lowered his hand from his face with his eyes focused on Izuku now.

"This is my reason for picking a fight with you. To show 'him' what I can do, without using that damn old man's quirk. No..."

His eyes almost seemed to flash.

"I'll reject him completely by winning first place without it!" He finally declared.

They both stood in a passing moment of silence.

Izuku thought about just how different his and Todoroki's worlds were, it honestly terrified him how a 'hero' was able to do this type of thing by using his status.

"I don't care if you can't tell me how you're connected to All Might. No matter what you are to him, I will rise above you with just my right side…"

Seeing that he said everything he had to say, Todoroki turned and started walking out of the tunnel.

Izuku stared at Todoroki as he walked away from him. "_To think he went through so much..."_

His hands clenched into fists, _"But... If he keeps going on this path, if he keeps rejecting his own power, then..." _Izuku's fists tightened more. _"Then...!"_

He formed a serious look on his face.

_"Then he'll never be at his full potential. It'll get in the way of his hero career forever."_

Izuku ran out of the tunnel and caught up to Todoroki, stopping a few yards away from him.

"Todoroki!"

The fire and ice boy stopped walking, yet he didn't turn around.

Izuku put a hand to his own chest, "I'm here right now because of all the people who have supported me..." He saw flashes of everyone that has ever helped him go through his mind. "Even now, I was only able to make it to the next round because of my team."

Todoroki looked back at him, looking unamused.

"My goal right now isn't to beat you, it's to beat someone else..."

He thought about his own declaration to Enso.

_"For the rest of this time, I'm going to find a way to beat you. I'm gonna fight through you and whatever style you throw at me! I'm going to win the festival. I'm going to make sure no one forgets me! I'm... I'm going to show the world that... 'I Am Here!"_

Izuku glanced at his own hand, "But in order to beat that person, it's clear that I have to be able to beat everyone else."

He balled his fists, "That includes you, Todoroki."

Todoroki narrowed his eyes.

"Now that I made it this far from other's support, it would be a disgrace for me not try my hardest, for me to not put everything I have into whatever next challenge we have. I'm going to give it my all..."

Izuku then pointed at Todoroki, "So I hope you do the same. Otherwise, you'll never become a true hero."

Both of their hair started to blow with the breeze, Todoroki glaring at Izuku while Izuku showed just how serious he was.

Todoroki then turned around and continued to walk off.

Izuku lowered his finger and watched as Todoroki made his way to the cafeteria, leaving himself standing alone outside.

_"I hope you don't stay on this path Todoroki..."_

As Todoroki ended up by himself in the U.A. halls, he stopped as he realized something.

_"I was so engrossed in talking about Midoriya's connection with All Might and my old man that I forgot to ask him about those red eyes..."_

He looked up as his mind flashed back to the red eyes when Izuku grabbed his headband. The next moment, another headband disappeared right after he saw those red eyes.

Red eyes that weren't Izuku's.

_"I suppose it doesn't matter... No matter what, I'll beat him. There won't be a single flame seen from me."_

* * *

Izuku walked in the direction of the lunch area with his head down, still looking concerned after his confrontation with Todoroki. An hour was rather long for lunch, so he knew that he would have plenty of time to eat, yet he didn't feel as hungry as he thought he should've been.

_"I might've lost a bit of my appetite..."_

*Groooooooowl*

_"Ooooooor, maybe not..." _He sweatdropped.

Izuku went into the cafeteria and, not surprisingly, the lines were packed.

_"I didn't even speak with Todoroki that long!... Did I?" _Izuku sighed and headed into the line.

"Midoriya-kun!"

"Eh?" Izuku poked his head out of the line and saw Lunch Rush energetically wave a hand at Izuku from all the way in the front.

"Come here, come here!" He said.

"Wh-What?! Me!?" Izuku nervously pointed to himself.

Many students of the line curiously turned to the boy as he nervously made his way all the way to the front.

_"They're all looking at me! They're all staring! I know that I wanted everyone to look at me at the festival, but right now, it's just nerve-racking!"_

He went to the front and shyly waved, "H-Hi Lunch Rush, wh-what did you need me for?"

Lunch Rush suddenly appeared next to Izuku and put an arm around his shoulder.

"Just wanted to see how my friend's 'little student' is doing!" Lunch Rush chuckled.

Izuku started sweating nervously with an agape mouth and bulging eyes, "Wh-Wh-Wha-!?"

A star came from what Izuku presumed was Lunch Rush's eye, indicating that he was winking at him.

"Don't worry! He wants me to help with that! You'll get the details soon! But for now..."

Lunch Rush dashed into the kitchen and immediately came out with a tray of food in hand, plopping it into Izuku's arms.

"Here you go! Enjoy these meals while they last! Toodle-loo!" He then disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Izuku nervously shaking in place.

_"Wh-Wh-What just happened!? What did he mean by 'enjoy these meals while they last!? Enso told Lunch Rush of all people about me training him!? Wait, he wants Lunch Rush to 'help' as well? But what could Lunch Rush teach me!? All he knows is-!"_

Izuku connected the dots.

_"C-Cooking!?"_

"..."

He formed a straight face. _"Actually, I've learned not to question anything Enso wants me to learn ever since he taught me how to dance."_

He turned around to head to the seats, only to find everyone in each of the lines glaring menacingly at him for cutting.

Izuku started sweated nervously again, quickly ushering himself through the lines.

"G-Gomenasai, gomenasai, gomenasai!" He repeatedly uttered as he passed by everyone.

When Izuku came upon the seats of the lunch area, he found the place to be completely packed, leaving no sign for any place for him to sit.

_"Oh, boy..."_

He started walking past the tables, searching for his friends, or just any table for him to sit in general.

Mina was munching at her food when she saw the bush of green hair looking around, making her swallow her food and smile.

"Hey, Midori! Over here!" She stood up and energetically waved her hand side to side.

Izuku turned his head and saw the girl sitting with all of the girls in his class. Mina, Hagakure, and Tsu sat on one side, while Momo, Ochako, and Jiro sat on the other.

Seeing all of the girls of his class at one table, Izuku couldn't help but feel nervous as he walked over to them.

"H-Hey, everyone." Izuku greeted them.

"Oh, hey Deku! I was wondering where you were!" Ochako beamed with a smile.

"Yes, you disappeared immediately after the intermission started." Momo also added.

"S-Sorry, I..." Izuku remembered his encounter with Todoroki and looked down, "I had someone to talk to..."

Mina eagerly tugged at his sleeve.

"Come sit with us, Midori! We have room for one more!" Mina gleamed.

"E-Eh?! M-Me? B-But…"

"Ashido, don't you think a table full of girls is a little too much for him? Kero?" Tsu bluntly asked.

"Awww, how cute, he's gonna be shy around a bunch of pretty girls?" Hagakure teased.

Izuku shivered nervously with a red blush, turning around. "I-I'll just go over there-"

Mina held him by the sleeve with a pout.

"Sit." She said in a somewhat scary and demanding tone.

Izuku sat down, shaking.

"Good boy!" Mina then smiled, patting him on the head and making him flinch.

_"Like a dog!?" _The rest of the girls thought with perplexed expressions.

Izuku nervously started eating his food before asking, "U-Um, Ochako? Where's Iida and Enso?"

Ochako put some rice in her mouth before using her chopsticks to point to the right of Izuku as she chewed.

Izuku glanced in the direction she pointed and saw Enso sitting at a small, two-person table sitting with a familiar girl with pink hair.

"H-He's sitting with Mei?" Izuku said, surprised.

Ochako nodded as she swallowed her food, "Yeah, they both seem to be... getting along. Or rather, they both really seem to be into whatever they're talking about, seems important."

"Hey, that gadget girl was the last member on your team, wasn't she?" Jiro asked.

Izuku turned to her, "Yeah, she was the one who lent us her gadgets, so we used to move around better. We couldn't have won without them."

He then remembered something, "Ah Jiro! I-I'm sorry about before!"

Jiro raised an eyebrow, "About what?"

"Well, during the cavalry battle, I grabbed your earlobes and it looked like you were in a lot of pain." Izuku said shamefully.

Hagakure turned to her, "Oh yeah, you were really red. Grabbing your earlobes must've hurt."

Jiro's face turned from ordinary to utterly red in mere seconds, her mouth opening up as she remembered the feeling her earlobes had when Izuku had grabbed them.

It wasn't pain that she had felt at the time.

She turned her head away and did all that she could to keep her composure, face scrunching up a bit.

"I-I-I'm completely fine..."

_"She's really angry, isn't she!?" _Izuku thought nervously from her reaction.

Momo looked slightly confused at Jiro, _"Why does she look so embarrassed?"_

Tsu spoke out, "What kind of girl is Mei?"

"Her last name is actually Hatsume, Deku is just doing his thing again." Ochako chuckled.

Izuku realized his first name habit and covered his face with his arms with a blush.

_"Kawaii..."_ A few of the girls thought.

"W-Well, Mei *ahem* Hatsume is pretty... interesting. She's really smart but doesn't really seem to know the concept of personal space. She got up close and spoke so much about making 'babies' for 'big companies'-"

"Hold up, you wanna run that by us again!?" Jiro asked with a horrid look on her face, the other girls, other than Ochako, looking just as shocked.

Izuku blinked and realized what that sounded like, flailing his arms in a panic.

"N-Not like that! When she means 'babies,' sh-she actually means gadgets that she makes!"

"Oh, I got scared for a moment by how it sounded..." Momo sighed.

"I-I should've explained that first, my bad." Izuku chuckled embarrassingly.

He turned his head and gazed at Enso and Hatsume talking.

_"What could they be talking about?"_

* * *

Enso was across from Mei at the table they were sitting, crossing his arms as the girl in front of him excitingly wrote things down in a notebook she had.

"Are you even listening to me?" Enso asked impatiently.

"Nope! I'm already trying to make improvements on the jetpack and speed boots we used at the cavalry battle!" Mei grinned as she continued to write.

_"Yet, you answered... Is her mind on autopilot?"_

Enso thought about what to say to her as she continued to write.

_"I need to have something that would appeal to someone like her..."_

He leaned slightly forward in his chair, entwining his hands.

"Hatsume, how would you like a place to endlessly work on your gadgets and be provided material for them that I _know_ you've never seen before?"

Mei stopped writing and instantly closed her notebook with her usual smile.

"I'm listening." She leaned in.

Enso leaned back on his chair as he saw that he got the girl's full attention.

"Hatsume, would you like to work personally under me?"

"Hmmm? Asking me to be a personal baby maker is kinda big, you know?" Hatsume grinned.

"_Don't_ word it like that, please." Enso said with his right eye twitching.

He sighed before speaking again, "Tell me, Hatsume, how is your 'workplace' like?"

"Oh, it's great! I used to work at home, but after some of my babies blew up some of the house, my parents banned me from ever building babies there ever again! Luckily, now I got a better workplace that's the Development Studio here at U.A!"

"Development Studio? Is it exactly what it implies? A place to build things?"

"Yup! My center of operations!" Mei proudly grinned.

"But..." She stared curiously at Enso with a smile, "I'm interested in what you said before. I know every type of element, every type of material in the world. Yet I can tell that you're not lying when you say you might have something new to work with. So..."

She started twirling her pen in her hand, "Whatcha got?"

Enso closed his eyes.

_"I'd be risking to expose a lot if I try to involve her... But then again, I knew that when I talked to her after the cavalry battle. Having someone who is an expert in inventions would be a highly valuable ally for us, even if she's a first-year, her intellect with machines is much high above any person here, even if... some of them blow up."_

He opened his eyes and stared at Hatsume's mischievous smile.

_"All she seems interested in is to build her gadgets, so perhaps if I just keep appealing to that, then she would keep working."_

Enso turned his head to Izuku nervously speaking to the girls.

"..."

He turned back to Mei to speak, but she spoke first.

"So, this is for him?" She asked rather curiously, smiling as she gazed at Izuku too.

_"She caught me staring."_

"Somewhat. We're in a... 'peculiar' situation." Enso answered her.

Mei stared at Izuku and grinned, _"He was so excited when I showed him my babies, but he also seems like a really smart and analytical. I wonder how good he would be to making babies with me?"_

"Now, you're staring at him rather intently..." Enso pointed out.

"Yeah, because I'm kind of interested in how he would be making babies with me-!"

"_Stop_ wording things like that, please." Enso sighed.

Mei laughed before focusing on Enso again.

"So red-eyes-"

"Call me Enso, at least."

"-what's this 'material' you told me about?"

Enso was momentarily quiet before deciding to go with it.

"Have you ever heard of Vibranium?"

Mei grinned.

* * *

"Hey Deku, I never did ask, but why did you decide to keep hold of that metal piece during the obstacle race?" Ochako curiously asked Izuku.

"Hm? Oh, I only took it with me after Kacchan blasted me right by the beginning of the race. I knew that if I ever got close to passing him again, then he wouldn't hesitate to blast me, so I decided to take it as a shield."

"How vexing..." Momo said upon hearing what Bakugo did.

"So, you weren't even planning on blasting yourself sky high over the entire minefield?" Jiro then asked.

"N-No..." Izuku awkwardly scratched his cheek, "I didn't know that the minefield was the last obstacle, no one did I'm sure. I just got kind of lucky and came up with a plan to get ahead on the spot."

"That was awesome, though! You went 'boom!' and then flew through the air like 'nyoom!' and won the race!" Hagakure said as her arms mimicked the actions.

"Speaking of 'blasting yourself sky-high,' you did it again during the cavalry battle." Mina pointed out.

"O-Oh yeah..." Izuku embarrassingly rubbed the back of his head. "I-I knew there wasn't much time left, so I had to jump in order to get our ten million points back..."

Yeah! You were able to get our points back just like I knew you would!" Ochako exclaimed happily.

"Still, it was shocking that you were able to leap that far and then go frighteningly high when you propelled yourself into the air using the force of your quirk." Momo said.

"U-Um… Thanks to Ochako using her quirk on me, I was able to move even farther and fly higher than I expected." He raised up his finger, bandaged after becoming healed by Recovery Girl on the way to the cafeteria. "A-A little_ too_ high for my liking..."

"But, I'm surprised that you were able to grab two headbands in such a short moment, kero." Tsu threw out her own thoughts.

Izuku stopped eating, his head staring down into his food as he remembered.

_"But... I don't remember- How did I even?"_

Momo noticed his reaction.

"Is something wrong, Izuku?"

Izuku raised his head and looked rather doubtful.

"I... I didn't grab two headbands..." He said with complete honesty in his voice.

The other girls turned to him, surprised by that claim.

"What do you mean? You grabbed it when you passed by Todoroki, I saw you." Momo said, somewhat confused.

Izuku shook his head in disagreement, "No, I only grabbed one headband at that moment, the 70 point one. All the way when I sent myself flying into the air to the end of the cavalry battle, I only had one headband in my left hand. I only noticed a second headband wrapped around my shoulder when Present Mic announced it."

"What if it accidentally got caught on your shoulder when you passed by Todoroki? Kero?" Tsu theorized.

"No... There's no way. It was _wrapped_ around my shoulder, if it had gotten caught on it, then the force from me flying would've knocked it off. It had to have been wrapped." Izuku said.

"So... what difference does it make?" Jiro asked. "Either way, you still got the ten million points?"

"What Izuku is saying..." Momo started, looking rather serious now. "...Is that someone helped him."

Mina was shocked by the claim, "Ehhh!? Who!? Are you sure you aren't overthinking on it, Midori?"

Izuku felt slightly foolish, but he was indeed thinking what Momo said was a possibility.

"I-I just know that I didn't grab the ten million points... I was tricked into thinking that I did, but I didn't..."

Momo sighed, "Izuku, it would've been impossible for someone to have taken the headband from Todoroki and given it to you. No one else was around other than you and my team. We were walled together because of the ice, and everything happened too fast for anyone to know when to take Todoroki's headband and give it to you."

Izuku nervously scratched the back of his head, "M-Maybe you're right... B-But I can't just shake the feeling..."

Mina grinned, "You're just stressed out, Midori."

"Yeah, maybe your right..." Izuku sighed.

By this point, many people had begun to leave the lunch area, leaving much space and making it easier for people to spot others.

This caused one of the boys from class 1-A to see Izuku sitting with only females at the table.

"Whoa, check Midoriya. He's quite the ladies man." Sero joked with a chuckle.

The other guys at the table turned their heads to see that he was right.

"Really? Such a timid guy like Midoriya!? How?!" Kaminari blurted out.

"Eh!? No fair, why does he get a harem!?" Mineta cried out, comical tears going down his eyes.

Izuku flinched as he heard them being unnecessarily loud, even feeling their eyes basically piercing the back of his head.

He didn't feel safe.

"I-I'm just gonna go now…" Izuku said as he shakingly stood up.

"Eh? Why Midori? Come on, don't get so nervous." Mina reached up and grabbed Izuku's arm as he tried to get up, suddenly pulling him back.

But she pulled him a little too hard, resulting in him falling with his back on Mina's lap, and the back of his head on Hagakure's lap.

"Eep! Don't surprise me like that!" Hagakure yelped.

"Whoopsie!" Mina said, looking down at Izuku.

The other girls at the table had gaped expressions, except Tsu, who simply blinked.

Izuku turned red and panicked, "I-I'm sorry!"

He attempted to lift his head back up, but he felt Hagakure put her hands on it to keep him in place on her lap.

"H-H-Hagakure!?" Izuku uttered out, shaking nervously.

"Now, now Midori, I think Mina was right before. You seem to be really stressed. In fact, you're shaking quite a lot right now." Hagakure said as she patted his head.

_"Why do you think that is!?"_ Izuku screamed in his head as he felt the girl's thighs even with her U.A gym pants on.

"Hey, you know his back is laying on my lap as well." Mina said.

"Oh? Are you bothered by it?" Hagakure asked her.

"Well…" Mina started twirling her hair with her finger, "I guess not…" she said with a lilac blush.

"Um, Hagakure. I don't think Izuku is very comfortable with this." Momo said, trying to remain in a calm tone.

"I agree. He looks really tensed up, kero." Tsu said as she observed Izuku head next to her.

"M-Maybe you should let him go Hagakure." Ochako suggested.

Izuku just kept shivering with his head facing up.

"Hm... Oh, I know!" Hagakure reached down and used her hand to caress Izuku's hair gently. "Hush little baby, don't say a word..." she sang.

_"She's treating me like a baby!"_ Izuku thought with a deadpanned expression.

Hagakure stopped her singing nearly immediately when she felt Izuku's hair, stopping her movements as well.

"Whoa!"

"What is it?" Jiro asked.

"His hair is super fluffy!" Hagakure expressed, feeling it with her hand again.

Momo flinched and blushed as she knew fully well how Izuku's hair felt, slightly shaking as she recalled the feeling.

"Eh? Is it? Let me feel it!" Mina reached over with her hand and felt Izuku's hair, much to the boy's fear. "Oh, wow! It is!"

Momo turned her head away with her cheeks slightly puffing up, _"Don't be tempted, don't be tempted..."_

"Let me feel it." Tsu reached down and patted Izuku's hair as well. "It is."

"What do you do to make it this way, Midori?!" Hagakure asked excitingly as she and the other two girls continued to stroke his hair.

"I-I um, I don't know, b-b-but... C-Could you please stop?" Izuku asked, feeling much too nervous from multiple girls touching his hair.

Jiro lightly blushed as she watched them feel his hair. _"Is it really that soft? I'm kind of curious, but..."_

She turned to her left but was shocked to see Momo looking really tense and Ochako with an emotionless look on her face as she stared at them.

"Girls... I suggest you stop right now. Deku isn't comfortable with this."

"Eh?" Mina and Hagakure looked at Ochako and saw her face.

_"Scary!"_

Tsu, on the other hand, just put a finger to her chin in thought, "Don't you want to join Ochako-chan? Kero?"

Hearing that, Ochako's emotionless look turned completely flustered, cheeks turning red and eyes growing in shape.

"Wha-Wha-!" She turned her head away. "N-N-No..."

_"So obvious..." _Everyone else but Izuku thought.

Izuku, in the meantime, was sweating nervously and going through his own thoughts.

_"What do I do!? It doesn't seem like Mina or Hagakure would listen to anything I say, and being this close to a girl is more than I can handle!"_

Momo now, despite shaking and resisting the urge to experience the feeling of Izuku's hair once again, coughed to get everyone's attention.

"Ashido, Hagakure... I-I think you should release Izuku now."

_"She stuttered? She must really wanna feel his hair as well..."_ Both Mina and Hagakure thought.

Deciding to test this, Mina grinned, "What? Jealous that you can feel his soft, fluffy hair with your own hands?"

"N-No! I'm saying that this isn't appropriate for us! And I clearly think that Izuku doesn't find this appropriate!" Momo snapped back, her light blush still forming.

Mineta and Kaminari both slid right by their table, looking rather serious. "Midoriya!" they both shouted.

Izuku shot up from Hagakure's lap and sat up straight, "W-Wait! This isn't what it-!"

The two of them then bowed all the way down the ground with their heads touching the floor.

"Please teach us your ways!"

"EHHH!?" Izuku cried out, not expected to hear that.

"Why are both of you idiots here!? Get lost!" Jiro stood up from her seat with her earphone jacks threateningly shining.

"Teach what!?" Ochako cried out in confusion as to what Mineta and Kaminari were implying.

By this point, most of the cafeteria had shifted their attention towards Izuku and his table.

"For Midoriya to be able to tame the hearts of girls... How manly!" Kirishima yelled.

"I don't think that's right..." Ojiro sweatdropped.

_"Wha-What the hell is going in!?" _Izuku shouted in his mind.

Bakugo was sitting a few tables away, cross veins appearing on around him in frustration.

He had about enough of the noise.

He jumped on top of his table and his palms sparked, "Would you all shut the fuck up!? Why the fuck are you even getting like this for that nerd!?"

The girls all turned their heads and glared at Bakugo as they yelled:

**"Shut up!"**

"Huh?! You all wanna fucking die!?" Bakugo retaliated as sparks came from his hands.

_"They even shouted at Kacchan!? I think I have to leave before this escalates any further!"_

Izuku quickly jumped to his feet and bolted away as fast as he could without using his quirk, not looking back as he desperately ran to the school halls.

"Hey, Midori wait!" Izuku heard Hagakure call behind.

"Midoriya, teach me please!" he heard Mineta call.

Enso and Mei turned to see Izuku running away, with many groups from their tables glaring at him as they did.

"What happened to him?" Mei asked curiously.

"I'd rather not find out..." Enso sweatdropped as he saw the girls of the table hissing at Bakugo.

Izuku kept running through the halls until he got to the teacher's lounge, frantically knocking on the door.

"A-All Might, are you there?!" he called out.

Toshinori slid open the door, "Ah, Midoriya. What brings you-?"

Before he could finish, Izuku rushed in and slid the door shut behind him. He quickly locked it and placed his back along with both of his hands on the door, panting and sweating with bulging eyes.

"Midoriya, my boy!? What's wrong?!" Toshinori worryingly asked.

Izuku then looked up at his hero, "G-Girls are scary…"

Toshinori deadpanned. "Come again?"

* * *

"Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game!" Present Mic shouted, resulting in everyone cheering.

"But before that, there's good news for all of you who didn't make it to the finals! This is just a sports festival, so we've prepared recreational games that anyone can participate in too!"

Izuku nervously walked back onto the field by himself, still a little shaken up by what happened during lunch. He could again feel the piercing gazes of many people as he walked onto the field.

_"I'm so glad that we're on the last game already. If it had been earlier, then everyone would've gone after me... Wait a minute, that did happen."_ Izuku realized as he got back onto the middle of the field by himself.

"We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!-huh?"

Present Mic cut himself off as he and Aizawa saw something.

"Hm?" Izuku turned his head as well, "WHAT ARE THEY WEARING!?"

Each of the girls of Izuku's class wore a two-piece cheerleading outfit consisting of orange, green, and white colors. They had yellow pom-pom and had the letters, **U.A**,across their chest.

Of course, the crowd cheered like mad, especially the men.

"What are they doing?" Aizawa sweatdropped.

"What's the matter, class A? What kind of fanservice is that?" Present Mic asked rather curiously.

Izuku turned left and saw Kaminari and Mineta giving thumbs to each other.

"Mineta! Kaminari! You tricked us, didn't you!?" Momo yelled at them.

_"Oh, boy..."_ Izuku sighed. "What could they have possibly said that could've convinced the girls to wear those things?"

Enso overheard him and facepalmed, _"Those girls almost didn't believe those idiots, but they actually had a trump card... moment Izuku was brought up..."_

"I'll gonna kill those idiots!" Jiro remarked as she threw her pom-poms to the ground, visibly irritated.

"Well, there's still time before the finals, and it'd be a pain if things got tense! So..."

Hagakure then shook her pom-poms up and down, "... let's do it!"

"What!?" Jiro shouted.

Izuku saw everyone's eyes focused on the cheerleaders, making him let out a breath of relief. _"At least everyone's attention is off me now..."_

Suddenly he felt a long tongue wrap around his waist.

"Eh?"

He was yanked towards someone.

"Ah!" He shouted as he got pulled above the crowd and then plopped onto his feet. "Wha-Wha-!?"

Izuku looked to see Tsu standing right in front of him, wearing the cheerleading outfit Momo made her.

"Hello, Midoriya-chan, kero."

Not sure where to look, Izuku's eyes just went to the side as he frantically scratched the back of his head, "U-Um, h-hey Tsu! D-Did you need something from me?"

"I wanted to ask, what do you think of these outfits?" The frog girl asked, looking down a little nervously with her pom-poms behind her.

Mina appeared next to her with a grin, striking a seductive pose. "Yeah, Midori! What do you think? Do we look _se-xy_?" She asked, putting emphasis on that last two syllables.

Izuku had his hands to his sides and was stiff as his eyes hesitantly gazed upon the girls and all their glory.

"I-I-I think they look g-g-great on all of you!" Izuku stammered, steam coming from his head.

"Awww look, he's blushing! So kawaii!" Mina grinned with mischievous eyes and a concerning grin.

_"Mina suddenly looks so scary for some reason!" _Izuku thought, feeling shivers down his spine.

Mina got behind Izuku and started pushing him towards the other girls, "Come on now! Compliment them as well!"

"Wha-Hey!" Izuku uttered as he got pushed to Momo and Ochako, the gravity girl comforting the creation girl that was crouched on the ground in embarrassment.

"Why am I always caught up in Mineta's schemes? I even used my quirk to make these outfits..." Momo said, depressingly with her head down.

Mina did one last shove that resulted in Izuku stumbling right at the two, managing to stop directly in front of them.

Ochako looked up to Izuku and immediately blushed, "D-Deku! Th-This isn't what it was supposed to be! I-I mean-"

Momo also suddenly jolted back to her feet, "Izuku!? I have a good explanation for this!"

"I-I heard it…" he said, trying not to stare too much, "Y-You got tricked by Mineta and Kaminari..."

Izuku looked back and saw both boys giving him a thumbs-up, _"Is this like their offering to me!?"_

Enso then came behind them and knocked them out with two karate chops.

Izuku sweatdropped.

"I'm just ashamed that I fell for such an obvious trick..." Momo sighed, looking down into her pom-poms.

"B-But I think it looks a-amazing on you though..." Izuku muttered nervously.

Momo blushed but couldn't help but smile, "Thank you..."

Ochako pouted at Izuku's praise to Momo, then shyly rubbing her arm with a pom-pom and avoiding direct eye contact, "H-Hey Deku…?" she said nervously with a lovable blush. "H-How do you think it looks on me?"

Seeing her adorable actions, Izuku didn't even hesitate.

"C-Cute!" He declared despite shaking too much.

"Eh!?" Ochako was taken aback from his immediate response and blushed even harder.

She turned around so that her face with both of her pom-poms, _"This is so embarrassing!" _Then she ran off.

"Eh!?" Izuku uttered, shocked that she ran away.

"Oh dear, it seems she got too embarrassed. I'll see if I can calm her down." Momo said, despite looking as equally flustered as Ochako, then walking after her.

"O-Okay?" Izuku awkwardly watched her walk off and then noticed Jiro, who was crouched on the ground with her head buried into her arms.

He nervously walked up to her and crouched down as well, "H-Hey, Jiro. Are you alright?"

He heard her groan, "No… I'm pissed off, I can't believe I fell for something like this… those two are _so _dead." She said with vigor in her voice.

Izuku flinched from her tone but still comforted her.

"B-But, at least it'll bring even more attention to you." He nervously chuckled.

Jiro raised her head up and glanced at the other girls of her class.

She saw curves, curves, and more curves.

Then she looked at herself.

A depressing blue aura grew around her.

"Eh!? What's wrong!?" Izuku cried out when he saw her state.

"They'll look at the other girls wearing this instead of me…" The girl muttered.

Izuku quickly tried to cheer her up, unable to see people looking sad, "Y-You shouldn't say stuff like that! Y-You're just as good looking as the other girls!"

Jiro rose her head up and somewhat glared at Izuku, "As if I'd believe that from you so easily, you're just too nice to agree with them."

"N-No! I-I'm not being nice! I genuinely think you're great too!" Izuku said despite turning a little red from saying that.

"Oh yeah, what about me makes you say that?" Jiro asked, standing back up and staring intensely at him.

"That's obvious! Your-!" Izuku immediately covered his own mouth as his face deepened in red tone, stopping himself from saying what he was going to say.

Jiro obviously noticed this, dropping her pom-poms and grabbing Izuku by his shirt collar.

"What is it!? What were you gonna say!?"

Izuku avoided looking at Jiro as he spoke, "U-Um, I-I don't think..."

Comedic tears formed in the corner of the girl's eyes, "I knew it! You don't think anything about me is good, do you!?"

Izuku faced her, despite being uncomfortably close, "I-Its not that! I-I just don't think it'd be o-okay for me to say!"

Jiro's head moved even closer to his, "Tell me!"

"B-But-!"

Shadows appeared on Jiro's face as her earlobes threateningly shined next to Izuku.

"Now."

Izuku felt chills go down his spine and closed his eyes, bracing himself as he shouted.

"You have a great slender waist!"

"..."

Jiro blinked. "H-Huh?"

Izuku shivered with eyes comically white.

Jiro let go of Izuku's collar and backed up, mouth agape and cheeks red.

"Wh-Wh-What!?"

She shook as she glanced around at the other students, but luckily no one else had heard Izuku's statement as they were speaking to each other while waiting for the rest of the students to hurry back.

Izuku covered his red face with both of his hands, head down in embarrassment and disbelief by what he had just said.

_"I'm gonna die... She's gonna think I'm a pervert..."_

Jiro looked down with shadows over her eyes to go along with her blushing cheeks.

She stroked her own arm, clearly flustered. "Do… Do you mean it?"

_"She's really asking that!?"_ Izuku thought.

He gulped and nervously fiddled his fingers while looking away.

"O-Of course I mean it... S-So d-don't sell yourself short..."

Jiro reached down and picked up her pom-poms from the ground, then using them to cover her face.

"Th-Thank you... I-I guess you really are an honest guy..."

"U-Um, I-I'm glad to... help?" He nervously uttered.

Present Mic then shouted again.

"Sorry about that short wait! We still had to wait for a few more students to come back! But let's have fun competing in the recreational games!"

The crowd cheered and clapped.

"When that's over, the sixteen from the four teams that made it to the final round will... wait for it..."

A sudden tournament bracket template then appeared on the screen.

"...duke it out in a one-on-one tournament style!"

The crowd hysterically screamed in excitement.

_"Blood lust, much!?" _Izuku thought nervously about their reaction. He turned back to Jiro was saw the girl gone, running frighteningly fast with her pom-poms over her face as steam came from her head. _"So fast!"_

"A one-on-one tournament, huh?" Kirishima's eyes sparkled with excitement. "I'm gonna stand on the stage that I watch every year on T.V!" His teeth preciously grinned.

Midnight stepped onto the stage.

"Now, let's draw lots to determine the bracket. Once the bracket is determined, we'll have the recreational games and then start the bloodshe-I mean fighting!"

The students sweatdropped.

"The remaining finalist can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreational games!"

Hearing this, Ojiro raised his hand. "Excuse me..."

Many people turned to him, including Midnight.

Ojiro looked unsure as he said, "I'm withdrawing..."

"EHHHHHHH!?" Everyone cried out.

"Wh-What!? Why?!" Izuku was the first to ask.

"This is a rare chance for the pros to see you!" Iida added.

Ojiro lowered his hand, looking rather serious.

"I know that, but... I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until the very end. I know it was someone's quirk..."

Enso glanced at Shinso, remembering that he was with Ojiro. _"Don't tell me..."_

"I know that this is a great chance and that it's foolish to waste it, but..."

He clenched his hands into fists.

"Everyone here gave it their all, but I know that _I_ didn't give it mine. I know that I didn't do anything to get here..."

"You could just prove yourself right here." Enso suggested.

"No... I'm talking about my pride here..." Ojiro whimpered.

_"He's earnest..."_ Izuku thought with sadness. _"I wonder the same thing happened to Aoyama?" _He glanced over at the blonde teen, only to see him turn away. "_Guess not..."_

"This is an unusual turn of events..." Present Mic said, rather surprised.

"We'll have to see what the chief umpire, Midnight, has to say about this..." Aizawa said.

Everyone turned to Midnight, who looked calm about this.

"Youthful talk like that is something-"

She cracked her whip with a smile.

"-I like!"

She then pointed her whip at Ojiro, "Ojiro! I accept your withdrawal!"

_"She decided based on her own tastes!?"_

"Does she enjoy that 'youthful talk' before she can no longer have that?" Enso asked himself rather curiously.

Midnight cracked her whip even louder than before.

I HEARD THAT! DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE YOU LITTLE-!"

"Midnight! PG! PG!" Present Mic cut her off desperately.

"You say that, but she's the R-rated hero for crying out loud..." Aizawa sweatdropped.

Midnight glared at Enso before clearing her throat.

"Anyway, if Ojiro is withdrawing, then we need someone from the fifth place cavalry team to take his spot."

Monoma suddenly appeared next to Kendo, "In that case, may I nominate Kendo here to take his place? She led her group rather well, and I believe she is the most deserving of her team."

"Monoma!?" Kendo exclaimed, shocked to hear him say this.

"Right, you three?" Monoma asked Kendo's other three teammates.

They nodded in agreement.

"You guys..." Kendo said with a sweet smile.

"Then Itsuka Kendo will take the spot to make the 16th finalist!"

Midnight then pointed her whip at the screen.

"And now we will randomize the pairing and immediately display them on the screen! Here are the results!"

A 16-player bracket appeared on the screen, showing all the pairs.

1) Izuku Midoriya V.S Itsuka Kendo

2) Shoto Todoroki V.S Hanta Sero

3) Enso Ureshi V.S Hitoshi Shinso

4) Tenya Iida V.S Mei Hatsume

5) Katsuki Bakugo V.S Ochako Uraraka

6) Kirishima V.S Kaminari

7) Mina Ashido V.S Yuga Aoyama

8) Fumiikage Tokoyami V.S Momo Yaoyorozu

"Oh? It seems pretty coincidental that you and I face off against each other so early." Shinso remarked with a grin to Enso.

Enso turned to him.

"I-" Before he could say anything, a tail covered his mouth.

"Ureshi." Ojiro said with a serious look.

Shinso chuckled and walked away.

Enso turned to Ojiro as the boy moved his tail away.

He narrowed his eyes, "What was that for?"

Ojiro frowned. "Don't answer him."

"Hm?" Enso raised an eyebrow now.

Bakugo saw his name and his opponents. "Huh? Uraraka?" He said, as if not even knowing who that was.

_"EEEP!" _Ochako shivered in fear.

Izuku stared at the screen as he realized:

_"If both Todoroki and I win our first battles... then..."_

Izuku took a glimpse at Todoroki, who also glanced at him back.

_"We'll face off against each other..._

Izuku shook his head and took a deep breath.

_"Calm down Izuku, worry about that later, for now, worry about your current opponent."_

Izuku focused on the screen again but was shocked, _"KENDO!?"_

"Yo! Midoriya!"

Izuku turned and saw Kendo walking towards him with a smile.

"H-Hey Kendo!" He nervously waved.

"This is such a great chance that we get to fight!" The girl beamed.

"I-It is?"

Kendo nodded and showed her fist, "Of course! I've been itching to fight you seriously ever since you told me that you did martial arts! This is the perfect chance to show _each other_ what we can do!" She smiled.

Izuku was surprised by how excited she was, but that made him smile with a determined look on his face.

"Yeah, I'll give it my all!"

Kendo laughed, "Of course you will!"

"All right! Let's leave the tournament aside and have fun with the recreational games!" Present Mic shouted with hands in the air.

**"YEAH!" **The crowd cheered as fireworks started to soar into the air and explode.

Kendo gave Izuku a thumbs up, "I'll see you in the arena!" and with that, Izuku waved her goodbye and turned to head to the preparation room.

"Izuku."

"Eh?" Izuku turned around and saw Enso there.

"Are you heading off to prepare?" his trainer asked him.

"Yeah, I am. You are too?"

Enso nodded, "Then this where we walk alone from here."

Izuku looked curious. "Alone?"

"This is where we fight using our own thinking, our own strengths, our own strategy. I won't be helping you, you won't be helping me. The rest of the path for this festival will be fought using our own abilities. This is where you apply everything you've learned so far to rise up. So..."

Enso held his fist in front of him.

"Don't disappoint me."

Izuku looked astonished to hear him say this but understood.

He smiled. "Thank you... for teaching me up to this point."

He fist-bumped him, and the two walked in opposite directions.

* * *

~{An hour later}~

Cementoss controlled the last of the cement to form the arena, then standing up.

"Okay! It's pretty much done!" He called up.

"Thank you, Cementoss!"

Present Mic pointed to the audience.

"Hey guys!? Are you ready!?"

Pots around the arena erupted in flames, and the audience got riled up.

"A lot has happened so far, but now it finally comes down to this! A serious battle! A battle by yourself, with no one to help you whatsoever!"

Izuku stood within the corridor with the arena just outside, listening to the cheers of the audience.

He took multiple deep breaths, hand atop his chest as he did.

"Hey!"

Izuku turned around and saw Toshinori there.

"A-All Might?"

"Sorry to come see you right before your first battle, but I felt that I should wish you luck." Toshinori said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Th-Thank you All Might." Izuku said nervously.

Toshinori noticed this.

"How are you feeling?"

Izuku took a deep breath again and smiled.

"P-Pretty nervous. I'm sure that my first opponent is powerful."

"Ah yes, Itsuka Kendo correct? I've heard that she's quite the fighter." Toshinori said.

"Yeah... So I have to be on my toes." Izuku said.

Toshinori grinned, "But even if she's a fighter..." he walked up to Izuku and planted a hand on his shoulder. "...so are you."

Izuku chuckled and formed a small smile.

"Just remember to stand proud with a smile! Don't forget that I have high hopes for you! Kick ass out there!"

Hearing him say this, Izuku laughed this time.

"Thanks All Might... I'll make you proud." Izuku said with more determination this time.

He turned around with a grin, "Let's do this."

"Audience! The finals that you've been waiting for is finally starting!"

Present Mic clapped his hand, "Match number one! Booyah!"

The screen showed a versus screen of Izuku and Kendo.

"He's been first in both games so far, but will his winning streak keep on going!? From the hero course, it's Izuku Midoriya!"

Izuku walked out of the corridor with Toshinori watching from afar.

"Versus-!"

Mic pointed at the other side of the arena.

"The big sister that keeps Class B in check! From the hero course as well, Itsuka Kendo!"

Izuku and Kendo stepped into the arena as Present Mic continued to speak.

"Rules are simple! Force your opponents out of bounds, or immobilize them! Or you could win if your opponent says, 'I give up!' Bring on the action, the suspense, and the injuries! Because we got Recovery Girl waiting on standby!"

"But no life-threatening things..." Aizawa growled.

"Oopsies! Forgot to say that!"

_"How irresponsible..."_ Izuku and Kendo sweatdropped.

"I'll stop things if they get too far." Cementoss added as he made a cement chair outside and sat down.

Kendo and Izuku stared at one another a good space away, Izuku stretching his arms and Kendo rotating her shoulder.

"So, we're finally here..." Izuku said.

"Yeah, may the best fighter win."

Kendo formed a serious look on her face as she got into a fighting stance with her palms open and straight.

Izuku got into his own fighting position, slightly bending his knees and clenching his hands into fists.

"Are our fighters ready!?"

Izuku grinned.

"Always have been."


	25. The First Rounds

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

"Enter The Heat Of Battle!"

The flames in the pots erupted.

"Fight!"

Izuku's body lit up in orange, red, and green colors.

"Full Cowling, 5%!"

He dashed forward with a fit of speed towards Kendo.

Kendo stood her ground and took a deep breath as Izuku came towards her.

When he closed in on her, Kendo pulled her right arm back before thrusting her palm forward, enlarging it with her quick at an attempt to slam it into Izuku.

Izuku saw this and jump over it, landing on the other side of her and immediately turning around to perform a right hook swing.

Kendo simply used her enlarged hand to swing it around and swatted Izuku away, sending him a few yards away before he landed in a crouching position.

Izuku had a stern look on his face.

_"Her quirk lets her enlarge her hands by nearly up to three times the size of her body! But seeing how she moves them confirms to me that their size doesn't affect how heavy they are to her... It's as if she's telling gravity to screw itself."_

Kendo jumped at Izuku with her right hand above her head in a karate-chopping position.

"Ki-ai!" As she yelled this, Kendo swung her hand down with it enlarging abruptly, aiming right down at Izuku.

_"WHOA!"_ Izuku jumped back, and Kendo's hand chopped the ground, cracking the cement easily under the destructive force.

Upon landing, Izuku dashed forward and jumped up, swinging his leg down at an attempt to ax-kick her.

Kendo once again shrunk her fist back to standard size and lifted up her other hand at the same time.

Her other hand enlarged not as big as before, but it was large enough to suddenly catch Izuku's foot right into it, taking the kick and gripping down to grab hold of him.

_"Crap! She's got me!"_

Izuku didn't hesitate to point his fingers down at her.

"Delaware smash 10%!"

He flicked his fingers, and the sudden force basically slammed into Kendo and caused her to let go of Izuku while getting sent back.

Izuku fell to the ground on his back but immediately performed a kip-up, kicking the air and jumping back to his feet.

"Oho! It looks like we got some action already!"

Izuku felt a small sting of his finger, _"I couldn't risk her keeping hold of me, I had to use more percent than intended right there, but it's only a little sting."_

Kendo regained her footing and put on a stance one again, waiting for Izuku to move.

The boy took a deep breath, _"I gotta move faster."_

He coursed more of his power throughout his body, showing by some more intense colors.

_"7%!" _Izuku moved in a flash, circling around Kendo rather quickly as to confuse her.

Kendo kept her stance still as her eyes tried to follow the boy, waiting patiently for a moment.

At one moment, Izuku stopped circling around her and dashed towards her from behind.

Kendo heard him and turned around while thrusting her palm forward, suddenly expanding her hands once again to add momentum and increase the power of her strike.

Seeing this, Izuku instinctively did some fancy footwork.

By using Full Cowling's speed and applying his dance lessons, Izuku was able to suddenly step to the side and spin around Kendo's massive palm strike.

He appeared right next to Kendo, surprising her.

_"How did he-!?"_

She shrunk her hand and tried to defend, but Izuku had already stopped and thrust his palm forward. He struck her side with a powered blow and sent her back several yards away with the 5% of the power he used.

"Midoriya lands a solid blow! What are those moves!? He's got this under control so far!"

Mina's eyes lit up in the crowd, and she stood up from her seat, leaning forward with even more growing excitement than before.

"No way..."

Hagakure glanced up at her with her hands clapping excitingly, "You saw it too, didn't you, Mina!?"

Mina just kept staring down with a smile.

_"There's no doubt about it..."_

She watched as Izuku shuffled his feet for a moment as to keep a rhythm, then striking another fighting stand.

_"He was dancing!"_

Mina's eyes sparkled.

Kendo landed on her behind but didn't waste any time getting back up to her feet.

"Not bad Midoriya!" She yelled with a smile, getting back into another stance.

Izuku dashed forward in a flash towards the girl once more, fist swinging.

Kendo swung her own arm but enlarged her hand to the max.

Both of their punches collided, creating a small gust of wind, and creating a standstill between the two trying to overpower the other.

However, with Kendo's much large hand and the added momentum and power she added from expanding it, she was currently winning the power struggle.

With one last push, Kendo's fist got through and pushed Izuku's arm back while slamming the boy, sending him flying back.

"Midoriya seems to be having a bit of trouble against the big sister!" Present Mic commentated.

"Weren't you just saying that he had this under control?" Aizawa sighed.

"KICK HIS ASS KENDO!" Monoma screeched from the audience.

All the classes sweatdropped.

While being sent back, Izuku slammed his palm to the ground to flip himself up, landing on his feet and sliding back a bit before stopping.

_"Even with 7% of One For All, Kendo's large hands are still stronger... I can't raise it up higher. Otherwise, my muscles may end up tensing up at a critical moment..."_

Kendo walked up to the already cracked part of the ground she had made before, then enlarging her hand right over it.

She karate-chopped the already cracked ground with enough force to suddenly send up many bits of stones from the concrete. And using her same enlarged hand, she swiped the many pieces of debris and sent them scattering rapidly in Izuku's direction.

Izuku just dashed forward with his head low, occasionally moving left or right to avoid the stones and closing in on Kendo.

At one point, he jumped and spin kicked a larger stone from the air, shattering it and sending the smaller stone hurtling towards his opponent.

Kendo expanded her palm and swatted away all the stones to the side fairly easily, clearing the way for her to defend against Izuku.

Izuku still kept pressing on and jumped forward with his legs in a dropkick fashion, picking up speed as he neared.

Kendo had no time to swing her arm to punch or swipe away Izuku, so she just put her hand in front of her and expanded it to shield her whole body.

Izuku's feet slammed into Kendo's large palm and had enough strength to drag Kendo's feet back slightly.

Kendo tried to close her palm on Izuku, but Izuku used that same palm to jump off and land a few yards away.

"Man, Midoriya is doing great! I haven't seen those moves before!" Sato said.

"I'm surprised he didn't even hesitate to fight her even though she's a girl!" Kirishima said, somewhat knowing how nervous Izuku can get.

"Izuku doesn't realize he's fighting a girl yet." Enso remarked from his seat.

His class turned to him with rather blank looks.

"That sounds kind of terrible..." Ojiro was the first to say.

"Not like that, you idiots." Enso sighed. "Think about it. Coming first place in both games, stressing to rise to the top, and aiming to show everyone just how much he can do. Right now, he's trying to keep this up and isn't thinking about anything else but to win with his most high-grade skills. Right now, he only views Kendo as an opponent, gender doesn't matter."

Izuku leaped over Kendo's large hand swinging at him.

"All he sees..."

He saw Izuku's serious expression.

"...Is a challenge to overcome."

Kirishima started crying, "That's... SO MANLY!"

"But afterward... He might freak out when he processes that Kendo is the first female he's ever fought."

_"Probably right after the match is over..."_ Everyone sweatdropped in agreement.

Kendo parried a high kick Izuku aim at her face, then creating space between them by thrusting her palm and expanding it.

Izuku barely backed up enough to avoid Kendo's hand from hitting his face.

"I never knew Midoriya had such... movements." Iida said rather intrigued when he saw cartwheel into a flip.

"He's dancing! He's dancing!" Mina jumped up and down excitingly.

"He is? I thought he was fighting. Kero." Tsu said.

"I know dancing when I see it!" Mina gleefully cheered.

Izuku, in the meantime, was slightly panting.

He ran towards Kendo once more at blazing speeds.

Kendo flatted her large palm on the ground and used it to swipe along the ground at an attempt to swipe Izuku off his feet.

Izuku jumped up in the air and over the sweep, attempting to get Kendo from above.

Kendo grinned and had her other palm already pointing up.

Enso narrowed his eyes, _"That's what she wanted."_

Kendo suddenly thrust her other arm up and expanded her hand right as Izuku fell towards her with his leg out.

She caught the boy and clenched her hand around nearly his whole body, leaving just his chest and head poking out.

"Midoriya!" Iida shouted.

"Deku!" Ochako said in worry as well.

Kendo wrapped her other large palm around the one had held Izuku, holding him even more secure.

Izuku visibly squirmed in Kendo's large hands, not showing signs of being able to escape.

"Look's like the big sister has the upper hand! Midoriya is in her clutches! Can he escape this!?"

"Sorry, Midoriya! Give me a moment!" As Kendo said this, she turned around and started running towards the end of the arena, intended on just releasing him to the out of bounds.

"Midori's in trouble! We gotta save him!" Hagakure said dramatically with a hand in the air.

"Um, this is a sports battle, you know?" Sero said.

"..."

"Crap!"

Momo looked worried and confused.

"I don't understand... Izuku should've seen that attack coming from her. I'm sure he even could've maneuvered somehow."

"Of course, he should've seen it coming." Enso said, right next to her.

"Is this the end of the line for Midoriya!?" Mic pressed his face against the glass.

"Then, why would he-!?"

"Watch and find out." Enso interrupted Momo.

Momo turned back to the arena as Kendo was nearing the out of bounds with Izuku.

Izuku was glancing behind him, paying attention to how close he was getting to losing. But when he saw that he was nearing the edge of the border:

He stopped struggling.

_"Okay, now's the time to do it!"_

Izuku relaxed his body, as if he struggled, then Kendo would no doubt squeeze him even tighter than she currently was holding him.

He started taking deep breaths.

_"Remember what you've learned, don't concentrate power into just your lungs! You have to have power in your body already before focusing on your organs! Don't let them explode, don't let them explode! Just breath and release in a concentrated direction!"_

Izuku focused on Kendo.

_"One For All..."_

Izuku's body lit up in orange and red, green electricity light up.

"Houston..." Izuku mumbled, cheeks puffing up a little.

Kendo looked up to Izuku when she heard him, nearing the edge of the arena.

Her eyes widened. _"What is he-?"_

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL!"

Izuku's voice exploded from his mouth in a violent and concentrated sound wave right downward at Kendo.

Once the soundwave hit Kendo, she felt her eardrums violently vibrate and cause pain in her ears. She felt the force of Izuku's scream slam into her too.

_"What the hell is this!?"_

Despite the pain, Kendo still firmly held her ground and tried to keep her grasp on Izuku, clenching her teeth and trying to bear through the pain.

"NANI!? What's with this projection of voice!? It's just like mine! Midoriya man! We should hang out and talk after this festival ends!" Mic grinned.

Momo was stunned, "What _is_ that!? How is Izuku yelling in such a manner!?"

Enso turned to her, "You know how Izuku can focus power around his whole, or certain parts of his body?"

"Yes?" Momo said.

"Well... He's just doing the same thing with his lungs and vocal cords."

"He can do that!?" Sero asked in shock.

"Assuming he doesn't accidentally blow them up."

_"WHAT THE HELL!?" _Everyone thought with a sick feeling.

Kendo struggled to keep hold of Izuku, barely able to move from the pain her ears were facing as her body visibly shaking from the force the boy let loose on her. She tried to tighten her grip around Izuku to make him stop, but the girl felt herself growing dizzy and losing her grip.

At the same time, Izuku was feeling just as dizzy and tired.

_"Just... a little... longer..." _

Letting out one shout for so long without breathing could only be so long.

_"Come on... Come on!"_

At one point, Kendo's ears started to bleed, and she had about enough. She let go of Izuku, shrinking her hands and falling to the floor while covering her ears and closing her eyes in pain.

"Kendo couldn't take the pain! Is this Midoriya's chance!?"

When Izuku too fell on the ground, he landed on his knees.

"*GASP*!" He took large deep breaths but didn't hesitate to take a step forward towards the girl, despite being so dizzy.

_"I feel like... I"m gonna pass out..." _Izuku thought as he struggled to breathe, yet he still reached down and grabbed Kendo by the arm.

The moment Kendo felt contact on her arm, her eyes shot open and she saw Izuku there.

She immediately tried to get him out of bounds, sticking her arm out to push him.

But Izuku used that arm against her.

He spun around her hand right before it could touch him, putting his back on her and grabbing her arm with both of his hands.

Bakugo's eyes widened.

_"That move-!?"_

Izuku felt his vision fading but still focused his power.

_"One... For all, 5%..."_

Izuku pulled Kendo over his shoulder.

"Wha-!?" The girl's eyes widened.

_"SLAAAM!" _Izuku slammed Kendo's back right over the out of bounds line.

"Ack!" Kendo let out a cough as she bounced off the ground.

Bakugo grit his teeth, remembering when Izuku used that same move on him during the first hero lesson training lesson.

Everyone was in stunned silence by how fast everything seemed to go.

Until Midnight raised a hand.

"Kendo is out of bounds! Midoriya moves on to the next round!"

The crowd cheered madly as Izuku finally caught his breath, crouching over the ground and taking deep breathes.

_"I was gonna pass out if I wasn't careful!"_

"The first person to advance to the second round is Izuku Midoriya from class A!" Present Mic shouted.

"He did that shoulder toss on you too, didn't he Bakugo!?" Kaminari asked.

He got punched.

Iida put a hand to his chin in thought, "He let Kendo catch her in order to catch her off guard with that... 'technique'."

"It caught all of us off guard! I didn't know Deku could do something like that!" Ochako smiled.

In the meantime, Izuku caught his breath and wiped his face of the sweat that was forming up.

_"That was so close... It was way too risky for me to let Kendo carry me to the edge, but her quirk gives her more strength than the amount of power I could use of One For All right now..."_

Izuku heard some of the crowd around him.

"That was outstanding!"

"He didn't hold back on her at all!"

"I respect that he brought his all against a female opponent."

"Wasn't trying to dropkick her in the face a little too much, though?"

"..."

Izuku blinked.

_"Wait."_

He looked as Kendo sitting up from the ground and rubbing her head.

_"Th-This...!"_

His head erupted.

_"THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I FOUGHT A GIRL!"_

Enso saw his reaction.

"Oh look, he realized."

_"Oh, boy..."_ His class thought.

Izuku internally panicked with his hands on his head.

_"I just fought a girl! Oh my god, I tried to DROPKICK A GIRL IN THE FACE!"_

Kendo wobbly stood back up to her feet, still feeling pain in her ears.

Izuku nervously spoke, "K-K-Kendo? I-I'm-!"

"What!?" Kendo turned to him and shouted rather loud, yet she didn't look angry or shocked.

"Eh?" Izuku saw her ears bleeding. "Ah! We gotta get you to Recovery Girl!"

He grabbed her hand and started pulling her off the field.

"What!?" Kendo shouted with a confused look once again, unable to hear anything as she let Izuku guide her.

"Oh look, there they go." Aizawa said as he and the audience watched the boy take her away.

"Ah, but we didn't even have them shake hands, say 'GG' or anything!" Mic said.

"Just move on you idiot..." Aizawa sighed.

* * *

In an old abandoned warehouse, in front of a TV screen that broadcasted the events of the sports festival, two unique people were watching the events unfold.

One of them was a tall, slim young man with dark spiky hair and turquoise eyes. He had sections of his skin that were purple-colored and wrinkled, looking to be held together by surgical staples and stitches. He wore dark blue pants that were torn just above his ankles, a matching dark blue coat over a simple white shirt, and some black shoes.

Sitting next to him was a young high school girl with blonde hair that was styled in messy buns on both sides of her head, also cut in an uneven hime cut-like style with two stray strands of her hair on each side of her face. Her eyes were yellow, and she had what seemed to be two fangs in her teeth.

Her outfit consisted of a Japanese schoolgirl uniform that had an oversized cardigan that covered most of her skirt. Also included were knee-length black socks and even Japanese school loafers.

The blonde teen looked unamused as she laid her head on the shoulder of the couch.

"Dabi… why are we watching this? It's so boring!" She complained.

The one called 'Dabi' turned to her.

"You can leave me alone, you know?..." He replied calmly.

"You're mean, Dabi!" Toga pouted.

"Would you just shut up if you're not gonna leave? I actually wanna know what kinds of heroes are gonna be on these streets in the future..." Dabi responded as he turned back to the old television screen.

Toga grumbled a bit as she put her head upside down over the shoulder of the couch, staring at the television screen this way.

But a hint of green caught her eye.

"Hm?"

She slightly adjusted her head right side up and saw a green-haired boy with freckles on the victory screen.

"Dabi, who's that?" she asked with a bored tone.

"You really weren't paying attention to anything happening, were you?" Dabi sighed.

"Not really... I was thinking of where should I find my person to stabby-stab." Toga answered.

"You little- Fine... His name is Izuku Midoriya, he's been causing a bit of commotion lately."

"Hmm…" Toga had a bored look on her face.

There wasn't really much to say about this 'Midoriya' in her eyes. He didn't look ugly. In fact, he looked pretty cute to her, especially the shining green hair and eyes. But he also seemed rather dull.

Without blood, that is.

Toga positioned herself back to normal on the couch and crossed her arms.

_"I don't really got anything better to do... Might as well watch this."_

* * *

"S-Sorry..." Izuku apologized as Recovery Girl finished healing up Kendo, pulling her lips from her arm.

Kendo use wipes to clean her ears of the blood.

"Hm? For what?" She asked him.

"W-Well um... I-I kind of... really hurt you..." Izuku answered.

Kendo stared curiously at the boy who had his head down with his hands in his lap. Although he had won, Izuku apologized about hurting her, despite that being impossible to avoid for a battle.

She smiled, "Hey, what would've happened if you didn't hurt me?"

Izuku rose his head up to look at her nervously, "Um... I mean, well..."

"You would've lost." Recovery Girl snapped.

Kendo nodded, "I definitely agree. If you got all worried about hurting your opponent each time you fight, then just how would you win? You did what you could to win, tricking me into thinking I had the upper hand before... screaming?" She chuckled.

Izuku nervously scratched the back of his head, "I-It's a technique I-I made..."

"Well, it was an amazing one. I didn't expect it."

"Th-Thank you..."

Kendo looked pretty happy.

"Hey... thank you too."

"H-Huh? For what?" Izuku stammered.

"For fighting me like any other opponent. Whenever I fought a guy, it always made me angry that they always seemed to either look down at me or try to act 'considerate'..."

Izuku stared at her.

"But you... You didn't hesitate to fight me, you didn't look down on me. Even if you forgot you were fighting a girl-"

Izuku flinched, _"She knew!"_

"-I'm still glad that all you saw was an opponent."

Kendo closed her eyes and shined as she smiled.

_"KAWAII!"_ Izuku was shook.

*BOOM!*

The area started shaking unexpectantly.

"Whoa! What was that!?" Izuku uttered.

Recovery Girl glanced at the television screen.

"Midoriya... Why does your class have some crazy students!?"

Izuku and Kendo both glanced at the television screen, their eyes widening upon seeing a giant wave of ice that had spread outside the top of the arena.

"What... What?" Kendo uttered in shock.

Izuku stared with a grim expression as he Todoroki with a look of anger, along with Sero wholly frozen in that giant wave of ice.

"S-S-Sero is i-immobile! T-T-Todoroki wins!" Midnight yelled, her body feeling chilly from being partly frozen over as well.

Izuku gripped his hands tightly.

_"Todoroki was angry..."_

Izuku stood up in his seat, "I should be getting back..."

"Alright, I'll stay here a bit longer. Thank you for that fight Midoriya." Kendo responded.

Izuku bowed and left the room, leaving Kendo and Recovery Girl alone.

Kendo let out a small sigh after her left, still smiling.

"He really is a nice boy, isn't he?" Recovery Girl chuckled.

Kendo looked down and placed a hand over her heart, feeling it beat faster and confirming something she had been debating about internally.

"Yes..." She had a longing smile. "He is..."

* * *

"Let's wait for the next round a bit!" Present Mic shouted.

Izuku walked to the area where his class was sitting, looking around at all of the seats.

"Deku! Good work!" Ochako waved to him.

"We saved a seat for you!" Momo waved to him as well.

He glanced at an empty seat in the middle of his entire class, with Ochako seated on the left of the empty seat and Momo on the right.

He smiled and walked over to them, saying "Thank you." and sitting down between them.

He looked to the right and saw Enso sitting at the end of the row, attention focused on the arena.

"Midori!"

Izuku turned to the seat behind him, seeing a familiar pink-skinned girl.

"Hi Mina, did something happen?"

The girl was visibly excited, "You never told me that you knew how to dance!"

"Eh? U-Um..."

"Ashido did mention that before. Were your movements from dancing? Kero?" Tsu asked next to her.

Izuku awkwardly moved his arms, "U-Um! Well-"

"And you were able to scream so destructively too! Did all that singing really help you with that!?" Hagakure gleefully cried out.

"Midoriya sings?" Sato asked.

"He dances?" Tokoyami added.

Izuku nervously shivered. "I-I do..."

Mina got closer to him, almost nose to nose, "You gotta dance with me sometime!" she smiled.

"Eh? You dance too?"

"Hell yeah! I wanted a partner for so long!" He could see the excitement bouncing from her.

Izuku turned red and looked away, "I-I'll think about it..."

"All right! Now that all this ice has been cleared up! Let's move on to the next battle!"

Izuku formed a grim expression on his face now, his previous embarrassment fading away.

"This is Enso's fight..."

* * *

Enso walked down the entrance tunnel of the arena, both of his hands in the pockets of the U.A gym pants he wore.

His red eyes shined in the dark tunnel, which would give an average person a scare if they saw, but luckily the boy was there by himself.

He stepped into the light and glanced up at the crowd cheering at him.

_"How annoying... Half of these people are only here to enjoy the bloodshed of the students fighting each other."_

"On one side, the one who got the highest points on the entrance exam! The hero courses' Enso Ureshi!"

Enso closed his eyes and sighed as he walked up the stairs of the arena.

"Versus-!"

Shinso walked onto the arena as well, looking much more determined than before.

"Sorry, he hasn't done anything to stand out yet! From the general studies, it's Hitoshi Shinso!"

"This next battle... I don't even know who's going to win." Izuku remarked.

Mina heard him and went over his shoulder, "What do you mean? Can't Enso just kick his ass?"

"He might not..." Ojiro intervened.

Everyone turned to him.

"What do you mean?" Jiro asked.

The tail master looked down with a sad expression.

"I tried to tell him..."

* * *

~{Earlier- Contestant Preparation Room}~

Enso and Ojiro walked into the room, both taking seats without any delay.

"So..." Enso said as he placed his elbows on the desk and entwined his fingers. "What is it that you had to speak to me about?"

Ojiro stared at Enso with a stern expression.

"It's about your first opponent. Shinso."

Enso raised an eyebrow, "What about him?"

"Right before the cavalry battle, before I blacked out and couldn't remember anything... He-"

"Stop right there." Enso cut him off, suddenly standing in his seat.

"Huh?" Ojiro looked confused.

"I don't want to hear it."

Ojiro shot up from his seat, "But Ureshi-!"

"Enso."

"What? *Sigh* Enso... Right now, you'll lose if you fall for his quirk!" Ojiro tried to explain.

"And does it matter if I do?" Enso narrowed his eyes at him.

"What?"

"If I lose here, then it just means that I was meant to lose. Do you think I wish to win by gaining an unfair advantage by obtaining knowledge against his quirk?"

Ojiro looked shocked.

Enso continued to speak. "I told Izuku that he would be fighting for the rest of this tournament using his own strength and technique, that he would be fighting alone without help."

"What does this have to do with Midoriya?!" Ojiro said, his voice rising a bit.

Enso pointed a thumb at himself, "I told him that I would do the same. I'm fighting on my own here, so I'm not going to receive the help of others in this. I'll figure things out myself, as I've always done before..."

* * *

~{Present}~

"He said that!? That's... so manly!" Kirishima cried.

"But the moment he says something, this match may be over." Ojiro said in a sad tone.

Izuku was surprised, turning his head back to the present battle.

_"So you really did mean it, Enso... You even rejected Ojiro's help..."_

Izuku tightened his hands into fists.

_"But..."_

"This oughta be a match to remember!

_"If you lose here... then I can't beat you."_

"Fight!"

Enso immediately flared up his blue aura around him, eyes matching the color as he kept his attention on Shinso.

He, nor Shinso, moved at all. They simply stared at one another.

Shinso was the first to say something, though.

"Must be nice, being blessed right from the start with a gift that lets you become a hero... For those like me, who lack the ability of a 'proper' quirk in the eyes of society... We don't have a future as heroes."

Enso tilted his head curiously by what he said.

Shinso raised his arms out and open. "I know that you're an understanding guy. So don't you think it's unfair that those of us don't get that chance?"

Enso's closed his eyes as he finally understood.

_"I see... So that's how it is..."_

Izuku stared intensely at Enso and Shinso below. He, along with his whole class, was wondering what was going to happen.

Enso sighed, slightly bowing to Shinso.

"I'm sorry..."

"He responded!" Sero said.

"Damn it!" Ojiro yelled.

Izuku stared in concern.

Shinso grinned, feeling his quirk going in to paralyze his opponent's mind.

"I should be the one apologizing, even though you're a nice guy, I have something to prove. So right now, I need you to walk-"

"That won't work..." Enso interrupted him.

Hearing him talk back, Shinso's grin turned into a look of confusion.

"What?"

Izuku and his class were as equally as shocked.

"It didn't work!?" Ojiro cried out, shooting up from his seat.

Enso raised his head back up with a cold expression.

Izuku's eyes widened, not just from the fact that his mentor somehow wasn't controlled, but also because he saw that despite the cold, emotionless look Enso maintained...

Izuku could swear that Enso was feeling bad for Shinso.

Shinso balled his hands into fists, "Turn around and walk off the stage!" he shouted angrily.

Enso sighed as his blue aura remained.

"My telepathic powers stop any attempts of others from breaching into my own mind..."

Shinso's eyes widened as he heard this, and he could feel his dream shatter right in front of him.

"You can't control me... If it was anyone else, then you would've won." Enso said.

Everyone in the crowd was silent, as they had been waiting for some sort of action to happen to get riled up, but they didn't get that.

"No way..." A pro hero said in the crowd.

"He has a brainwashing quirk?" A spectator said.

"But it doesn't work against his opponent... How unfortunate." Another sighed.

"How unlucky..."

Hearing the words of others in the crowd, Shinso lowered his head with shadows over his eyes, fists shaking violently.

"This is bullshit... Do you know how careful I was to get here? I was going to prove everyone wrong..." His voice was shaky now.

"I'm sorry." Enso repeated.

"You don't get to apologize!" Shinso suddenly shouted.

Shinso rushed forward directly at Enso with fury in his eyes.

"'Unlucky!?' Don't screw with me!" He performed a massive right swing aimed at Enso's face.

Enso stood still and raised his left arm, blocking Shinso's punch effortlessly without any sign of an effect.

"I was screwed from the start!"

Shinso swung his left arm this time, but Enso just stepped aside and let him pass with a small stumble.

He turned around and attacked again, "You weren't born like me! You can actually reach your goals!"

Enso caught Shinso's punch in his palm, then using his other palm to strike the boy's chest and sending him stumbling back a few feet.

Shinso panted and sweated harder than before, letting his emotions overtake him.

"You... you...!" He rushed at Enso one more time.

"You weren't ever feared because of your quirk!"

A punch echoed through the arena.

A few people's eyes widened.

Enso had stayed completely still, letting the punch connect to him. Yet he still wore the same cold expression as before despite the fist in his cheek now.

Shinso had his head down and stopped moving, only panting now after finished releasing his anger.

Enso reached up and gently grabbed Shinso by the wrist, removing the boy's fist from his face.

"Shinso... Why do you want to become a hero?" He finally asked.

Shinso seemed to freeze at that moment as if his breathing had stopped to take in that question.

At this point, the two were so close and their voices were so soft that no else could hear what they were saying, leaving much of the crowd confused.

Shinso took a deep breath, calming down.

"A villain's quirk, they said..."

Enso narrowed his eyes.

"Because of this quirk, everyone around me feared me... They thought I was some villain in the making. 'It's good for being a villain, huh?' Everyone had that same idea, it was just what the world was like..."

Enso looked down, _"Of course... Anyone would be foolish enough to judge others based on their quirk..."_

"But... Even though they say that... I-I..."

Shinso slightly raised his head up, revealing to Enso a gaze that had seen before from Izuku.

The face of someone with a dream.

"I just wanna become a hero... because I want to prove everyone wrong... I wanna show them that I'm no villain, I wanna prove that I can help people..."

Enso closed his eyes.

"I see... It seems you've had it rough."

He heard Shinso chuckled, "Ya think?..."

"I know someone who's had it even rougher than you..." Enso turned his head to the crowd and made eye contact with Izuku, surprising him.

_"What are you doing, Enso?"_

Enso turned back to his opponent.

"Shinso, I can't lose this battle right now..."

Shinso grit his teeth, "I know that..."

"But... I'll make sure your dream isn't a fantasy. Just like 'his.'"

"Huh?" Shinso backed up with a new look of confusion. "What do you-?"

Enso suddenly moved his palm right at Shinso's chest.

"For now... go to sleep."

He thrust the heel of his palm into Shinso's chest, suddenly blasting the boy all the way across the arena and passed the out of bounds.

Shinso just kept going, all the way until his back slammed into the wall.

Where he then felt his consciousness fade away.

Midnight raised her whip, "Shinso is out of bounds! Ureshi wins!"

Enso didn't know whether the crowd was cheering or not, but he didn't care. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and marched off the stage, leaving the area with what almost seemed like a glare.

_"How many times am I going to be reminded of the irritating reality of this world?"_

Izuku was in stunned silence as he watched his mentor disappear into the tunnel.

_"What did you say to each other, Enso?"_

Present Mic stared at the arena, looking more depressed than before.

"That was... A unique match." He then grinned, "But let's move on!"

_"He immediately shrugged it off..."_ Everyone sweatdropped.

* * *

~{Match 4: Mei Hatsume V.S Tenya Iida}~

_"Poor Iida..." _Everyone thought with shadowy blank expressions.

"Since I've got sensors in every direction, I can even deal with attacks from behind!" Mei shouted with her own microphone, flying around Iida and forcing him to run with her gear.

_"She's advertising her gadgets."_ Izuku thought with a deadpanned expression.

He saw some people with suits frantically writing down things with keen interest.

_"And it's working..."_

"Hey Aizawa, wanna play a game of poker while we wait?" Mic asked him.

"...Fine."

The crowd was somewhat split on this 'fight.' Some of them were slightly interested in Mei's gadgets, but others looking bored that there was no action going on.

When Mei presented every gadget in her disposal, she simply walked out outbounds and wiped the sweat from her head.

"Phew, I've presented every single one of my babies... I did it!" Mei giggled.

"*Snore!*" Midnight was sleeping on the cement chair Cementoss had made before he shook her.

"It's over Midnight..."

Midnight stumbled up and weakly pointed her whip, "Hatsumes is... *Yaaaaaaaawn* out of bounds... Iida moves on..."

"YOU TRICKED MEEEEEE!" Iida shouted.

Mei turned her head away with shadows over her, "I'm sorry, I used you."

"I HATE YOUUUUUUUU!" Iida shouted with his hand chopping the air madly fast.

Mei cheerfully walked towards the exit tunnel before spotting making eye contact with Izuku.

She grinned and winked at him.

"Eh!? Midoriya! Why is a hot and busty babe winking at you!?" Mineta asked. "Teach me!"

Ochako turned slightly annoyed, "Izuku, why-?"

Everyone saw Izuku turn blue in shock, hugging his own body, and shivering to his core.

"Are you okay!?" Ochako then cried out.

Izuku stumbled with his words. "I-I-I suddenly h-have a really, really... REALLY bad feeling!"

Enso looked away, _"Sorry in advance Izuku..."_

* * *

~{Match 5: Mina Ashido V.S Yuga Aoyama}~

_"The way Aoyama thrusts with his hands over his head each time he fires his laser seems... wrong..."_ Enso thought with a twitching eye.

"Nn!" Aoyama moaned as he fired his laser.

_"This is so inappropriate..."_ Enso sweatdropped.

This went for about a minute, until-

"Now!" Mina threw a ball of acid at Aoyama's belt, melting it slightly.

"Oh no! My precious belt!"

His pants then fell.

"Ah! My precious pants!" He reached down and pulled them up.

Mina slid right at him, "I'll finish it!"

She then clenched her right hand into a fist and rose it up.

"Shor-yu-ken!" She uppercut Aoyama right underneath his neck.

"Oahhhhhh!" Aoyama moaned as he fell back, landing on the ground, unconscious.

"Aoyama has fainted! Ashido advances to the next round!" Midnight declared.

Enso facepalmed, "About time..."

"Mina's got such amazing agility..." Izuku muttered as he wrote in his notebook.

He then turned to Momo, "Your match is next, right? How are you feeling?"

Momo took a deep breath, "I'm actually feeling rather nervous. I don't know how I can compete against Tokoyami's dark shadow. It comes out without any lag at all."

"I'm sure you'll find a way, you're one of the most amazing students in our class after all." Izuku smiled.

Momo smiled back and stood up, "Thank you, Izuku... I'll do my best!" she said with more confidence.

She then walked off towards her match, leaving Izuku and Ochako sitting next to each other.

Izuku turned to Ochako, "How are you feeling- YOU'RE NOT OKAY! YOUR BROW'S ALL WRINKLED!"

Ochako had a purple aura around her with eyes completely open and a furrowed brow as she formed an odd smile.

"Eh? I am?" She asked, her smile fading and looking much more nervous.

"Y-Yeah, you're really nervous, aren't you?" Izuku asked, closing his notebook and investing his full attention to the girl.

Ochako looked down and gripped onto her clothes, "I-I can't help it, Deku… I'm going up against Bakugo after all... Ever since he hit you with that explosion during combat training… I-I've been terrified of him."

Izuku saw the look of fear in Ochako's eyes, making his mind flashback to how many times he feared Bakugo.

As kids, as middle schoolers, and even as teenagers.

Izuku clenched his palms, "Ochako, I know that you can beat Kacchan. If you keep remaining afraid of him, then he'll keep walking all over you."

Ochako turned to Izuku.

The boy formed a sad smile at her.

"I know that all too well..."

Ochako had a look of sympathy before looking more determined and nodding her head.

"Yeah, I guess your right Deku, I'll do my best!" she said much more confidently than before.

Izuku chuckled, "Show Kacchan what you're made of."

The two sat in silence for a moment, glancing ahead at the empty area and cheering crowd.

Despite the encouragement from Izuku, Ochako couldn't help but still feel nervous about her upcoming battle.

She had a small thought and turned to Izuku, her cheeks reddening a bit.

"H-Hey Deku?..."

Izuku turned to her. "Yeah?"

"C-Could you... um..." She looked down more, her blush spreading.

Izuku noticed this and tensed up. "Y-Yeah!?"

Ochako suddenly started flailing her hands in embarrassment, "N-Nothing! Forget I said anything!" She turned away from him.

"Eh?" Izuku grew concerned. "Ochako, if you need something from me, or there's some way that I could help, then just ask."

Hearing him say that, Ochako flinched.

"R-Really?

Izuku nodded.

"U-Um in that case… c-could you…" She slowly turned to him with her head down and face red. "...hold my hand?"

"E-Eh?!" Izuku almost jumped out of his seat, immediately turning red himself. "Wha-Wha-?"

Ochako quickly explained, "It-It's just that… whenever I felt scared or nervous, my parents would always hold my hand…" She glanced away, "I-It would always help calm me down…"

Izuku gulped nervously, letting his good and helpful nature answer.

"I-I-If it r-really h-helps you… then, I'll… d-do it…" He mumbled pretty low.

Ochako's eyes lit up, and although she felt happy that Izuku said yes, she was nervous about actually holding his hand.

"Th-Thanks..."

The two of them turned and stared at the arena. Ochako slowly reached for Izuku's hand, shaking a little as she did. Izuku did the same and reached out his hand, even then more freaked out than Ochako was.

Both their hands met on the armrest, causing both to flinch.

Ochako was the one to wrap her hand around Izuku's hand and firmly grasp it, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

Izuku, on the other hand, just kept on freaking out.

_"I-I-I'm holding hands with a girl!"_

"Offense and defense in one body! The dark samurai accompanied by Dark Shadow! From the hero course, it's Fumikage Tokoyami!"

Izuku blinked and glanced down, already seeing Momo standing with Tokoyami standing across from her.

He forgot everything about his hand and focused with a sharp gaze on the battle below.

"Versus! All-purpose creation! She was admitted through recommendations, so her abilities are certified! From the hero course, it's Momo Yaoyorozu! Let's start match six!"

Izuku noted that Momo didn't look sure of herself.

Enso narrowed his eyes, _"She's going to lose. She's unsure of herself even before the match has even started."_

"You won't live to regret this!"

Momo tensed up

"Let's rock!"

"Go Dark Shadow!"

**"On it!"** Dark Shadow came from Tokoyami and towards Momo at fast speeds.

Momo created a shield and blocked Dark Shadow, making him bounce off and go up.

_"A weapon! I need a-!"_ Momo tried to manifest a staff in her hand, but Dark Shadow had already circled around.

He slammed into her shield again, forcing her back more.

_"I can't collect my thoughts!"_

Izuku was worried, "Oh no..."

**"Sorry!"** Dark Shadow knocked Momo's shield out of her hand, then circled back to hit her.

Momo made another shield, but Dark Shadow slammed into her again with enough force to send her sliding back a significant distance away.

"Nngh!" Momo slid back, and upon stopping, she got her shield ready.

But Dark Shadow had also stopped.

She formed a staff in her hands, _"Now is my chan-!"_

"Yaoyorozu is out of bounds!"

"Huh?" Momo blinked with a look of shock, looking down to see her foot over the line.

"Tokoyami wins!"

Dark Shadow retracted back as Tokoyami bowed.

Momo dropped her shield and staff, eyes widened.

"An overwhelming victory!"

All other noise cut off from Momo's ears, hearing only her own thoughts.

_"No..."_

Tokoyami walked off the stage.

_"I couldn't even..."_

She looked down and started walking off the stage.

_"Nothing..."_

Izuku let go of Ochako's hand and sprung up from his seat, looking completely serious.

He turned to her.

"Ochako, I-"

"I know..." Ochako smiled, "Go."

Izuku bowed, then running off.

Ochako watched as the boy ran, then she got up from her seat and took a deep breath.

_"My match is up soon..."_

* * *

_"I've got to find her!"_

Izuku frantically ran through the halls, heading to the entrance tunnel for the arena.

_"I know Momo... This loss is killing her on the inside!"_

He panted as he came to the entrance, only to not see the girl anywhere.

His head glanced at all the directions of the hall she could've gone.

_"There's no doubt that she's finding a place to be alone right now and dealing with this herself..."_

Izuku went deeper down the halls, _"She must be around here somewhere."_

Soon, he heard a sniffle.

Izuku stopped in his tracks and listened, hearing the sobs of someone in need to the left of the hall. He started walking, and the cries grew louder until Izuku reached the end and peaked around the corner.

He saw her.

The mature girl was near the end of the hall, crouching against the wall with her knees pressed against her chest, tears streaming down her face, and a hand on her mouth as she wept.

Izuku stared in shock as he saw the pain the girl was going through.

Failure, something that he had experienced for so long, something that everyone referred to him.

Izuku wasn't freaked out, he already knew what to say.

He started marching towards her.

Momo heard him walking and suddenly turned her head with a new look of shock.

"I-Izuku!?"

Izuku kept walking to her.

"N-No! Th-This is-! *sniffle* I'm fine!" Momo quickly stood up, not wanting to look any worst, "I-I don't... Don't look at me like this!" Momo cried, trying to use her arms to wipe away her tears.

He kept getting closer.

"Don't... *Sniffle* look at me..." She whimpered, covering her face with her hands. "I-I know, I failed... I lost completely-"

She felt his warm arms embrace her tightly.

"Huh?" She moved her hands from her face, discovering that Izuku had wrapped his arms around her back and placed his head on her shoulder.

"I-Izuku?" She whimpered.

"I know exactly what you're thinking... But don't let it get to you!"

Izuku tightened his hold on her.

"I felt the same way for the last ten years of my life... To feel the disappointment of others in you, to feel disappointment in yourself. It takes away your confidence, you think you can't do anything, you think you'll fail everyone, it... it makes you think that you _are_ a failure..."

Momo's eyes widened.

"But you're one of the most amazing people I know! You're intelligent, mature, and considerate of others! You've helped lift my spirit more than I could ever keep it up myself! You've never looked down at me, so don't start looking down at yourself! So you've lost against Tokoyami, so what? Not even I know how I would be able to go up against his quirk, and I've been studying quirks for years!"

Izuku let go and slightly backed up and stared up at Momo, the girl still teary-eyed and a light shade of pink forming of her cheeks.

"Don't let this battle drag you down!" He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, "Instead, use it as a chance to improve yourself! From here on out, we'll only get stronger! _You'll_ only get stronger! Don't let your emotions drag you down! After all..."

Izuku gentle cupped Momo's cheek and used his thumb to wipe away a tear in the corner of Momo's eye, smiling as he did so.

"...Everyone's counting on you. I'm counting on you to become an amazing hero."

Momo's eyes watered up more.

"*Sniffle* Izuku!"

This time, Momo wrapped her arms around Izuku's neck and pulled the two of them as tight as she could, putting Izuku's head on top of her shoulder and resting her own head against his.

Izuku felt his body stiffen. Despite being perfectly calm when he was the one to hug the girl first, now Momo hugging him back just seemed to cause a natural reaction of embarrassment.

However, he then heard her cry again.

But not out of grief…

"Thank you, *sniff* Thank you, Izuku..."

"N-No problem..." Hands still wrapped around her, Izuku gently patted Momo's back to comfort her.

They both stayed this way for what felt like a minute, Momo keeping a hold on Izuku while the boy nervously wondered how long the hug was going to last.

"The seventh match of the first round will start in just a minute! Get those cheers ringing everyone!" Present Mic shouted.

Hearing this, Izuku remembered that Ochako's match is after this one, and against Bakugo at that.

"U-Um, Momo...? The next match is going to start, w-we should go."

"Mmm... Just a little longer..." Momo said.

"E-Eh?" Izuku felt Momo nuzzle her face against the top of his head.

Izuku then blinked as he realized.

"Hold on... Are you feeling my hair?"

He felt Momo's facial muscles form into a smile.

"Maybe."

Izuku couldn't help but smile, "Is it really that fluffy?"

Momo chuckled, "You have no idea..."

They both laughed.

* * *

~{Match 7: Kirishima V.S Kaminari}~

Momo and Izuku ran back on time to see the start of the next match, quickly taking their seats to watch.

"Both are in the hero course, both have K's in their names, both got somewhat spikey hair! But they're _very_ different!"

Mic pointed in one side, "On the left, we have the master of phone chargers, Denki Kaminari!"

"Don't describe me like that!" Kaminari yelled.

"And on the other side, we got the master of hardness, guaranteed to make any woman-!"

"Don't you dare finish that!" Aizawa shouted as a bang was heard.

"ACK!" They heard someone tumble to the floor.

"..."

They heard the microphone get readjusted.

"..."

"Eijiro Kirishima is his opponent, just start already." Aizawa mumbled.

_"What happened to Mic!?" _The entire stadium asked.

Kaminari grinned. "No hard feelings, right Kirishima?"

Kirishima gave him a thumbs up, "None at all- Wait a minute! Did you just make a joke about my quirk!?"

Kaminari was already letting loose, electricity sparking around him.

"Indiscriminate shock..."

He waved his hands down.

"1.3 Million Volts!"

Electricity shot all over the arena.

Kirishima activated his hardening quick and covered his face with his front with his arms.

The lightning essentially slammed into Kirishima, his body getting a shocking feeling.

"NGGGGHH!"

"Oh dear, Kaminari is letting everything loose at once?" Momo said.

"Can Kirishima take all that at once?" Shoji asked.

Bakugo scoffed, "As if that'll be enough."

Izuku glanced in Bakugo's direction rather curiously.

The shocks lasted for a few seconds until Kaminari finally fried his brain and put on a dumb expression.

"Yay, yay..." Kaminari said with two thumbs up with his dumb face.

Everyone then paid rather close attention to Kirishima.

The boy was literally steaming and in obvious pain, his muscles tensing up, but he was still standing.

_"Hold it... Hold it... You were made to take anything, so don't let this mean the end for you now!"_

Kirishima was still with his quirk active, stiffened in his current stance.

"No way! He stood through all of that!?" Mineta cried out.

"Like he'll go down to something like that..." Bakugo growled.

_"Seems Kacchan has a friend..."_ Izuku chuckled.

However, despite Kirishima still standing, he wasn't moving.

"What's he waiting for?" Jiro asked.

Everyone wondered the same thing for what felt like a minute, wondering if Kirishima would have the strength and will power to finish the battle himself, wondering if he was going to march up to Kaminari and end-

"Kaminari is out of bounds, Kirishima wins!" Midnight yelled.

Everyone blinked.

"Eh?"

They looked at Kaminari, who had walked out of bounds.

_"HE JUST WAITED FOR KAMINARI TO WALK OUT HIMSELF!?" _All of Class A mentally shouted.

Izuku looked to where Ochako was sitting before and saw her gone, obviously to prepare for her next match.

_"Good luck Ochako..."_

* * *

~{Match 8: Bakugo vs Ochako}~

"He was kind of famous in middle school! This isn't the face of a regular person! From the hero course, it's Katsuki Bakugo!"

Bakugo had a glare.

"Versus! (she's the one I'm rooting for) From the hero course, it's Ochako Uraraka!"

Ochako took a deep breath, putting on a determined expression.

Izuku and Momo just ran back to their class right on time, panting as they saw Ochako already on the field.

_"Do your best Ochako!"_ Izuku thought, looking tensed up.

"This battle is about to explode!"

Bakugo held his palms out to his sides.

"Let's rock!"

Izuku watched as Ochako rushed over at Bakugo, trying to predict his right hook swung.

But Bakugo swiped his arm fast and blasted her away.

Ochako was sent back, yet she got back up and rushed forward again into the smoke Bakugo made.

He watched as Bakugo blasted in another direction, only to see her U.A jacket there and Ochako behind him.

_"She can get him-!"_

Yet Bakugo immediately turned around and blasted her back again.

_"No! Kacchan's reactions are too fast!" _Izuku gritted his teeth with a face of worry.

Bakugo just kept blasting Ochacko back.

Ochako kept getting up and running back.

He blasted her again.

This pattern kept going on, bruises and a few burns forming on the gravity girl, yet...

"Not yet!" Ochako shouted, rushing once more.

*Boom!*

"I can't watch..." Someone in the crowd spoke.

"How can you say that you want to be a hero like that! If there's such a huge difference in abilities, then just send her out of bounds!" Someone else yelled.

Izuku looked down with shadows over his eyes.

_"That's not it..."_

Bakugo unleashed two explosions.

_"Kacchan isn't fighting to bully her..."_

Ochako nearly grazed him, but Bakugo blasted her back while sending himself back.

_"He's acknowledging her as an opponent... He knows that if he makes one wrong move, then he's out..."_

"You really know him that well..." Momo said next to him with a solemn look.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked and saw his class staring at him.

"You muttered that to be clear." Jiro was the one to say.

"I thought Bakugo just had a kink in that direction..." Mineta said.

He got slapped by a long tongue.

Ochako was still standing, breathing hard, and then narrowing her eyes.

"I'm gonna win!"

She pressed her fingertips together.

Everyone's eyes turned back to the arena and widened in shock to see the sky literally raining with stones.

"She made Bakugo hit the ground low to create debris to float!" Izuku exclaimed in awe.

"Then she used his own smoke and constant vigilance on her to keep him from noticing above..." Momo added with a hopeful smile.

"..." Enso stood up from his seat with his hands in his pockets, walking away.

_"This battle is basically over..."_

Ochako ran at Bakugo as the floating stones suddenly rained down. At the same time, the blonde boy raised his hands up in the air rather than at her.

_"I can do it! I can win!_ _I can win and be like Deku!"_

Enso turned the corner into the hall as the sound of a giant explosion burned out all hope left.

_"You had your chance Uraraka... But the moment you pressed your fingertips in front of Bakugo... You sealed your fate."_

"Uraraka is out of commission! Bakugo wins!" Midnight announced.

_"But you sure put up a good fight." _Enso thought one last time.

* * *

Izuku stared in horror as Ochako laid on the ground, utterly unconscious with Bakugo standing a few feet in front of her.

_"She nearly had it... but Kacchan has so much destructive force..."_

He watched as the medical robots carried the girl away.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to Momo, who smiled at him.

"Go to her."

Izuku smiled and ran off again.

He ran until he got into the nurses' office, opening it.

"Excuse me-!"

"She's not here, she just left." Recovery Girl answered immediately.

"That fast!?"

"She went to the right of the hall." Recovery Girl pointed.

"Thank you!" Izuku bowed before closing the door and kept on running.

Recovery Girl chuckled, "I wonder who he'll choose..."

Izuku kept running until he heard her voice.

"Sorry about not picking up earlier, Dad..."

Izuku screeched to a halt, trying to become as quiet as possible.

_"It's fine, sorry for calling when you're busy. Your mom and I watched you on T.V, you were amazing!"_ Izuku heard a faint voice from a phone.

He heard Ochako sigh, "It wasn't that close... and I wasn't that amazing... I rushed too much and didn't a plan after my original one failed..."

Izuku didn't like the way she talked about herself.

_"Oh, come on now, just because you lost doesn't mean that everything's completely done. It doesn't mean that you can't be a hero, does it? There's always next year."_

He heard Ochako tearing up.

"The scouts won't be able to tell how good I am from just one match... They won't think I'm great like the others..."

_"But why the big hurry?"_

Ochako whimpered, "I-I really wanna help you guys already..."

There was a chuckle, _"Ochako, it's fine. Don't rush things. Just by knowing that you keep thinking this way shows just how much of a kind person you are... No matter what, we'll always be proud of you. You're already our hero."_

Ochako started bawling her eyes out.

Izuku smiled and closed his eyes.

_"It looks like I didn't have to do anything after all."_

"Now we've got everyone who's advancing to the next round! Let's get started!"

Izuku flinched, _"Oh no! I'm up first!"_

He ran off to his match.

* * *

Izuku ran down the halls and towards the entrance tunnel for the arena, feeling nervous as he thought about his next battle starting in just a few minutes.

His battle against Todoroki.

He stopped running as he thought about the half-n-half boy, thinking deeply about his situation.

_"There must be something I could do..."_

He started walking down the hall, nearing his destination.

But someone intercepted him from the corner.

"E-Endeavor!?" Izuku shouted, shocked to see the buff pillar of flames.

"Oh, there you are." Endeavor said as he glanced down at Izuku as he towered over the boy.

"E-Endeavor… wh-what are you doing here?" Izuku stuttered in his question before regaining his composure.

The flame hero pointed his finger at him, "I watched your fight. You have a remarkable quirk, being able to create so much wind pressure by just a flick of your finger. Not only that but you able to create such powerful sound waves by screaming. If we're talking about power alone, yours would seem comparable to All Might's if you went all out."

Izuku was a little shocked, "What… What are you trying to say? A-Actually, don't answer. I-I have to go get ready for my match." Izuku quickly ushered himself past him.

Until Endeavor spoke to him again, "It is my Shoto's duty to surpass All Might."

Izuku stopped in his tracks as he heard him say that.

He continued, "His match with you will be a very instructive test. Please don't disgrace yourself in it, or it'll discourage my son as well."

Izuku's mind flashed back to everything Todoroki had said before, making him clench his hands into fists.

"That was all I wanted to say. I apologize for bothering you right before your match." As he finished, Endeavor started walking away, heading back towards the audience section.

But this time, Izuku was the one to say something to stop him, "I am not All Might…"

Endeavor paused and turned his head to him, "That's obviou-"

Izuku interrupted him, "That's obvious, right?"

He then turned his head at Endeavor with a glare.

"Todoroki isn't you either."

Endeavor returned the glare to Izuku, but didn't say anything and continued to walk away.

Izuku took a deep breath, clenching his tight fist, and continued to make his way down the hall until he made it into the tunnel.

* * *

Momo carefully looked for any sign of Izuku on the field before hearing someone's voice.

"Those two haven't started yet?"

She turned her head and saw Ochako, only to reel back in surprise from Ochako's swelled-up eyes.

"I've gotta watch." Ochako stated, despite her eyes being puffy.

"Were your eyes hurt!?" Iida shouted in concern.

"No, I'm fine! This...is different." As Ochako said this, she sat down beside Momo.

Momo smiled, "You too, huh?"

Ochako turned to her and smiled, "Yeah... We both lost after all."

The pots in the arena suddenly flared up intensely.

"Thanks for waiting everyone! The first match of the second round will be a big one!"

The two combatants came out of the tunnels.

"The man who won a huge victory in the first round and literally left the audience frozen, Shoto Todoroki!"

Mic pointed to the other side.

"Versus the broccoli-haired boy who might become my next sidekick if he screams the way to victory! It's Izuku Midoriya!"

Both of them stepped into the arena and stopped a reasonable distance away.

"So…you're here, Midoriya..." Todoroki said.

"Yeah... We met up pretty soon..." Was all Izuku could respond with a sad look.

* * *

Shigaraki narrowed his eyes into a glare at Izuku again.

_"Watch carefully and prepare, Tomura Shigaraki. They may become obstacles for you one day."_ Shigaraki's 'sensei' spoke.

Shigaraki scratched his neck and scoffed. "That's a load of crap."

His sensei chuckled.

_"They'll be more than just obstacles..."_

* * *

Inko had tissues filling up the entire living room as tears still kept waterfalling down her eyes.

"Izukuuuuuu..." She muffled behind a tissue on her face.

* * *

Toshinori had his eyes glued down below, knowing how strong both of these students of his were.

"They're both pretty amazing, aren't they?" Nezu chuckled.

Toshinori gripped his hands tightly.

"But I'm worried... There's more to Todoroki than he lets on. And I'm wondering if Midoriya figured out what it is..."

"Because then the boy might go out of his way to help him, even in this battle?"

Toshinori sighed, "Not 'might'... He will."

* * *

Izuku and Todoroki stared at one another with serious expressions on their faces.

But one's cold expression only had a message saying that he would beat his opponent mercilessly.

The other was a look saying that he wasn't going to lose, but was going to help.

Izuku took a deep breath, getting into a fighting stance, ignoring the cheers of the crowd or the gazes of the people he knew.

Right now, it was only him, and Todoroki.

_"I'll save you Todoroki, but I won't lose!"_


	26. Izuku VS Todoroki

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Present Mic stuck his arms in the air.

"Let's get fired up!"

An icy aroma formed around Todoroki's arm and green electricity was created around Izuku.

"FIGHT!"

Todoroki stomped his right foot and sent a barrage of ice hurtling towards Izuku.

Izuku got in a boxer's stance as he channeled his power.

_"This might be tricky, but I gotta hit the weak points of the ice!"_

He stood still as the ice came in close enough range.

_"Just keep punching forward!"_

The ice encaved over him.

"Todoroki just landed a huge attack on Midoriya! It's just like what happened against Sero! Is Midoriya done already!? Lame..."

Compared to when Todoroki had frozen Sero, this time, Izuku was nowhere to be seen. There were only the glistening reflections of the shining ice tips.

Class 1-A, excluding a few, were stunned.

"I-Is he even okay in there!?" Ochako uttered.

Momo looked unsure.

"I saw him before he was covered, he started repeatedly punching the ice fast, carefully aiming his attacks in front of him."

"He's digging..." Enso remarked.

"Eh?" A few people turned to him.

"He's literally digging through."

Todoroki walked towards the glacier, waiting for Midnight to announce his victory before he would melt it.

But instead of hearing Midnight's announcement, he heard some thumping from inside the glacier, making him stop.

_"Is he still moving in there?"_

The thumps turned to cracks, making Todoroki's eyes widen.

A large segment of the ice in front of Todorki then shattered and sent many jagged pieces right at him.

Seeing this threat, Todoroki was quick to form a small pillar of ice in front of him, blocking the sharp projectiles from hitting him.

But because he had covered his entire front, that also included his line of sight.

"SMAAAAAASH!"

A fist smashed through the ice in front of Todorki, continuing through until it slammed right into his stomach.

"Nani!? Midoriya got out of the ice _and_ managed to land a solid blow on Todoroki!?"

Todoroki was sent flying back, bouncing off the ground before forming ice in his path to stop.

Izuku landed on his feet and panted, a white breath coming out from the coldness of the area.

_"I can't let him recover!"_

He raised his fingers up, aiming them at Todoroki.

"Delaware Smash 10%!"

He flicked his finger, and a force of wind was sent towards the cold boy.

Being close to the edge of the ring, Todoroki didn't want to risk getting sent outside. He leaped to the side while forming ice, using it to slide away from the edge while avoiding Izuku's attack.

_"He's sliding around!?"_ Izuku thought as he watched the boy skate around him.

"Hey! That looks like fun!" Mic shouted.

Todoroki stopped his slide and jumped off, landing on his feet before sending a wave of ice towards Izuku, this one smaller than before.

Seeing the reduced size of the barrage, Izuku pulled his right arm back and charged up.

_"Can take this out in one punch! I just need more power!"_

Izuku ran forward and swung it his arm, charging more power than before.

_"Detroit Smash, 15%!"_ When his fist collided with the ice, it stung a little, but in return, he was able to smash away the ice that came at him.

However, he didn't notice that as Todorki sent the wave of ice at him, he ran long it himself, jumping right before Izuku smashed it.

"Todoroki is trying to get in close!"

_"He's trying to get from above!" _Momo realized as she saw this.

Luckily, Izuku caught the sight of Todoroki's shadow over him, looking up to see Todoroki swinging his fist down at him.

_"If I block, then he'll just freeze me!"_

Izuku jumped back as Todoroki's fist hit the ground, freezing the part he hit with jagged spikes coming around him.

Todoroki then turned his head and in a glared and spread more ice from his fist spreading right at Izuku, who was in the air from jumping back.

_"He can't dodge the ice!" _Iida saw with a worried look.

Seeing the ice coming at him, Izuku charged power in his leg.

_"15%!..."_

He stuck his leg out and performed a 360 spin in the air.

"Smash!" He swung his leg and struck the ice with mightier force than his punches did, breaking away the oncoming glacier easier.

Izuku landed on his feet, slightly sliding before coming to a stop.

He panted heavily, but not because of exhaustion.

He was angry.

_"He... He really isn't using all of his power!?"_

His thoughts were interrupted as more ice came at him.

Enso narrowed his eyes at the unfolding battle.

_"If Izuku keeps punching the ice head-on, then his hands will end up getting numb as the fight progresses... He could've gone a simpler way to win this fight, so why is he resorting to such a brute method to get through?"_

He watched as Izuku sidestepped and swung his arm at a small barrage of ice, shattering it, but his fists were slightly shaking.

_"Wait..."_

He watched as Izuku kept punching through the ice, paying close attention to Todoroki's right arm frosting up.

_"Izuku... You're trying to stall him out so that he uses his left side..."_

Izuku majestically jumped over a wave of ice, and upon landing, he smashed more oncoming ice with his fists.

Enso sighed, closing his eyes.

_"Idiot..."_

Izuku dashed at Todoroki once more. The ice teen responding by gritting his teeth and sending more ice at him.

Izuku slightly bent his knees and leaped high into the air, avoiding the ice that came at him.

Todoroki looked up at Izuku's shadow momentarily covering the sun, so he pointed his hand up and created a pillar of ice spreading upward at the boy.

Rather than smashing the ice, Izuku manipulated his body in the air by flipping forward, avoiding it, and letting the barrage go past him underneath. Izuku then spun and landed with both of his feet on the ice, using it to slide down for a moment before leaping once more at Todoroki.

_"From above!?"_ Todororki jumped back and stacked more ice in front of him.

Izuku flipped forward and stuck his leg out.

"Manchester..."

He swung that leg downward in an ax-kick right upon the ice.

"Smash!"

His kick smashed through the ice and continued all the way to the ground, pulverizing it and creating a shockwave that blew Todoroki back a small distance away.

Izuku got to his feet, taking deep breaths as he clenched his hands into fists again.

Todoroki stood up straight and grit his teeth in anger, his right arm clearly frosted over and causing him to tremble.

Izuku glared at him and found his own anger building up as he finally brought up the question.

"Why aren't you using your full power!?"

Todoroki was taken aback by this question, but it also seemed to make him even angrier.

"What?" He said, voice full of venom.

"Why aren't you using your full power like everyone else!? Why aren't you using your left side!?"

"You know why!" As Todoroki shouted this back, he sent another wave of ice forward.

_"It isn't as fast as before... The ice is starting to get to him."_ Izuku thought as he jumped to the side.

Todoroki ran on the offensive, running in closer to Izuku.

"I'm not using my left! Because it's _his _power!"

Izuku dashed forward as well, but being much faster with his quirk, he got in front of Todoroki in a flash.

"_His _power!?" Izuku shouted angrily as he swung his right arm and connected right into Todoroki's stomach.

"Nngh!" Despite the pain, Todoroki reached down and grabbed the arm Izuku used, suddenly freezing it in a second before getting sent flying back.

Izuku was shocked to see that his arm had been frozen, jumping back and gazing down at it. His arm had been frozen up to the upper part of it, and he felt it already getting numb, especially after punching ice so many times before.

Todoroki tumbled on the ground before ice stuck up and stopped him. He visibly shook as he stood back to his feet, using a small pillar of ice to support himself.

"You're right side has already taken a toll on you, Todoroki! You can easily solve that with your left side!" Izuku tried to convince him.

Todoroki just scowled at him. "Did my old man buy you off!? Even you?!"

Izuku stood up straight, ignoring the ice on his arm as he shouted.

"No! It's not that!" Izuku's unfrozen hand gripped into a tight fist. "Everyone has been fighting with everything they've got! You _saw _them!"

Izuku then pointed a finger at him, "Yet, you're trying to win with only _half_ your strength!?"

Todoroki had about enough, "I don't need his quirk to win! I'll beat you with only my right side and prove that I can become a true hero without any of his power!"

Hearing him, Izuku's eyes dilated in anger, his body shaking not from the cold but from the rage he was feeling.

"I'll beat you, _and_ reject him right now! So go, DOWN!" More ice froze over Todoroki's own arm as he sent the most significant wave of ice he could throw at once at Izuku, aiming to finish the match.

Izuku looked down and clenched his teeth, hating everything he was hearing from his opponent.

_"Is he really… not gonna use his quirk?"_

"Todoroki keeps attacking with overwhelming power! Is this the finishing attack!" Present Mic yelled.

Izuku's mind could only flashback to Todoroki's claim.

_"Without using my damn old man's quirk... No... I'll reject him completely by winning first place without it!"_

Izuku didn't even notice when the world turned slow around him, the ice slowly making its way towards him.

All sources of sound had been cut off from his mind, his eyes were wholly shadowed, and his blood boiled.

_"Everyone is trying so hard..."_

He thought about Kendo fighting against him, he thought about Momo crying upon losing, he thought about all the pain Ochako went through just trying to beat Bakugo.

_"They're all trying their best, they all wanted to show that they would be willing to give their everything to be number one..."_

Izuku could feel something building up.

_"And yet..."_

He saw flashes of news broadcasts depicting murdered heroes and victims.

_"He thinks he can become a hero like this?..."_

His mind was getting cloudy in black.

He snapped.

**"You'll never become a true hero!"**

Todoroki felt a chill that wasn't from his ice for the first time ever, his eyes widened and he took a step back in shock.

Before all the ice that had been charging towards Izuku suddenly exploded in an explosion of black from the boy, abruptly being sent back at Todoroki in shattered pieces and with more powerful winds than ever before.

"Nani!?" Toshinori's eyes widened.

Mina and Hagakure shot up from their seats with gaped expressions.

Momo and Ochako couldn't help but feel scared when they saw a familiar color around Izuku.

Tsu and Jiro stared in stun silence.

Bakugo grit his teeth.

Enso narrowed his eyes.

The force of this explosion of darkness forcefully pushed Todoroki back, his feet dragging against the ground as he struggled to form ice behind him in a desperate plea to stop moving.

Right as he got near the edge of the arena, Todoroki just managed to stop moving with ice finally being able to slow him down into a stop.

He had his head down and used his ice to support himself.

_"What... the hell was that?"_

Todoroki pulled himself up, leaning against his ice.

_"I heard... two voices?"_

He raised his head up but was shocked to see a black aura surrounding Izuku.

Enso leaned forward in his seat, _"He activated it... He activated Ikari and created an explosion of force to shatter the ice... Even the ice that was on his arm is gone."_

Todoroki's glared tried to drill holes through Izuku.

"You bastard… You bring out that power of yours now...?"

The black aura around Izuku almost seemed flamed like, but it was also able to be seen through to the boy's body.

"Why...? Why now is it coming up!? Why are you going soo far?!"

Izuku lifted his head up to Todoroki.

Todoroki recoiled back as he saw a more than just angry glare from Izuku. His innocent green eyes had changed to a devilish red, his scleras had turned black, and red veins boldly shown in his eyes.

**"I'm going far because I actually want to become a true hero."** He said in a chilling mixture of voices.

Izuku's aroma was overwhelmingly intense, the people in the arena could feel themselves shivering from it rather than the cold temperature.

Izuku rose his arm in front of him, clenching his hand tightly into a fist.

**"You're going to hold back your power, even when someone can die because of it?!" **

_"What the hell is with this guy!?" _

"Shut up!" Todoroki sent another barrage of ice headed towards him.

Izuku slowly pulled his right arm back, and the black aura around it started vibrating intensely.

**"WHAT KIND OF HERO HOLDS BACK THEIR POWER!?"**

He swung his arm and punctured through the ice, shattering the front and creating a powerful air force that pierced through the ice and made its way right at Todoroki.

Todoroki saw himself as a child again, hugging his mom with tears in his eyes.

_"I don't wanna mom... I... I... I don't wanna be like dad!"_

He snapped out of his thought just in time to slide to the side right before the force of air came at him. It collided with the ice he left behind, causing an impact that shattered it and creating a shockwave strong enough that blew the cold teen off the ground and to the side.

In the air, his mind just went back to that same moment as a child, his mom gently caressing his hair.

_"But you want to be a hero, don't you?"_

He bounced off the ground.

_"It's okay for you to become one."_

He tumbled along the ground before slamming into ice he brought up to stop, then falling to the ground on his chest and visibly shaking.

"Why...?" Todoroki struggled to get up, he used his right arm to get up, despite it frosting with the rest of his right side.

He saw his mom in the kitchen, talking on the phone.

_"I'm going crazy... Every day, the children are becoming more like him! Shoto... His left side scares me, a-as if he's going to become another one of 'him'! I-I can't do this anymore..."_

_"Mom...?" _The small Todoroki called out, slightly trembling.

His mom flinched and slowly turned around to face him, a terrified look in her eyes.

He heard a boiling pot of water.

Todoroki got back up to his feet, his teeth grinding as he thought about it, putting his hand on his scar.

"He... He made her do this to me... I will reject using-!"

He saw a flash of black appear in front of him, his eyes widened to see Izuku's threatening eyes in front of him.

"It's not... _HIS POWER_!"

Izuku swung his leg and slammed it right into Todoroki's stomach, causing the boy to cough out the air from his lungs.

Todoroki was sent back several yards away once more, feeling tears starting to form in his eyes.

"_Who_ chooses when to use it, _who_ decides how much power to bring out?!"Izuku screamed.

Todoroki landed in a crouching manner, holding his stomach in pain.

"I..." He whimpered, not even knowing what to say.

Izuku let out one last line.

"IT'S _YOUR_ POWER! ISN'T IT!?"

Those words hit Todoroki harder than any attack Izuku did.

He saw his childhood flashing by, finding himself sitting beside his mother. The two of them smiled as they watched the television where All Might had just saved several people once again from a fire crisis.

But it was the voice of All Might himself commentating over that event that was important.

_"Children can inherit quirks from their parents. But that connection doesn't matter, what does matter is recognizing your own flesh and blood! Recognizing yourself!"_

The screen showed All Might giving a thumbs up.

_"That is what I mean when I say... 'I Am Here!'"_

"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE TODOROKI!? WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" Izuku shouted.

He remembered his mother's words again.

_"But you want to be a hero, don't you? It's okay for you to become one."_

_"How...? How could I...?"_ Todoroki thought, tears going down his eyes.

The rest of her words came flowing in.

_"You don't have to be a prisoner of your blood. It's okay for you to become… who you want to be."_

Todoroki felt the ice shields around his heart melt, delivering the first warm feeling that he had ever felt in so long.

His pupils shook as his left side erupted in flames.

"Th-This is-!?" Present Mic shouted.

Iida and Momo were shocked, remembering when Todoroki claimed that he wouldn't use his left side in battle.

"H-He used it!"

Ochako smiled, "Deku! You... You wanted to make him use it!"

"He actually got him to use his left side… that's so manly!" Kirishima yelled as he clenched his fists.

"Won't that make the battle even harder for him now!? Was helping Todoroki use his fire really worth it!?" Mineta yelled.

Momo turned her head with a smile, "Izuku knew that Todoroki has to learn to use his left side... Otherwise, he'll never become the hero he wants to be."

"I still think Midori is gonna win!" Mina yelled with a grin.

Toshinori stared in wonder. _"You made him use his left side..." _He grinned. _"You wanted to save young Todoroki after all..."_

"I... I want to be a hero, that's why I'm here!" Todoroki shouted, smiling despite the tears coming down his face.

Izuku stared in awe at the beautiful assortment of flames in front of him, feeling all of his previous anger disappear. Along with his rage, the black colors around Izuku faded away, changing his eyes back to their brilliant shining green color.

Enso stared down rather curiously, _"Izuku doesn't even seem to realize that he activated Ikari again... Just because he felt angry at Todoroki for not using his flames. Now that he is using it though... He calmed down and it stopped."_

Endeavor had an evil grin, _"He... He finally used it!"_

He unfolded his arms and looked up with his own flames bursting up in excitement.

"SHOTOOOOOOOOO!"

"Huh?" Present Mic, along with nearly the entire audience, thought as they heard the number two hero's rather excited yell.

Endeavor made his way down the stairs. "Have you finally accepted yourself!? Good! It all starts from here on out!"

Todoroki nor Izuku bothered to listen to him.

Todoroki just grinned as he spoke, "You were talking about using my full power just now, so why did you suddenly stop using yours?"

Izuku's smile faded as he realized exactly what had happened a moment ago.

_"I-I did bring it out, didn't I!? I-I brought out Ikari!?" _His eyes stared down to his hands for a brief moment.

Todoroki chuckled, "Judging by that look on your face, you didn't even realize you used it. This will be twice as hard for you now, you know?"

Izuku returned his concentration on Todoroki and chuckled as well, "Yeah... You may be right, but..." He got into another fighting stance. "I don't plan to lose!"

Todoroki stomped on the ground and created the most tremendous bombardment of ice he could create, sending rapidly to Izuku to finally finish this match. The ice covered the entire field and rose higher than Izuku's height, many jagged spikes within it as well.

Izuku just grinned.

"Full Cowling 5%!" He leaped over the wave of ice as it came at him.

He wouldn't be able to reach Todoroki in one jump, so instead, he improvised by sticking his legs down and started surfing on the ice under him.

He leaned left and right to avoid the jagged ice spikes in his way, making his way towards Todoroki.

_"One punch..."_

Todoroki saw him and raised his newly flaming left arm up. The ice blindingly reflected the light of his flames as they came out bursting at Izuku.

_"One punch is all I need!"_

Seeing these flames reaching him, Izuku pointed his finger to the right.

"Delaware smash 10%!"

He flicked his finger to the right.

The force caused Izuku to slide in the opposite direction and out of the path of the flames.

Going the wrong way, Izuku jumped and used his feet to land on top of one of the large spikes, using it to jump off and head at Todoroki again.

_"Todoroki must be thinking the same thing! He wants to finish this as fast as possible as well! So..."_

Izuku landed on ice only for a moment before leaping up in the air again.

"COME AT ME WITH EVERYTHING TODOROKI!" Izuku shouted, pulling his arm back for a punch.

Hearing this, Todoroki raised his flaming hand at Izuku, smiling peacefully.

"Of course, Midoriya..."

All the flames he could bring out suddenly blasted right at Izuku.

"Detroit Smash..."

Toshinori saw Izuku's entire right arm light up, making him shoot up from his seat. "Don't tell me he's gonna-!?"

Izuku was already throwing his arm forward.

"...100%!"

"MIDNIGHT!" Cementoss shouted as he started frantically sending cement to intercept the two.

"I KNOW!" Midnight tore a piece of her sleeve to try to get her aroma to them.

But by then, the two were already unleashing everything they had.

Todoroki closed his eyes.

_"Midoriya..."_

Izuku's punch met with Todoroki's barrage of flames.

"Thank you..."

The cold air was heated and suddenly expanded, the two forces of attacks met in the middle of the stadium, resulting in an explosion that spread through the arena.

"KYAH!" Midnight was sent spiraling in the air like a ragdoll.

Powerful winds gusted through the crowd, forcing everyone to either shield their faces or hold onto their belongings in fear of having them blown away as well.

"What the hell!?" Kaminari shouted over the winds blowing against him and his ears.

"What happened!?" Momo shouted as she shielded her eyes.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Mina shouted louder than anyone else while covering her own ears.

Todoroki effectively kept himself in place by continuously creating blocks of ice behind him, forcibly getting pressed up against them from the force of his own attack. He only saw a wall of mist and smoke covering his line of sight.

_"I've won this... Midoriya was in the air when our attacks collided! He must've gotten launched back and out of the arena! He-!"_

Suddenly, from the wall of mist, two legs came out.

Todoroki's eyes widened, _"What!?"_

"SMAAAAAAASH!"

The of his body then followed, revealing Izuku grinning madly as his feet both slammed right into Todoroki's chest.

Todoroki's back smashed through his own wall of ice and continued to be sent flying back. Izuku tumbled on the ground with multiple spikes of pain going through his now broken arm each time he rolled on it.

...Then all was silent.

Everyone was quiet as they waited for the mist, smoke, and ash to clear up.

Present Mic had fallen out of his seat when the explosion happened, eyes twitching and legs up.

"What the heck is up with your class, Eraserhead!?"

Momo stood up from her seat and slightly leaned over the edge, anxiously searching for any sign of Izuku.

"Jeez, I can't see a thing! Hey! Who won the match!?"

Everyone waited as the field of vision started returning, the mist clearing up to reveal several things.

The One For All user was lying on his back against the ground, panting hard with his right arm wholly broken. He was drenched in sweat, and his shirt had gotten entirely burned off, revealing his built up, chiseled body to the crowd.

Todoroki, on the other hand, had a hand over his chest and was gritting his teeth in pain from Izuku's dropkick, kneeled over with the left half of his shirt burnt from his own flames. He had landed on the wall and bounced off it before then crouching in the pain he felt now.

Midnight stood up from the ground and held the back of her head, her red glasses gone out of existence as she turned to the two contestants.

She took note of their positions, pointing her whip.

"Todoroki is out of bounds! Midoriya wins!" Midnight stated.

The crowd went ballistic.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Hagakure shouted with invisible fists in the air.

Momo let out a breath of relief, feeling herself smiling ear to ear.

_"He did it... He saved Todoroki and still won..."_

Enso nonchalantly stood up in his chair. _"He made his match so unnecessarily hard..."_

He stared at Izuku's relieved expression.

_"But..."_

He stared at Izuku's glistening smile.

_"That's why he's already such a hero..."_

He turned and started walking.

"Enso!"

"Hm?" He turned as saw Iida there with a determined look on his face.

"What is it?"

"You're getting ready for our battle, correct?" Iida asked him.

He stared in silence for a moment.

"I'm fighting you?"

"You didn't even check your next opponent!?" Iida shouted.

"Nope."

"I... see." Iida adjusted his glasses. "I just wished to say that I hope that we have a good battle!"

Enso nodded, "I hope so too."

They both left in opposite directions.

Mina's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, but not even from the battle, she was staring at something else that had caught her attention.

"D-Did Midori always have those muscles?"

A few people's eyes blinked as they glanced down at Izuku shirtless.

"Huh? Yeah, we've seen them all the time in the locker room.." Kirishima said.

"He... is more built-up than I thought." Tsu said with a hidden pink blush.

Mina turned to Hagakure and brought her close, blushing as she did so.

"T-Toru... I..."

"Eh?" Toru blinked.

"I-I... wanna ask him out now..."

"...oh."

Todoroki had his head down as he registered what happened.

_"I... Lost?"_

He sighed, thinking about it.

_"But how did Midoriya not get sent out of bounds by the explosion? What could he have...?"_

Todoorki raised his head, his question answered when he saw Izuku get up as well.

Along with his right arm being broken, Izuku's left hand had just one broken finger.

Todoroki's eyes widened. "You... You broke your finger?"

Izuku struggled to walk off the arena and approached Todoroki, smiling as he did so.

"I knew that punch wouldn't be enough... So I kind had to shoot for you."

Todoroki realized it.

"You mean you sent yourself flying at me?"

Izuku chuckled, "Yeah... It was kind of a gamble because I didn't know if you would be in the same spot as after our attacks collided, but... I had to finish the fight soon."

Todoroki closed his eyes and leaned his head down.

"I see... I was utterly defeated..."

"I wouldn't say that, you were too strong for me to easily beat."

Izuku offered him his left hand.

"Here."

Todoroki glanced up at Izuku's hand, staring at it for a moment before smiling.

He grabbed it.

Except they both forgot that Izuku had a broken finger.

"OW!"


	27. A Warm Aftermath

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{The Old Warehouse}~

Dabi had an eyebrow raised as he leaned back on his old couch, intrigued by the explosive battle between Izuku and Todoroki.

"That got pretty intense."

He curiously stared at Izuku and Todoroki, heading out of the stadium together.

"Shoto Todoroki... His flames aren't blue like mine." He scoffed.

He then looked left, "What do you think Tog- hm?"

Toga was no longer sitting next to him on the couch and was instead was laying on the ground. She had her head planted in her hands, and she flailed her legs in the air.

She stared at the television screen with a small smile on her face, visibly interested in something.

Dabi noticed her creepy smile. "What's up with you?"

Toga's smile turned into a creepy grin.

"That boy…"

She stared at Izuku and his broken arm that had a few drops of blood going down it.

"He's pretty interesting."

"You're _only _saying that because he's bleeding a bit..." Dabi sighed in disappointment.

"I wonder how he would look with _more_ blood on him. Hehehe... He would look so cute."

"Don't mutter your fantasies around me… It's gross." Dabi's eye twitched.

"But aren't you interested in him too, Dabi?" Toga asked as she turned her head back at him.

"Not in the way you are, you lunatic…"

"You're mean Dabi!" Toga said with a pout.

She glanced forward at the television screen again.

"Aw! He's gone!"

"He left to get treated... I would too if I blew my arm up." Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Eh? But I wanna see him!" Toga whined, crawling closer to the screen.

"Then wait..." Dabi sighed. He watched as the screen showed the next battle that would be occurring.

_"Enso Ureshi…"_

* * *

~{Recovery Girl's Temporary Nurses' Office}~

"Sit yourselves over here, dearies." Recovery Girl instructed Izuku and Todoroki as they helped each other inside.

Izuku sat on one of the beds and let out a breath of relief.

"Phew... You alright, Todoroki?"

Todoroki sat down, holding his chest, "You're asking me that? You have a broken arm and finger?"

Izuku didn't understand. "...and?"

"He means that _you_ shouldn't be asking that!" Recovery Girl shouted angrily as she whacked Izuku on the head with her syringe cane.

"Ow!"

"This is the fourth time you've been here with an injury you caused to yourself!" She complained.

"S-Sorry! I-I felt like it was the only thing I could do at the last moment!" Izuku shielded himself from the elderly heroine.

"If you keep thinking that 'it's the only thing you can do,' then it'll be worse than that!" Recovery Girl shouted as she walked over to Izuku.

*Chuuuu!*

She kissed his arm, healing it and even his left hand's finger up.

Izuku felt only some of his stamina get taken, but the pain he was feeling disappeared.

"Thank you, Recovery Girl," Izuku said as he started rotating his arm.

Recovery Girl walked over to Todoroki, kissing his arm and healing him as well.

"There are spare gym clothes in that cabinet over there. Get changed, you two." The nurse pointed.

Izuku looked down at himself, noticing his shirt had been incinerated during the collision of explosions he and Todoroki did.

Todoroki, on the other hand, only had half of his shirt burned off, caused by using his left side.

"R-Right..." Izuku got up from the bed and went to the cabinet, grabbing two pairs of uniforms and tossing one at Todoroki.

"Thanks." Todoroki nodded as he peeled off what was left of his shirt.

"Hold on sonny, I almost forgot." Recovery Girl said to Izuku. "We still need to bandage that arm."

"O-Oh..."

Todoroki finished changing as Izuku sat down and stuck out his arm for Recovery Girl.

He stared at the emerald boy while still standing, his curiosity building up as he recalled many questionable events during the festival so far.

"Midoriya."

"Hm?" Izuku looked up, "Yeah?"

"That power you used against me during our fight. That was the other part of your quirk, was it not?"

"Other part?" Izuku blinked as he wondered what he meant. But his eyes widened as he realized what he was talking about, "Ah! You mean Ikari!?"

Todoroki tilted his head with a question mark over it. "I…kari?"

Izuku realized that he didn't actually tell any of his other classmates what he decided to name the additional power he had.

"I-It's what I call it. I…Um, well... I don't really know how to explain it, though..."

Todoroki sat back down on the bed across from Izuku. "From what I hear, you tell everyone else that not even you understand it completely. Yet... I swear I saw you bring it up multiple times during the festival."

Izuku's eyes widened and slightly leaned forward. "Multiple times!? B-But I don't even remember doing any of them! I-I barely remember bringing Ikari up one moment during our battle!"

"Hold still sonny, I'm still wrapping these bandages around you." Recovery Girl reminded him.

"Ah, sorry."

Todoroki looked down. "There was a moment during the obstacle course race, Ureshi was going to take the lead from you, he was clearly going faster than you. And yet... he backed up because something got in his way for a split second."

Todoroki recalled the flash of black.

"It was... black flames. They were only there for a second, yet it was enough to scare Ureshi to retreat."

_"That's why Enso backed off!? Why didn't he tell me about it!?"_

"Then there was the cavalry battle. You had left your team to take back the ten million points. You reached your arm out, but... you grabbed the wrong headband. You grabbed the top one, but I had purposely moved the ten million to the bottom."

Izuku was shocked.

"S-So I really did grab the wrong one? I-I knew that I did... B-But then, how did I get the ten million back?"

"I don't know, the only I know is that I saw something else... Red eyes."

"R-Red eyes?" Izuku repeated.

Todoroki nodded, "I think they were eyes..."

"Are you sure they weren't mine?"

"I don't know for sure. They weren't the same eyes that you had during our fight... But the next thing I knew, the ten million headband was gone."

Izuku looked down with fearful thoughts going through his head.

_"I activated Ikari so many times without realizing it? And I even used it while fighting against Todoroki? That's so dangerous without knowing how I can control it! What if I did to Todoroki the same thing that I... did to Kacchan?"_

Izuku shivered at that thought.

"All done, sonny." Recovery Girl said as she slowly finished wrapping up his arm

"Ah, thank you..."

Izuku stood up from the bed, still feeling insecure about using his own power without even realizing it.

Todoroki stood up and went to the door.

"I don't know what you're dealing with that power of yours, but I hope you get a hold on it..." He left outside the room and slid the door closed.

Izuku stared down into his hand as he thought about it.

_"I have a bad feeling about this..."_

A moment into thinking, the door slid open.

"Young Midoriya! Good job there!" Toshinori praised as he walked in with a smile.

"A-All Might!?" Izuku uttered.

_"Is he always surprised when he sees me?"_ Toshinori sweatdropped.

Recovery Girl walked over to Toshinori and stomped her cane on his foot.

"Ouch!" Toshinori jumped on one foot and held his other in his hands.

"That's for being such a bad influence! Tell him to stop breaking his limbs!" Recovery Girl fumed, before heading back to her desk.

"R-Right..." Toshinori mumbled, sitting down in a chair. He saw Izuku looking unsure about something, but he already knew what.

"I'm assuming you're thinking about Ikari?" Toshinori asked him.

Izuku nodded. "I-I didn't even register that I was using it until right after it faded away... I-I'm not controlling it. I used it during the other games, but I didn't even know it."

Toshinori sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "Well, young Enso said that Ikari most likely activates to protect you from a life-threatening situation, or because of the emotional distress you feel... In this case, it must've been Todoroki not using his full power that triggered it."

"But there wasn't that much emotional pain during the other two times it came out during the festival..."

"Other two times?" Toshinori exclaimed.

"Yeah, during the race and cavalry battle, Ikari activated two more times, and I didn't realize it." Izuku confessed.

"Interesting..." Toshinori put a hand to his chin. "What were you thinking about during those previous times?"

Izuku looked up, "When Enso was about to pass me, I just thought... 'I can't let him pass me,' and then he backed off. As for during the calvary, I thought about the ten million points and how important it was for me to get them back... For me and my team."

Toshinori had a thought, "Those just sounded like things _you _just really wanted during critical moments..."

"What I... wanted?" Izuku repeated.

"Yes, this also includes before. When you fought Bakugo, you wanted to live and beat him, and during the USJ event, you wanted to live desperately as well. Ikari activated both times, and these new episodes might not be so different."

Toshinori leaned forward, "During the race, you wanted to keep Enso from passing you, during the cavalry battle, you wished to obtain the ten million points back no matter what, and during your battle with Todoroki, you wanted him to use his left side by any means."

Izuku saw where he was going with this, "D-Do you think what I really want manifests as Ikari?"

"During crucial moments only it seems. Otherwise, you probably could just will Ikari to be active." Toshinori clarified.

Izuku looked down into his palm, feeling his hands together.

_"Is it really...?"_

"The ice is nearly gone, folks! We're gonna have our next battle in just a moment!" Mic's voice came from the television screen.

Izuku got up.

"Enso's battle is next..."

"You should get a move on." Toshinori suggested.

Izuku bowed before rushing out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Toshinori saw the next battle captions being Enso fighting against Iida.

_"If young Enso wins this, then he and young Midoriya will be fighting against one another in the next round..."_

He looked down.

_"Why does that worry me?"_

* * *

Izuku ran down the hall in a small hurry, making it back to his seat, but along the way, he thought about something.

_"I haven't talked to Enso ever since the first round... Maybe I should go wish him luck."_

He was about to turn the corner before he heard someone call for him.

"Hey, Midori!"

Izuku stopped and looked behind him, seeing Mina waving to him with Hagakure following her.

"Mina? Hagakure? What are you two doing here?" Izuku asked them.

"We came to see you after watching you blow up your arm... again." Mina chuckled.

"But it was so cool!" You were so badass in that fight, Midori!" Hagakure said while sticking her invisible arms in the air.

"You made even made Todoroki use his left side! You made him let out his all against you!" Mina said with a grin.

Izuku blushed from the praise and hugged his head with his arms while looking away. "U-Um, th-that was... I-I just wanted him to help him use his full power..."

"Darn right you 'wanted' him to. You even brought out that black stuff during your fight! I'm glad you didn't do to him what you did to... Bakugo." Hagakure said, remembering that fight.

"I'm glad too..." Izuku said with a partially troubled expression, remembering the injuries his childhood bully suffered.

Mina looked concerned, "Hey, Midori. What was that exactly? Your eyes were... like mine. But... scarier."

Izuku flinched when he heard her say that. The last thing he ever wanted to be called scary, as he wanted to be a hero that could smile and reassure others around him.

Hagakure noticed Izuku's reaction and tried to reassure him.

"Sh-She means the cool kind of scary! You know, the kind that strikes fear into villains to stop right in their tracks, but makes the rest of the innocent civilians cheer for you!"

"Oh…," was all Izuku could utter out. He could clearly tell that Mina didn't mean it that way, but decided that it was better not to think about it.

Hagakure seemed to be trying to change the mood too, because the next thing Izuku knew, she was behind him and grabbing the bottom of his shirt.

"Another thing Midori. What's with-"

She then yanked his shirt up, revealing his dense muscles.

"-this!?"

Mina once again formed a lilac tone on her cheeks as she saw them.

"H-H-Hagakure!?" Izuku uttered out, completely shocked and turning red.

Izuku quickly pulled his shirt down and backed away from Hagakure.

"Wh-What was that for!?" He cried out.

"I never knew you were so ripped, Midori!" Hagakure completely ignored his question.

She rushed over to Izuku's right arm and pulled up his sleeve, revealing more muscles.

"Why were you hiding these guys all this time?"

"H-Hagakure! Y-You're too close!" Izuku shouted as he took a step away from her while the invisible girl took steps forward.

"Your fault for never showing them off!" Hagakure teased. She then noticed that Mina wasn't joining her in on this, and looked somewhat nervous about something. Puffing her cheeks and arms behind her back as she looked down.

_"Oh, right, I almost forgot why we came here for!"_

Hagakure backed away from Izuku and got behind Mina.

"Hey, Midori! _Mina_, here has something to ask you." Hagakure said as she gently pushed the pink-skinned girl forward.

"Wha-Toru!? I-I don't think I'm-!" Mina uttered as she was moved closer to Izuku.

Hagakure pulled her close and whispered in her ear.

"Come on, Mina, you were finally mustering up the courage during Midori's fight, don't back out now." She whispered.

Izuku curiously tilted his head to the side.

_"Why does Mina look so... so nervous?"_

Mina walked over to Izuku and tried to act like her usual self, smiling despite the blush in her cheeks.

"H-Heya Midori! Ahem... I was wondering… if you'd like to… you know…" Mina's cheeks turned into an even deeper shade of lilac, and she looked down at the ground.

Seeing the girl acting this unusual, Izuku didn't know what to say.

"U-Um, is something wrong?"

Mina fiddled with her fingers, nervously, "No, there's nothing wrong... But w-well… after the festival is over… do you wanna…"

An invisible vein of irritation emerged on Hagakure's head.

"Oh, for crying out loud! Midori, Mina wants you to go on a date with her after the festival is over!"

Izuku's mind immediately went to chaos the moment he heard her.

His head exploded in red and steam, and his eyes widened with sweat forming on the side of his head.

"Wha-Wha-What!?"

Mina slightly panicked from Hagakure's sudden outburst and blurted even more words out.

"D-Don't think of it like that! W-Were just g-gonna be two friends hanging out!"

Hagakure sighed, _"Is she that embarrassed to admit it?"_

"Mina... Come on, you don't want to me just straight out tell him that you-?"

Mina suddenly clapped her hand upward over Hagakure's face to keep her silent.

"... That's not my mouth." Hagakure corrected Mina's hand position.

Mina moved her hand lower on Hagakure's invisible face.

"Mmph."

_"There we go."_

"S-So, what do you say, Midori?! Wanna go somewhere with me later?" Mina asked again.

Izuku nervously scratched his chin and looked down, "I-I mean… I-If you're okay with me… S-So it'll just be the two o-of us?"

Mina twirled her hair with her other hand, "Well… yeah…" she mumbled.

"Mmph mmph!" Hagakure tried to say something, but Mina firmly covered her mouth.

"Wh-what do you mean by date? Or a-are we're just going to h-hang out?" Izuku asked.

"Yes! I mean no, I-I mean-!" Mina didn't know what to say and somewhat panicked.

_"Just tell him it's a date-date!" _Hagakure shouted in her head as she tried to pry Mina's hand off her mouth.

"What are you three doing here?"

They turned their heads to the new voice and saw Enso walking towards them.

"E-Enso? What are you doing here?" Izuku repeated the same question back to him.

"I'm... heading for my next battle?" Enso said in a somewhat confused manner.

"Ah, that's right, your next fight is next against Iida." Izuku remembered.

"So, what's happening here?" Enso asked.

Mina and Izuku both blushed.

Hagakure backed up and managed to get Mina's hand off her face, "Hey, Ureshi-!"

"Enso." He corrected.

"..._Enso_ then. This is something between a guy and a girl!" She stated.

"But…there are two girls…and one guy..." Enso pointed out.

"...Oh."

"Well, whatever. I won't pry into it."

Enso walked passed the three and headed for the entrance to the arena, but Mina called to him.

"W-Wait, you could help me!" She ran up to Enso.

He looked back and raised an eyebrow, "With what?"

"I-I mean, I asked Midori out on a date, b-but I-um, he-well, got the wrong idea! Y-You know what I meant, right?" Mina said, hoping that Enso would say something.

"..."

Enso stared at her while Mina stared up at him with pleading eyes.

Izuku just stood with a deadpanned expression. _"What is even going on?"_

Enso sighed and pulled up his watch.

"Definition of 'date.'"

His watch lit up blue, and a robotic voice spoke.

**"Date: the day of the month or year as specified-"**

"Next definition." Enso interrupted.

**"A social or romantic appointment or engagement."**

Mina quickly turned back, but nervously pointed finger guns at Izuku.

"Y-Yeah! A social appointment! That's what I meant to say!"

Enso rolled his eyes, _"So obvious..."_

Hagakure facepalmed, yet no one was able to see it.

_"Mina, why is that even though you're so excited for romance when it comes to others... you're so timid when it comes to yourself!?"_

Izuku felt awkward now, but hearing Mina 'clear up' what she had said did somewhat calm him down a little.

"W-Well, w-we could meet up later if you really want."

Mina smiled from ear to ear and looked visibly excited now.

"Great! I'll see you after the festival! I can't wait!" Mina visibly jumped in place, then happily running off with flowers around her head.

The three stared as Mina disappeared around the corner before Enso turned around.

"Well... I'm off." He kept on walking.

"G-Good luck on your next match!" Izuku called out as he left.

"You don't need luck, just skill…and good abilities."

"Just be quiet and go..." Izuku sweatdropped.

Enso walked off, leaving Izuku and Hagakure alone.

Hagakure was a bit annoyed.

_"I went through all the trouble of bringing her to properly ask him out, but now she made Midori think that it was just a friendly meet up..."_

"Hey, Hagakure?"

"Hm?" She turned to him, "Yeah, Midori?"

"Um, I've been kind of wondering, have you and Mina known each other before?"

Hagakure chuckled, "Yup! We've known each other since we were little! You could tell?"

"Well, you both kind of give off that cheery, bubbly personality, and are both in sync a lot. Y-You even call her by her first name."

"Heh, heh, yeah. When we met in elementary school, we immediately hit it off and became best friends! Although, Mina was a _bit_ wilder than me."

Izuku smiled, "It's nice to grow with someone really similar to you..." He looked down and thought about Bakugo. Despite both of them aiming to become heroes, it was clear that there were much more than a few differences between them.

Hagakure, on the other hand, looked down with a sad smile. A smile that Izuku couldn't see.

"Being really similar can really have a lot of... problems."

"Eh?" Izuku detected the small sadness to her voice. "What do you mean?"

Hagakure realized that she had mumbled that and rapidly waved a hand.

"Nothing at all! We should get back to watching the tournament battles! Enso is next, right? Let's see how he'll do against Iida!"

Hagakure grabbed Izuku by the hand and started pulling him back to the seats.

"Wha-Hagakure!?" Izuku nearly tripped as he ran but managed to regain his footing as he ran.

Hagakure kept her head down as she dragged Izuku away.

_"Since Mina and I are pretty similar, we've ended up liking the same things..."_

She pulled Izuku up the stairs.

_"The same food..."_

She pulled him around a corner.

_"The same hobbies..."_

She was near the entrance to the bleachers.

_"But I didn't think that we'd even like..."_

Her head turned back at Izuku, the boy unable to see her looking at him.

_"The same guy."_

* * *

"Awesome fight Midoriya!" Sero gave Izuku a thumbs up as he walked over towards his seat.

"Th-Thank you." Izuku said nervously. He turned his head to Hagakure, who had already left for Mina and sat down next to her.

_"There was something... 'off' about Hagakure."_

Izuku didn't think much about it and started walking over to his seat, getting many congratulations from his classmates as he did so.

He looked left and passed by Todoroki, who was looking down and staring into his left hand.

_"I guess he's still thinking about having used his left side..."_

Then he noticed that the girls were acting rather... odd.

When he passed by Jiro, she blushed and turned away from him. Tsu seemed to be staring intensely at him, and Ochako and Momo were both blushing as well with their heads down.

Mina and Hagakure were just chatting away in their seats.

"U-Um, hi." Izuku awkwardly spoked as he got to his seat.

"O-Oh, hey Deku! C-Congratulations on making it to the semi-finals!" Ochako stuttered, although not looking up.

"Y-You really did do a great thing... Making Todoroki use his left side." Momo added.

_"Ochako and even Momo are stuttering?!" _Izuku thought nervously.

He sat down between them and turned from one to the other.

"U-Um, is something wrong, you two?" He asked them.

"N-Nothing..." Ochako answered.

"Y-Yes, nothing at all..." Momo answered as well.

"They're flustered because they didn't expect you to have such defined muscles. Kero." Tsu bluntly spoke.

Ochako and Momo flinched, and their shades of red deepened.

"Eh!?" Izuku looked behind him and saw Tsu there with a small blush despite looking so calm.

"Your shirt got burned off in that giant explosion near the end of your battle with Todoroki. Everyone saw your rather muscular build, and it caused quite the commotion."

Izuku heavily blushed and looked down.

"I-I-Um..."

"So, how long have you hidden them from everyone?" Tsu then asked.

Izuku looked back up at her in embarrassment, "Wh-What? I-It's not like I purposely tried to hide them! M-My clothes weren't ever just... burned off."

Tsu blinked and turned her head to the side curiously.

_"But why didn't his shirt get burned off when Bakugo blasted him? Surely the flames would've burned off much more than before..."_

"Alrighty, everybody! All that ice and cement caused by those crazy kids have been cleared out! Now we can finally move on to the next match!"

Izuku blinked with a blank expression.

_"He called Todoroki and me crazy..."_

"Are you up for another battle folks!? We got our next two combatants up now!"

Izuku looked down at Enso and Iida walking out from opposite entrances of the stadium and onto the arena, staring each other down rather serious.

"On one side, the 'gotta go fast boy' that got ultimately used as an advertisement for the support course! From the hero course, it's Tenya Iida!"

"Do not describe me in such a way! It was humiliating as it was to be in that scenario!" Iida shouted in frustration.

Izuku sweatdropped with a small smile, _"He's gonna be sour about Mei using him for a while..."_

"On the other side! He may have not done anything too interesting yet, but he's one of the best of the best! From the hero course, Enso Ureshi!"

"May we give it our all!" Iida said to his opponent.

Enso just nodded.

"Enso-kun! Over here!"

Enso's eye twitched, and he looked upward to the left to see a familiar chef in the bleachers. He held up two small flags reading 'Enso-kun' and energetically waved them around.

"I couldn't see your first match because I had to cook for lunch, but now I can cheer you on all the way! Do your best!" Lunch Rush shouted as he waved his flags at him.

Izuku deadpanned.

_"He's like a high school cheerleader!"_

Enso sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Since when did they get so close?" Aizawa mumbled too.

"Looks like someone clearly has a favorite!" Present Mic joked. "But anyway, let's get started!"

"Snipe Style" Enso got into a fighting position and shined yellow.

"Nobody blink!"

Iida crouched into a track runner's stance.

"FIGHT!"

Both fighters blasted at each other with blinding speeds, swinging their legs upward.

They met in the center of the arena, both of their legs colliding in high kicks that bouncing off of one another.

They landed a few feet away from each other and stared.

"You're fast." Iida said, rather serious.

"So are you, but..." Enso disappeared in a yellow flash.

_"He didn't even have to start up!?"_ Iida though in shock.

He suddenly felt a leg slam into the side of him and sent him flying back a few yards away. He rolled on the ground but managed to jump back up to his feet.

"You're reaction time isn't as fast." Enso remarked.

Iida gritted his teeth, then blasting forward towards Enso and swinging his leg at him.

Enso leaned back and let Iida's kick go over him, allowing the boy to pass by.

Iida landed and didn't waste any time to dash back to Enso, jumping up an attempt to perform an overhead kick on him.

Enso turned back and saw Iida coming at him.

He moved his body back and caused Iida to miss, to which Enso then used his hands to momentarily grab Iida and toss him away.

Iida landed on his back and felt a sharp pain in it.

_"Damn, he saw me coming!"_ He forced himself back to his feet, using both of his arms to push himself up.

Enso got into another fighting stance, waiting for Iida to come.

Izuku looked with peaked interest.

_"Enso is in his Snipe Style to match Iida's speed, but Enso's reaction time is much faster than Iida's..."_

Iida knew this as well, crouching down and taking a deep breath.

_"I have to move faster than he can react!"_

Iida's legs then started to shake.

"Recipro..."

Enso saw this coming and changed stances.

"Punk Style" His aura turned blue.

Izuku was surprised.

_"Why did he switch into Punk Style? I would've expected him to change into Brute Style at least to try and take Iida's attack."_

Iida' as engines ignited in blue flames.

"...Burst!"

Iida exploded forward towards Enso in blinding speeds.

"Punk Style- Calm Mind"

Enso closed his eyes and pictured a single drop of water landing into an entirely still ocean, the ripples spreading and detecting anything around him.

He saw, no, he _sensed_ Iida charging forward right at him.

Enso sidestepped and leaned his head to the side, narrowly avoiding a lightning-fast kick from Iida that nearly grazed his face and even created a scratch of blood.

Iida landed past Enso but was quickly ran around to hit him again.

_"I have about ten seconds before my engines stall! I have to win it at that time!"_

Enso turned to face Iida, his eyes still closed.

_"I'm not as fast as before, I have time this perfectly..."_

Iida came at him and jumped while swinging his legs sideways at blazing speeds.

_"Now!"_

Enso took a deep breath.

"Punk Style..."

_"He's doing another move that close!? What could it be!?" _Izuku thought as he leaned in his seat.

Everything went by quick.

Enso ducked under Iida's kick right on time, the boy's leg grazing some of his hair.

At the same time, Enso's eyes snapped open, and he raised his fist in an uppercut.

"Spirit Breaker!"

Izuku's eyes widened. _"Spirit breaker!?"_

Enso's fist connected between Iida's legs.

Iida's engines stopped, he turned comedically black and white, and he fell to the ground while clutching his delicate area with a more than pained expression, including a foaming mouth.

Everyone turned white in silent, Mic's glasses dropped like everyone's jaws, and Aizawa's eyes enlarged behind his bandages.

_"He-He just-!?"_

Enso stood up straight and let out a sigh.

Midnight shivered in fear as she shakingly raised up her whip.

"I-Iida is... more than immobile! U-Ureshi wins!"

All of the other boys and men instinctively placed their hands on their precious area and shivered, while many girls stared in what seemed to be disgust.

"How brutal..." One said.

"That's so evil..." Another added.

"Enso-kun! That was a little mean, but at least you won!" Lunch Rush laughed.

Others around him sweatdropped.

Izuku, on the other hand, sprang up from his seat and pointed downward at the otherworldly teen.

"ENSO! YOU'RE NEVER ALLOWED TO USE THAT ON A GIRL!"

Enso heard him yell and looked up at him.

"What makes you assume that I would do that?"

"YOU KNOW YOU WOULD!" Izuku didn't hesitate to scream.

"..." Enso looked away. "Tsk, fine."

_"HE THOUGHT ABOUT IT!?" _The entire audience screamed mentally.

* * *

Kamui, Mount Lady, and Death Arms all stood with widened eyes.

"You know... Maybe you're right. Maybe he is evil..." Death Arms said.

"I do not want _that_ to be what convinces you..." Kamui's eye twitched.

* * *

"What the hell is up with this guy?" Shigaraki irked after what he had just seen.

The other voice on the line laughed, _"That was really is quite amusing. Enso Ureshi... He isn't anything like I've ever seen before. He was able to keep up with someone who's quirk is centered around speed. It's no wonder he was able to match the pace of your Nomu."_

"He killed Nomu by himself... There's no way a brat could do these things... "Shigaraki scratched at his neck in frustration.

_"It's clear that he is no normal child. But neither is that other child..."_

"Who Sensei?"

_"Izuku Midoriya, the one that interfered with you offing one of the students. His quirk seems... interesting."_

Shigaraki could practically picture the grin on his sensei's face based on that tone of voice.

_"So, I've finally found you..."_

"Sensei?" Shigaraki asked in a confused manner.

"Tomura, Ureshi and Midoriya are fighting in the next round... correct?"

"Y-Yes... After the remaining battles of this round, the two of them will be the first to fight."

He heard his Sensei chuckle.

_"This will be very interesting indeed..."_


	28. Before The Showdown

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

"Go Dark Shadow!"

**"On it!"** Dark Shadow yelled as he emerged out of Tokoyami and headed straight for Mina.

"Eh!?" Mina frantically threw balls of acid at Dark Shadow, not even knowing if it would affect the sentient figure.

**"Swerve! Swerve!"** Dark Shadow shouted as he moved out of the way of the incoming projectiles.

He then used his own body to slam right into Mina's side, sending the girl back.

**"See ya!"**

"Ah!" Mina was sent flying back before landing on her butt just over the out of bounds line.

"Ashido is out of bounds! Tokoyami wins!" Midnight shouted as she raised her whip.

"He won in an instant too!?" Mineta exclaimed.

"Tokoyami's Dark Shadow is amazing." Tsu remarked.

Izuku watched as the next battle ended nearly as quickly as it started, as Tokoyami's Dark Shadow quirk easily avoided Mina's acid and knocked her out.

Mina got up visibly frustrated, but when she saw Izuku staring down at her, she put on a fake smile and quickly ran off.

_"I would go to cheer her up, but there's only the fight between Kacchan and Kirishima left before the semi-final rounds start."_

He looked down in deep thought about his upcoming battle. The battle that Izuku considered even more important than the struggle to win the entire sports festival.

His long-awaited fight against Enso.

Izuku raised up his right arm in front of himself, mentally comparing the power and training he had against Enso's experienced self.

He clenched his hand into a fist as he thought about how Enso's Brute Style Barrier.

_"I'm able to use about 10% of One For All just fine during this festival. Quite the upgrade compared to the 5% I've been using before. But Enso's Brute Style was able to take hits from that Nomu at USJ I've heard, but my strength isn't up to that..."_

And that led Izuku to one thought.

"It won't be enough…"

Ochako heard him mumbled and turned to him. "What?"

"10% won't be enough..." Izuku mumbled again.

Momo turned to him too. "What was that, Izuku?"

Izuku stood up in his seat.

"My battle is next after this, so... I'm gonna go use the restroom and get ready."

He turned and started walking off.

"Wait, Deku!" Ochako called after him.

Izuku turned back. "Yeah?"

Ochako smiled at him. "Good luck. I know you can do it."

Momo smiled as well, "I believe you can beat him as well, Izuku."

The boy couldn't help but smile at that.

"Thank you. I'll make sure to win!" He then left.

When he disappeared from sight, Ochako turned to Momo with a somewhat concerned expression, "Do you think he's nervous?"

Momo sighed. "I know he is... He's going up against Enso after all. He may even be just using this moment to get himself ready."

"Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if he was."

"You think he might go even farther than he did against Todoroki to fight against Enso? Kero?" Tsu asked from behind them.

Ochako's mind instinctively flashed back to the moment Izuku had swung his entire arm to combat Todoroki's flames, breaking it in the process.

She firmly held her gym pants.

"I really hope not..."

Momo thought about the same thing, cringing as she thought of Izuku breaking his limbs.

She glanced to the right at Enso standing up, looking threatening as he also thought about his next match.

_"How far is Izuku willing to go against him?"_ Momo could only ponder on the future.

_"I'm gonna have to be faster than Iida's maximum speed if I even hope to match up against Enso. But the most I could use of One For All without breaking my bones is about 25% of my power. Using that much power at one time will put a strain on my body quickly, so I won't be able to hold that much power for too long. The most I could last is a few minutes, but then again, a few minutes could be all I need to be able to get Enso out of the arena. I don't necessarily have to 'beat' him."_

Izuku mumbled a storm away, getting many odd looks by students passing by as he headed for the restrooms. He didn't necessarily have to use it, he just needed to be by himself for a moment to collect his thoughts.

_"He has four different styles, three of them as dangerous as each other, and the fourth..."_

He shivered when he thought about Enso's last style, the 'Reaper Of Worlds.'

_"It's going to be more than dangerous if I somehow corner him to a point where he's force to use it... I haven't even seen it in actual action yet..."_

As Izuku got near the boy's restroom door, the girl's one opened up, with a familiar short purple-haired girl walking out.

Izuku looked up and was slightly startled to see her there, not expecting her to come out of nowhere. But also not expecting to see her still wearing the cheerleading outfit.

"H-Hey Jiro!" Izuku awkwardly waved at her.

"Hm?"

Jiro turned her head to the boy. But the moment she saw who it was, she recoiled back with an immediate blush forming.

"D-Deku!?" Jiro exclaimed, remembering that she was still wearing her cheerleading outfit. "Th-This is-!"

As she tried covered herself while backing up, and the back of her head slammed into the door of the restroom she just left. She then crouched down and held the back of her head in pain.

"Ow… Ow…"

"Are you alright?!" Izuku rushed over and crouched down to her level while using his hand to feel the back of her head. "That looked like it hurt."

Jiro opened her eyes and saw Izuku's face inches from her own. The rest of her face immediately turned to bright red, and her mouth became agape.

Izuku didn't get a clue.

"Your face is all red! Do you have a fever!?" He placed his hand on her forehead now.

Now with skin contact, Jiro steamed.

"I-I'm fine!" She shouted, suddenly shooting back up to her feet.

However, because Izuku was crouched down right in front of her and the sudden jump back to her feet, Jiro's skirt flipped up as Izuku looked up at her.

It was only a glimpse, but with a mind like Izuku's, he'll remember everything he sees, even if he doesn't want to.

And right now, he saw pink.

Izuku's eyes enlarged, his mouth became agape, and his skin tone matched Jiro's in a second.

Jiro instantly realized her mistake and slammed her skirt down in vain to cover below, a complete look of embarrassment washing over her face.

"Y-You... You-!"

Izuku shot up and backed up until his back was pressing against the wall. He covered his eyes with both of his hands and could feel his body warming up.

"I-I'm sorry! It was out of my control! I didn't mean to see!"

"You're not even gonna deny that you saw this time!?" Jiro shouted back, hands firmly on her skirt in pure embarrassment.

"L-L-Last time I denied seeing it, you just called me out!" Izuku frantically said.

Jiro's head looked down with shadows covering her eyes and slightly trembling.

"Why me?... Why does this happen to me?..." Her voice whimpered.

Izuku thought she was gonna cry, "P-Please don't be sad! I'll do anything to make you feel better!" He said while flailing his arms.

Hearing him say 'anything,' Jiro rose her head back up, looking slightly curious.

"Anything?"

"I-I mean… If it helps you out… But not anything dangerous, please." Izuku answered.

Despite Jiro being embarrassed, she still had a mischievous thought, "I know how to get back at him!"

"Since you saw me, then now I get to look at you!"

"Eh?! Wh-What's that supposed to-!?"

All of a sudden, Jiro grabbed Izuku and pulled him right into the girl's restroom that she had just left.

"Jiro!?" Izuku cried out in disbelief.

"Shut it! There's no one here right now!" She dragged him into the farthest stalls and locked the door.

"J-J-Jiro, I-I shouldn't be here!" Izuku pleaded in a whispering scream, head entirely red and covering his face.

"Quiet!" Jiro put both of her hands on Izuku's shoulders and shoved him against the stall door, silencing him and staring downward at his chest.

Izuku was shivering behind belief at this point.

_"N-Nani?! Nani!? What's happening to me!? Why did Jiro drag me into the girl's restroom!? Why did she suddenly push me against the door!? What's gonna happen to me!?"_

Despite Jiro leading Izuku in the restroom so forcefully, the girl was freaking out just as much as him, staring at his chest.

_"I didn't think this through! I wanted to look at his chest to get back at him, but I'm getting nervous!"_

Izuku noticed how nervous she was and tried to talk.

"J-J-Jiro?"

Her hands gripped tightly on Izuku's shirt.

"I-I'm just getting even!"

She put her hands under Izuku's shirt.

Izuku's eyes enlarged, and he grabbed the girl's wrists.

"What are you-!?" He was cut off by Jiro moving her earlobes right in front of his eyes and lifting her head up with a menacing glare.

"Shut it."

The boy shivered and looked away, releasing the girl's wrists out of fear.

Jiro then turned her attention back to Izuku's shirt, slightly pulling it up and giving herself a view of the boy's six-pack.

She froze for a moment upon seeing them, blushing mad as she stared with a completely mesmerizing gaze.

"So... They are real..."

_"She thought they were fake!?"_ Izuku thought with a blank expression.

Jiro then proceeded to feel Izuku's abs and chest with her hands, making the poor boy winced and whimper as he wondered what was going on. He turned his head away with his cheeks flushed and trying not to shake too much.

At one point, Jiro looked up at Izuku's embarrassing state.

_"His reaction is... kinda cute…"_ She thought, mesmerized that the boy was making such an adorable face.

They suddenly heard the restroom door open.

"Man, this festival sure is something so far!"

"Yeah, there are so many cool people!"

Jiro and Izuku both turned white in shock.

_"Oh no!"_

Jiro instinctively pulled Izuku away from the stall door and forced him in the back of the stall, trying to get the boy's feet away from being seen under the stall door.

She then instinctively pressed herself against him, trying to keep him there to hide.

"J-Jiro!?" Izuku whispered the lowest he could.

"Shhh! Shut up! If we get caught, then we're done for!" Jiro shushed him back in a whisper.

Izuku gulped down air and nodded in agreement.

The two stayed close together in awkward silence. Izuku was getting more nervous by the second with a girl pressing up against him, and Jiro was getting equally nervous by how close she was against the boy's hard chest. She still had her hands under Izuku's shirt but didn't dare move them, worrying that she or he would make a sound.

_"SO CLOSE!"_ Both screamed in their heads.

"Hey, what do you think about the guy that beat Todoroki?" One of the girls asked as she started washing her hands.

Izuku and Jiro both froze, listening intently.

"You mean that Midoriya guy? Well... He's so hot! I mean, did you see those pecks he had!? I wanna get crushed between them..." The other girl answered.

_"WHAT THE HELL!?"_ Jiro and Izuku both thought, but Izuku's whole body reddened in addition to hearing this.

"You're kind of a pervert, you know that?..." Girl A said in almost a disgusted voice.

"Oh, come on, you know you really liked them too! I bet that was why you brought him up right now!" Girl B pointed out.

Izuku and Jiro heard some fidgeting movements from the first girl. "H-Hey! I wasn't gonna talk about that! I was just gonna ask if... you think he's got a girlfriend?"

Izuku and Jiro blinked. _"Eh?"_

"Hmm... It's hard to believe that someone with that kind of hot body and cute (even if a little plain) face is taken. I bet he's dating one of those girls in his class!"

"In Class 1-A? I'm sure that he can end up with any girl he wants in his class. But which one though?"

Izuku started sweating nervously, and Jiro had her head staring down in interest.

"Hm... Let me think." Girl B said.

Jiro pointed her earlobes curiously in the voice's direction.

Girl B suddenly exclaimed, "I feel like he would choose that black-haired beauty, Momo Yaoyorozu! Guys all like big boobs, you know, and she's loaded with them! Makes me kind of jealous..."

Izuku started sweating harder, and Jiro looked down at her own chest, feeling very irritated.

"Huh? You can't really say that all guys like boobs, you know?" The other girl rebutted.

"What, you think he's an ass kind of guy? Then I think he'd go with Uraraka then! Have you seen her? She's _thick_!"

Jiro turned her head back and looked down at her behind, shadows over her eyes.

"But there's also that frog girl, Tsuyu! I'm sure that long tongue and those muscled legs of hers can really appeal to him too!"

_"Is she letting this get to her?! I hope she doesn't go lash out at them!" _Izuku thought in panic.

"You can't just assume him as a guy that dates a girl for looks!" Girl A spoke.

"Ooooo! I get you! If we're going by that, then he might like either acid pinky girl Ashido or the invisible girl Hagakure! Both of them are really energetic and cheerful all the time! I'm sure he'd have 'fun' times with them.

_"Fun times?"_ Izuku wondered with a question mark over his head.

"In the end, you just keep thinking of dirty things, don't you?" Girl A sighed again. "Now, you're going to say something about Jiro, too, aren't you?"

Izuku was still shaking nervously, hoping that nothing would give their spot away. Jiro, on the other hand, had her interest peaked and she couldn't help but wonder the girl would say anything about her.

But instead...

"Who?"

Jiro turned black and white in shock.

_"Uh oh!"_ Izuku thought.

"Eh? You know, the short-haired purple girl with those stretchy earlobes of hers? How do you know all of the Class A girls but her?"

The other girl had to think for a moment before she realized.

"Oh, her. I guess I forgot about her because I didn't think she was interesting."

Izuku could basically see an arrow comedically striking the back of Jiro's head as her head pointed down.

"That's rude!" Girl A responded.

"I mean, I guess she can use those weird earlobes of her for a new twist on stimulation..." Girl B said as if she was in thought.

_"Stimulation?"_ Izuku deadpanned.

"But other than that, I mean... Her ass isn't really big, her boobs are kind of small, and she doesn't look like she'd be fun to hang around. An 'emo,' I guess I would say. She's not cute."

Three more arrows stuck Jiro, the girl visibly moving as if she was in pain in each strike.

"J-Jiro?" Izuku whispered very low, worried for the girl.

Jiro now visibly held Izuku's shirt tightly with her hands and hung her head down shaking.

Izuku recalled the insecurities Jiro had spoken to him about before.

_"Poor girl! I have to do something to make her feel better..."_

"That's so rude!" The other girl responded to her rough friend.

"What? You aren't exactly disagreeing with me."

"Well, I mean..."

Jiro's earlobes shined and she was gritting her teeth, with her ears and face turning red.

Izuku formed a sad and sympathetic look at her.

_"She's letting what they say get to her..."_

He felt just how discouraged the girl was, he felt the lack of confidence from her because of others.

After all, he was the same for so long.

He was continuously told for so long that he could never become a hero from being quirkless, he was always told those things by everyone in his childhood.

Because of something he lacked, which was a quirk, others judged him for it.

And now, because of Jiro supposedly lacking the bigger bodies like the other students, people judged her as not that attractive.

Izuku hated that, but he couldn't just march of the stall to confront those girls on what they were saying.

So he did the next best thing.

Jiro felt two arms wrap around her and a head placed onto her shoulder, making her raise her own head up in shock.

"Wha-What are you doing!?" Jiro said in a whisper, almost shouting from the shock.

"Don't listen to them, Jiro..." Izuku just whispered back, closing his eyes and holding her.

"Wha-Wha-!?" Jiro was still processing that the timid Deku was hugging her.

"Those two don't know you... If they did, then they would actually know how amazing you are. You're talented, hardworking, and care so much about others... Not to mention that you really have a c... c-cute side when you get embarrassed." He whispered gently.

Jiro didn't know why, but the way Izuku whispered that just made her heart clench up.

"Y-You're just-"

"I'm not saying it just to be nice. Of course, I know these things from the time we've interacted with one another... You told me yourself that you played several different instruments, there aren't many people that have talent like that. You work so hard during our regular classes and hero training, even if you're at a disadvantage. And I-I understand just how you are from... w-well... th-that time during lunch..."

Jiro tensed up, her skin thoroughly flushing red. _"Wh-Why is he like this!?"_

The girl had to admit that these words from the boy made her feel better. But his sudden close contact in an enclosed space was too nerve-wracking for her.

"Kirishima is unconscious, Bakugo wins!" Midnight's voice echoed from afar.

"Eh!? Let's go! Midoriya's fight is next!" The energetic girl said.

"Alright!" The other agreed.

Izuku and Jiro heard the two girls run out of the restroom as Present Mic's voice echoed.

"With that vicious carpet-bombing, Bakugo advances to the next round! And that completes our finals four semi-finalists! Izuku Midoriya, Enso Ureshi, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Katsuki Bakugo! We'll take an itty-bitty break to let them our finalists get ready, but then it's off to the excitement!"

That snapped Jiro and Izuku back out of their moment, with Jiro freaking out.

"G-Good luck on your next battle!" She pushed Izuku aside and basically bashed the stall door open, covering her steaming face as she rushed out of the restroom.

"EHHH!? Wait! At least let me know if anyone is coming!" Izuku called out to her.

But the girl already left the restroom.

Izuku started waterfalling sweat comedically.

_"This might be a problem..."_

* * *

~{Finalist Preparation Room}~

Enso was currently laid down on his back on top of the table, hair sprawled out, and eyes gazing directly upward as he kept to his thoughts.

_"Next is my fight with Izuku..."_

He crossed his arms over his chest.

_"He's grown so much ever since I first met him... If he actually beats me here, then he may be strong enough to hold his own against..."_

An image of a towering figure of his past flashed through his mind.

_"Him..."_

Enso sat up and folded his right knee, placing an arm over it.

_"Depending on how Izuku does in this battle, I may be ready to tell him about that insane monster..."_

He got off the table and started stretching his arms.

"I wonder what kind of strategy he'll have against me. He was able to consecutively use 10% of One For All fine, but he clearly showed that he's willing to use 100% of power at any moment just to win."

He recalled Izuku breaking his own finger to get back the ten million points. He remembered Izuku breaking his arm and finger again in order to get Todoroki out of bounds.

_"If I push him too far, then he might try breaking his arms again, or..."_

Enso recalled the obstacle course race, where Izuku had swiped his hand at him and created black flames. He recalled Izuku's battle against Todoroki, where for a moment, black aura surrounded him, and his emerald eyes were replaced with crimson red.

_"Ikari may come out again... But how much of it will Izuku actually use consciously?"_

He sighed, going to the door of the room and leaving to face off against his student.

_"Izuku... A part of me hopes that you don't go too far..."_

* * *

~{Meanwhile}~

_"I can't believe I managed to get out!"_

Izuku breathed in relief as he hurriedly walked down the hall, intending on heading for the arena entrance to finally go off against his friend and mentor. He was still shaken up from his encounter with Jiro, but right now, he had to focus and calm himself down.

Through specific means of movement and a perfectly timed dash fast enough to pass by anyone without them seeing who he was, Izuku managed to get out of the girl's restroom without getting caught. Although, he did scare two girls as he left the restroom.

_"Why was Jiro even still wearing her cheerleader outfit in the first place?"_

Izuku shook his head to ignore this question and put on a determined expression as marched through halls, only thinking about the battle ahead.

_"This is it... What I've been working up to this point for. This is going to be more than just difficult, this will be as if I'm going up against a professional hero. Enso just that kind of power and experience. I... I have to go all out."_ Izuku muttered, unaware of an approaching student.

"Midori!"

"Eh?" Izuku turned around and saw Mina running towards him. "Mina?"

The girl stopped in front of the boy, then awkwardly scratching the back of her hair with an awkward smile.

"I guess I couldn't keep my promise to face off against you later on, I guess I wasn't as great as I thought..." She chuckled forcefully, sounding clearly sad. She managed to maintain her smile as she stared at Izuku. "But, I came to wish you good luck with your battle!"

Izuku could tell that Mina was discouraged about herself for losing her battle to Tokoyami, so he smiled at her.

"Thank you, Mina, but don't sell yourself short. You were amazing at the festival, and I'm sure many pros are already choosing to scout you."

That seemed to work in cheering the girl up, as Mina now formed a natural grin on her face, although with a small, lilac blush.

"Aw, thanks, Midori. You always know just what to say." She said while rubbing her own arm shyly. "So... this is finally the fight you've been waiting for?"

Izuku formed a serious expression on his face and looked down into his palm.

"Yeah... I'm finally facing off against Enso."

"Ah, two close friends finally settling their strength. How manly." Mina giggled.

She noticed that Izuku still kept his serious expression, despite her Kirishima-like joke.

"Hey... Are you nervous?" She asked him.

Izuku sighed.

"Well, it doesn't feel like I'm nervous, I would say that it's more like... I feel like I'm prepared."

"So, you're pumped up?" Mina asked.

"Yeah..." Izuku smiled. "I think it's that."

"Well, I'll be cheering for you. I'm sure we all will." Mina smiled.

"Really? Does no one like Enso?" Izuku deadpanned.

"Not exactly what I meant." Mina said with an awkward smile. _"I was thinking about all the girls in our class..."_

"But be sure to win! Then after you beat either Bakugo or Tokoyami in the finals, we could finally go out on that date!" Mina said with visible excitement.

Izuku shivered and looked shocked. "R-Right..."

Mina pouted, "Don't tell me you forgot?"

Izuku flailed his arms, "N-No! I didn't forget! What I did forget was that... If I do win this fight, then I'll face either Tokoyami or... Kacchan."

Mina just kept her pout and tapped Izuku on the head.

"You can beat him, Midori! Don't even think for a second that you can't!"

"E-Eh?" Izuku was surprised by how mad she seemed to get.

Mina repeatedly poked his forehead with both of her fingers.

"You keep worrying about how you'll do compared to Bakugo! He's him, and you're you! Don't you remember how you did against him during our first hero training lesson? You were amazing!"

"B-But that wasn't me, I lost control-!"

"No, not that moment! Before that happened! You were like some Bruce Lee with all those fighting moves!" Mina then started throwing a couple of air punches. "You acted like such a cool hero! So after you beat Enso here, you're gonna show that Bakugo that you're better than him! That he can't hurt you anymore!"

Izuku could feel the truth behind her words and smiled determinedly.

"Yeah... If I can beat Enso, then surely I can beat Kacchan."

Seeing him start to show that confidence of his, Mina grinned again.

"There's the face of a winner! Now get out there and show the world your stuff!"

Izuku pumped his hand in a fist.

"I will."

"And here's something for good luck!" Mina rushed over to Izuku and pecked him on the cheek.

"M-Mina!?" Izuku shouted, completely baffled.

Mina backed up with her arms behind her and with another grin.

"Better get going! Your match is gonna start, I'll see you after the battle Midori!" She then turned around and cheerfully ran down the hall, leaving a dumbfounded Izuku rubbing his cheek.

While running, Mina felt giddy and blushed.

_"Heh, I actually kissed him, even if just on the cheek. He looked so embarrassed, I wonder... what would happen if I did the real thing?"_

Izuku was frozen for nearly half a minute, processing what Mina did and steaming as he kept recalling the physical contact.

_"Sh-She really enjoys teasing me too much... Doesn't she?"_

He gulped down air but then focused on the matter at hand.

"I gotta get going..." He headed for the stairs, making his way towards the bottom floor for the arena.

But as he got to the first step down, he saw someone currently coming up.

Izuku stopped in place as he saw a pair of angry red eyes staring up at him.

Bakugo.

"Deku..." The angry red-eyed teen muttered in visible irritation, just coming back after his fight with Kirishima.

Izuku backed up from the stairs and waved nervously, "H-Hi Kacchan. D-Don't mind me, I-I-I'm just heading over for my fight!" He mustered.

Bakugo made it to the top of the stairs with his hands in his pockets, glaring at Izuku with a slightly pressing gaze.

"I-I'll just be going now!" Izuku tried to quickly pass Bakugo and to the stairs, but the explosive boy stopped him by grabbing his arm, making Izuku flinch.

"Hold on a fucking minute Deku..."

Y-Yes!?" Izuku sweated.

"When the hell did you learn to bring out that other damn power of yours?"

"Huh? I-I don't follow." Izuku responded.

Bakugo's grip on his arm got tighter, "Don't fucking play dumb with me, Deku, you know what I mean! During your battle against half-n-half bastard, you brought out that shit power of your again! That was way too convenient! Not only that..."

Bakugo gritted his teeth.

"How do you have two quirks?"

"Eh?" Izuku's eyes lit up with worry and fear. "T-Two?"

Izuku tried to back up away from his bully, but Bakugo kept hold of him and followed him to the point where Izuku's back was against the wall.

"Why...? Why is it that you, a quirkless nobody, somehow ended up having two quirks? You said that one was given to you, but how did you learn to use the other? Why do you have another?"

_"So he really did take what I said seriously! He remembers what I told him that day after school... B-But, I'm not even sure if Ikari is actually my quirk, otherwise, why didn't it manifest when I was four then?"_

Izuku gulped down air nervously.

"I… I only have one quirk Kacchan... I-I know that it's... 'confusing' with its different properties, but I got one, whether you like it or not."

"Bullshit." Bakugo said in a menacing growl. "Both of those quirks of yours don't look similar in any way! They're just too different for them to be the same damn quirk of yours!"

Izuku was feeling his arm starting to hurt, as Bakugo's grip was getting too tight.

"K-Kacchan, that hurts." Izuku whimpered, slightly scared to do anything.

"You're supposed to be a worthless bug, a quirkless nobody that I'm easily far superior to. And yet..."

Izuku winced as he felt Bakugo's hand starting to heat up, indicating that he was using his quirk.

"K-Kacchan, please!" He cried.

"Yet all of this happened. You're here, you beat me in that damn race, you got first place in the cavalry battle, it pisses me off so much! But I'm gonna prove to everyone just how worthless you are!"

**"Stop!"**

Bakugo's eyes lit up at that change of voice.

"What the-?!"

Suddenly, a blast of dark energy came from Izuku with such force that Bakugo was sent flying back and slammed against the wall.

"Ngh!" He fell to the ground with a loud thud, a visible crack on the wall appearing where he was just launched.

He felt his anger build up and used his arm to push himself up from the ground, getting back to his feet with his eyes dilating.

"WHAT THE FUCK DEKU!?" he screamed as he glanced at Izuku.

But he froze for a moment when he saw the boy with his head and arms down, but with a black aura surrounding him as he heavily breathed.

Bakugo was pissed.

"You bastard, you're gonna regret that! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Izuku just kept breathing heaving, with visible black breath even emitting from his mouth.

"Hey? Are you ignoring me?!" Bakugo marched over and reached his right hand out to him. "You little-!"

Before he could touch him, Bakugo saw his right arm suddenly gone.

His eyes widened, and he immediately used his left hand to blast himself away from Izuku until his back his the wall. Upon landing, he used his left hand to reach for his right shoulder in an effort to stop any bleeding.

Only to discover that his right arm was still there.

Bakugo was sweating now.

_"What the fuck was that?! An illusion!?"_

Bakugo felt a chill as he glanced back at Izuku's aura once more, narrowing his eyes with his teeth clenched together.

He could feel an intimidating presence coming off the boy, but he wasn't even looking at him.

_"No... This feeling..."_

Bakugo slowly stood back up.

_"He was threatening me..."_ He realized.

Bakugo held his arms out in a battle-ready position, getting ready for whatever was to come.

_"If this nerd thinks that he could just threaten me like that, he's got another thing coming."_

But before Bakugo could make a move, he saw visible movement come from Izuku.

"Nngh!" Izuku's hand went to his head, and he got to his knees while clenching his teeth, visibly in pain.

Bakugo remained still in his fighting position with a confused stared, _"What is going on?"_

Izuku grunted and yelled in pain, shaking his head side to side.

"No... more..."

Bakugo's eyes widened. "His lips weren't moving when he said that!"

The black aura around Izuku suddenly disappeared.

"Ugh… My head…" Bakugo heard the boy say in a normal voice now.

Izuku glanced back up at Bakugo, with his emerald green eyes, looking as if he had a hangover.

"Kacchan? What happened?"

Bakugo formed just a suspicious expression as he lowered his fighting stance.

"Deku… What were you doing just now?"

"What? What was I doing? Weren't you the one keeping hold of me?" Izuku grumbled as he wobbly got back up to his feet. "What did you do?... My head hurts all over..."

Bakugo just kept staring as he realized.

_"He doesn't have control over it..."_

He put his hands in his pockets and proceeded to walk away.

"Wha-? Kacchan? Where are you going?" Izuku asked in a newfound confusion that Bakugo was simply leaving now.

"None of your business Deku..." Bakugo growled as he walked away.

Izuku watched as he left, tilting his head curiously. _"Why did he suddenly leave?"_

He then turned and started walking down the stairs, wondering what had happened.

Bakugo was in his thoughts as he walked, feeling as if he made a few discoveries.

_"He doesn't have any control over that power of his..."_

He turned a corner.

_"Yet he basically threatened me with my arm and spoke... So which one is it?"_

He stopped as he thought about it.

_"What the hell is wrong with you Deku?"_

* * *

When Mina got back to her seat, she visibly gave off a flowery aroma, one that her best friend Hagakure noticed.

"For someone who lost immediately against Tokoyami, you sure look happy." She pointed out.

Mina plopped herself down right next to Hagakure, still smiling.

"I met up with Midori before he went off for his fight. He really is a charmer... Cheering me up because I lost."

"What did he even say?" Hagakure asked.

"Reassuring words. The type that he would usually say." Mina said with a loving smile.

_"I've never seen her like this..."_ Hagakure thought, _"She said she didn't like him at first, said that she wasn't interested in him. So I thought I could..."_

Hakagure sighed, _"Whatever... That was before..."_

"He seemed pretty nervous, so I helped cheer him up too." Mina giggled.

That giggle hinted something to Hagakure. "Oh? How?"

Mina looked down at her lap as she recalled the moment with a small laugh.

"I kissed him on the cheek..."

"Eh!?" Hagakure uttered out in shock.

In front of them, Momo and Ochako had their backs to Mina but flinched the moment they heard that.

Mina noticed them and pouted.

"It's not nice to listen to other people's conversations, you know?"

Ochako and Momo looked back with small blushes on their faces from thinking that Mina kissed Izuku on the cheek.

Mina narrowed her eyes at them and pointed her finger at them.

"Look, I know you both have a thing for Midori."

Ochako's face turned beet red, and her eyes shot down, but Momo looked slightly calmer despite the visible blush on her face.

"You shouldn't just assume things." The black-haired beauty said.

_"I mean, it's pretty obvious, though..."_ Hagakure sweatdropped.

"Well, if you don't, then good! I'm already calling dibs on him." Mina declared with a wave of her hand.

Momo and Ochako both got triggered.

"You can't call dibs on a person!" Ochako yelled.

"We've known him longer than you have!" Momo added.

Mina crossed her arms, "What's with you guys ganging up on me? Only one of you can have him, you know, so why are you both working together?"

Momo and Ochako both blushed and got quiet, looking down as they thought about it. Even they were all good friends, even if all of them were close, Izuku was only one person.

_"In the end... who'll end up with him? What'll happen to the others that like him?"_ They both thought.

They both turned their heads to each other and sat silently in their seats, staying quiet and thinking about that question in their thoughts.

_"Looks like I brought them back to reality…"_ Mina thought as she sat back in her seat, just as equally sad to think about making any of her friends sad too.

* * *

Izuku stood in the middle of the dark entrance tunnel of the arena, staring into the light in the distance. Both of his hands were tightened into fists as he prepared himself for what would be one of the most impactful challenges of his hero career.

"Young Midoirya!"

Izuku looked back and saw Toshinori waving to him as he neared.

"All Might?"

"How are you feeling this time?" The number one hero asked his successor as he stopped in front of him.

Izuku chuckled nervously, "Well..." He rose his right arm up to reveal that it was slightly shaking. "Even though I'm sure I feel ready, my body doesn't seem to agree."

Toshinori laughed, "You'll do fine! After all you've done up until now, I'm confident in your ability to fight young Enso as well!"

"Yeah, but I'm worried if just using 10% of One For All would be enough to beat him..." Izuku mumbled.

Toshinori poked a finger at him, "You don't have to rely completely on One For All, young Midoriya."

"Eh?" Izuku looked up at him.

"Heroes can be strong even without using their quirks. In fact, I believe that should be the case for many heroes. They need to be able to fight in different ways in the event that something happens where they can't use their quirk."

Toshinori pulled up his shirt to reveal his large scar, "Me, I'm only as strong and able to save so many people just because of my quirk. Without it, I would be some skinny man with pro-hero knowledge, but unable to apply it to save someone because of the state of my body."

Toshinori then stuck his hands out to Izuku with a small smile, "But you... You're strong even without your quirk. Both you and Enso are martial artists, and both of you are quick thinkers that can hold their own without using your powers. The true Pros are always looking for people with talent without their quirks as well. After all, if you don't react fast enough, you can't save anyone at the moment, if you aren't clever enough, then you can't get out of bleak situations, and if you aren't courageous enough... then you'll hesitate, potentially letting someone in need out there fall victim."

Izuku stared in a mesmerized manner.

Toshinori steamed up and grew to his muscular size, holding his fist out to Izuku.

"What I'm trying to say... Is that use your head! Use everything you have, not just your quirk! I'm sure that young Enso will do the same! Go out there and continue to tell the world that... 'I Am Here'!"

Izuku smiled determinedly.

"I'll make you proud, All Might!"

All Might just let out his echoing heroic laugh. "I'm already proud of you my boy" He patted his shoulder. "Now get out there and show them, no... show young Enso what you can do!"

Izuku held his hand into a fist and smiled. "Will do."

The contenting boy turned and faced the light of the stadium, taking a deep breath before taking steps towards his fate.

* * *

~{At the same time}~

Enso walked into his side of the dark tunnel that led into the arena, rotating his arms with his usual cold expression.

It was finally time, time for the most crucial battle regarding his student. Time to see just how far he's progressed with all of his training.

His footsteps echoed in the long corridor, his glimmering red eyes emitting a red glow in the darkness as he headed for the light ahead.

"Enso-kun, a moment."

Hearing that name addressed to him, Enso's eye twitched, but it wasn't the sound of a chef that said that it was the sound of an abomination.

He looked back and saw Principal Nezu walking to him with his hands behind his back and a cheerful smile.

"Why are you calling me that?" Enso crouched down to his level.

"I heard Lunch Rush call you that and thought that it had such a nice ring to it. I didn't know you two were close." Nezu chuckled.

"...Why are you here?" Enso asked him.

Nezu went up to him and use a paw to pat Enso's head, "Now, now, I came to wish you luck."

"Shouldn't you be doing that to the successor that is Izuku?" Enso responded, not even paying mind to the principal patting him.

"That's for All Might. I'm technically the one responsible for you after all, just as he is responsible for Midoriya."

"I'm pretty sure that all the staff should be responsible for every student." Enso pointed out.

"You know what I mean." Nezu responded.

Enso removed Nezu's palm from his head and stood back up to his feet, staring down at the principal.

"So... You want me to beat Izuku?"

"No, I want you to give the world your Plus Ultra." Nezu chuckled.

"..."

Enso turned his back to the principal and started marching down the tunnel. "I suppose I should..."

Nezu grinned, _"This is the battle he's really going to take seriously."_

* * *

The four pots in the corners of the arena erupted with flames.

_"Finally, we're off to the first match of the semi-finals! Are you guys ready!?"_ Present Mic shouted, excited himself for the upcoming battle.

The two competitors walked out of both entrances in the arena.

Izuku walked out into the light, keeping his head forward with the most focused expression he's ever had before.

Enso came out with a simple emotionless look, keeping his head forward too as the crowd cheered for both sides.

Mina stood up from her seat and waved at Izuku.

"Midori! You can win!"

Ochako stood up and joined her. "Go, Deku!"

On the other side of the arena, Lunch Rush energetically waved his flags, "Go Enso-kun! I like Midoriya, but I'm rooting for you!"

"You can do it, Midori!" Hagakure called out.

Momo looked slightly worried but still smiled down at Izuku.

"I hope Midoriya-chan wins." Tsu mumbled with a finger on her chin.

Jiro just turned red when she saw Izuku, remembering the restroom incident earlier. She had changed out of her cheerleading uniform and hoped that Izuku would never ask her why she kept wearing it in the first place.

But thinking about that incident also made her feel slightly happy, remembering the nice things he said to her.

"Win... You idiot..." The girl mumbled.

Mineta and Kaminari had blank looks on their faces, noticing every single girl's reactions.

_"We really need to talk to Midoriya for advice."_

"Good luck Midoriya! Show him your stuff!" Kendo cheered from her class.

"Kendo!? How could you cheer for him!?" Monoma exclaimed in shock.

In the back of the audience, Mei grinned and put on her goggles, giggling madly as she zoomed in on Izuku.

Shinso narrowed his eyes down at Enso, still think about the final words the boy said before knocking him out.

Everyone was anxious.

* * *

"Whoa, look Kamui. Those two are finally against each other." Death Arms said to his fellow pro hero while eating a hotdog.

Kamui looked up at the giant screen and saw Enso and Izuku walking to the arena.

"Both have shown superior abilities compared to all of the other students... But I'm still not sure that I would want to invite _him_..."

"You're still saying that?" Mount Lady asked while holding a bag of popcorn. "Lighten up. That edgy boy has already proven himself more than enough. If you don't invite him, then I might."

Kamui didn't pay any mind to her and crossed his arms, staring up at the screen.

_"Let's see how this turns out..."_

* * *

Dabi set his television to record the battle using his remote, laying back comfortably on the couch with his eyes focused on the screen.

"I wonder what'll happen..."

Toga, on the other hand, played with a knife in her hand while grinning madly, her yellow eyes shining menacingly in an unhealthy interest to Izuku.

"I really do hope that I see more... Show me more... Midoriya..." She giggled.

Dabi sweatdropped.

* * *

_"Tomura, pay very close attention to this battle. I have no doubt that the peak of both their abilities will truly shine in this battle."_ The static voice on Shigaraki's computer spoke.

"Tch... I don't want to Sensei..." Shigaraki whined.

_"Don't say that, Tomura. You have to learn more about your opponent... And you'll learn much more about them soon enough."_ The voice chuckled.

_"Something... feels off about Sensei. I've never seen him get this... 'invested' before..."_

* * *

Inko's house was basically flooded at this point with tears, the woman herself underwater with it.

"Izuuuuukuuuuuuuu!" Inko shouted in a comedic watery voice.

* * *

Both of them stepped onto the arena.

Both kept walking until they were a few feet away, staring at one another in silence.

"I'm sure many of you have been waiting for this matchup to come! Well, now it's here!"

The crowd cheered with their hands up.

"On one side, the hero course student that made quite the impression on everyone so far! The one who won in the first two games and just keeps on winning! It's Izuku Midoriya!"

Izuku rotated his shoulder.

"On the other side, also in the hero course, the one that got second place in the race but then kept moving on with no problem at all! It's Enso Ureshi!"

Enso moved some of his long hair from his face.

"Who will end the other's streak? Who will move on to the final round!? Who is gonna break their arm again?! Let's find out!"

Ignoring that last question directed at him, Izuku just kept his eyes on Enso.

"So... We're finally are…" Enso said to him.

Izuku couldn't help but form a small smile from being reminded of how far he had come.

"Yeah... We both got to this point like we thought we would."

"But now, one of us has to lose..." Enso opened his hands and moved his foot forward, slowly getting into a fighting position.

Izuku's serious look returned as he balled his hands into fists. He got into his own fighting stance.

"That's not going to be me! I'm going to keep my promise and beat you! I'm going to show you just how much stronger I've gotten!"

Enso narrowed his eyes, "I know how much stronger you've gotten, I trained you after all."

"Then I'll just prove that I'm strong enough to beat you right here, right now!"

"Hold on to your seats!"

Izuku's body lit up with One For All.

Enso's body lit up with a yellow aura.

"LET'S ROCK!"

Both dash at each in blinding speeds, meeting directly in the center of the arena.

And they clashed.


	29. Izuku VS Enso

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Izuku's muscular arm and Enso's pale arm clashed in the center of the arena.

The two boys stared in one another's eyes with unwavering faces.

Enso attacked first by bringing his other arm forward and thrusting his palm at Izuku's chest.

Izuku responded by bringing his other arm to block the attack.

Enso's palm slammed into Izuku's defending arm, the force of which, sent him back several yards away. Izuku's feet dragged against the ground as he still remained standing, keeping his balance until coming to a stop.

Enso then stuck his hands outward, his aura and eyes turning blue, "Punk Style-Mind Storm."

About a dozen blue energy orbs blasted out of his palms and headed right for Izuku.

Knowing the mechanics of this move, Izuku knew that he wouldn't be able to maneuver around them.

Instead, he raised both of his hands and aimed them at the orbs, bending his fingers into flicking positions.

"10%..." His fingers lit up bright in a red hue with green electricity. "Double Delaware Smash!"

He flicked his fingers and created two directed shockwaves at the barrage of energy coming at him.

Despite Enso trying to use his telekinesis to swerve multiple energy orbs out of the way of Izuku's attack, just one got hit and resulted in a chain reaction that exploded all of the others.

Multiple flashes of blue light ignited the area by each orb exploding, and a wall of smoke now developed between Enso and Izuku.

"Brute Style"

Enso got into a fighting stance and a white aura shined around him as he prepared for something to come.

Sure enough, Izuku came through the smoke in a flash, just above the ground and swinging his leg with green electricity sparking from him.

"Smmaaaash!"

Enso held both his forearms upward in front of his face, blocking Izuku's kick as it slammed into him.

The white aura didn't shatter. Izuku's leg bounced off and he landed back a foot away in a crouching manner, before immediately rushing forward at his opponent again.

Enso backed up as Izuku unleashed a furry of attacks consisting of punches, palm strikes, and even shoulder blows. He either parried or dodged each fast attack and continued to back up away from Izuku.

"It's like watching a fighting movie!" Mina said with a grin, her fists pumped up.

Ojiro looked surprised. "Wait a minute... Their fighting styles..."

Bakugo's eyes narrowed and he looked a little ticked off.

Izuku swiped his leg against the ground, sweeping it at Enso's feet.

Enso jumped and flipped in the air, sticking his leg out in an attempt to axe kick Izuku on the head.

Seeing this, Izuku swerved to the side and jumped back as Enso's foot connected to the ground, smashing it underneath.

Izuku landed on his feet, staring as Enso got back to his feet and put another fighting stance.

_"He's monitoring my attacks and waiting for an opening to strike back. He's... actually being careful."_

Izuku couldn't help but smile a little.

_"At least that means he's taking me seriously."_

Enso raised both of his fists in the air, the aura around his hands vibrating violently.

"Brute Style-Earth Breaker." He said calmly.

He swung his fists to the ground and smashed it underneath him. Many pieces of cement came up and started hurtling towards Izuku dangerously fast.

Izuku dashed forward and actually used the oncoming flying rubble as footing, jumping from piece to piece with green traces of electricity coming behind him.

Enso narrowed his eyes as he saw Izuku coming towards him in a zig-zag pattern.

He crouched in a running position. "Snipe Style-Piercing Shot."

He flared in yellow and blasted directly forward in the air, crashing through many still drifting pieces of rubble easily as he flew right at Izuku.

Flashes of yellow and green collided in the middle of all the flying rubble, creating a powerful impact that created an explosion of force, sending debris flying in all directions. In the middle of where all of this occurred, Izuku and Enso were right there with the green boy's leg having slammed against Enso's oncoming arm.

"What the hell!? I barely even saw any of that!" Kaminari shouted with his hands on his head.

"Midoriya and Enso are nearly at the same speed... Both of their quirks are allowing them to move faster..." Iida analyzed with hand on his chin.

Enso pushed Izuku's leg back, sending the boy a few feet away.

Izuku landed in a crouching position but then blasted forward at Enso as he was just landing too.

Enso didn't hesitate to spin and swiped his leg at the ground upon landing, sending a few small pieces of debris at Izuku as he neared.

Izuku ducked and dodged the rocks that came at him and, seeing this fail, Enso came forward and tried swinging his leg in a high kick towards Izuku's head.

Izuku spun and slightly ducked to avoid Enso's foot as it swung over his head, then swinging his own leg to the ground at an attempt to sweep Enso off his feet.

Enso had already finished his swing with his leg and immediately responded to Izuku's attack by cartwheeling over his student's leg as it swiped along the ground, placing his hands down and moving them up just as the leg swept passed.

The moment Mina saw this, she was shocked.

"Hold up... Ureshi knows how to dance too?!"

"Dance? I'm pretty sure he just avoided a kick." Kirishima said in confusion.

"Did you not see him cartwheel perfectly!?" Mina pointed with her finger.

"Weird, I didn't expect that Midoriya would dance, but even Ureshi?..." Sero added.

Bakugo gritted his teeth. _"Those guys..."_

Enso and Izuku continuously blocked or shoved aside each other's attacks, trying to actually get a strike on each other while in their speed-enhanced states.

At one point, Enso's yellow colors flared up and his hands tightened into fists.

"Snipe Style- Rapid Fire."

Izuku's eyes widened. _"I haven't seen this attack before!"_

Alarms blazed through the boy's head and he went on the defensive, raising his forearms to shield his front as Enso dashed at him with both of his fists.

Everything went by so fast, Enso's chained together several lightning-fast punches on Izuku's arms in an instant. Each strike created a visible impact on Izuku's arms that stung for the boy as he defended these punches.

"Ureshi is bombarding Midoriya!" Present Mic voiced.

This only went on for about three seconds before Enso performed one final thrust of a punch that sent Izuku's feet dragging against the ground several yards away while leaving skid marks from his shoes.

Izuku came to a stop but was gritting his teeth. His arms were shaking and red with visible steaming emitting from them after taking all of those hits.

_"What even was that!? I barely saw anything!"_ Izuku shook his arms to shake away the stinging in them, glad that he didn't take all those punches directly.

He glanced at Enso and noticed that he was taking deep breaths while his own hands steamed as well.

Enso took one final deep breath before elegantly moving his arms into another fighting stance, forming open palms with his fingers sticking out.

"Brute-Style." His colors changed to white.

_"He's getting on the defensive now?" _Izuku wondered.

Enso brought his right arm back and clenched his hand into a fist, which suddenly started vibrating as he focused power into it.

_"Nope, that's definitely offensive!" _Izuku thought with widened eyes.

"Vicious Smite." Enso jumped into the air and above Izuku, who glanced up in shock when he heard him.

_"I GOTTA MOVE!"_ He dove away as Enso came down with his fist at him.

Another giant explosion of destruction ensued as the punch connected to the ground, sending a mixture of dirt and cement flying upward and creating clouds of dust that obscured a part of the arena.

"Eraserhead, what's with your students always being the ones to start breaking down the arena!?" Mic shouted angrily.

"Don't ask me." Aizawa said with disinterest.

Izuku stood up on his feet while using his arm to cover his eyes from the clouds of dust.

_"Why would Enso suddenly cover the arena like this? He won't be able to see me-?"_

Izuku suddenly recalled one particular move that he had heard about from Iida before. And he even remembered asking Enso to use during the cavalry battle.

_"He can find out where I am!"_

Izuku felt danger coming at him and jumped back as a blue light dashed past him and into more obscuring clouds.

_"Blue... That was Enso in his Punk-Style. He's using it to detect where I am! I gotta get away from all this dust!"_

Izuku jumped to the side to get away, but the flashing blue light intercepted him and punched him in the face, then disappearing as fast as he came.

"Ugh!" Izuku landed on his back while holding his cheek in pain. He got back up to move again, but the blue light came behind him and kicked his back before disappearing once more.

Izuku landed on his knees and realized, _"He's trying to keep me in here!" _

He rolled along the ground to avoid the blue light that was Enso as he passed by once more, evading him this time.

_"I guess I'll just have to dispel this dust instead!"_

Izuku's right arm charged up, "10%-"

He heard a dashed behind him.

"-Detroit Smash!" Izuku swung his arm behind him and that was enough to create winds that blew away the surrounding dust.

In addition, his arm intercepted Enso coming at him, who had to suddenly cross his arms to defend against the punch upon realizing that Izuku knew where he came from.

Izuku's punch sent Enso slightly above the ground, to which the boy flipped himself and landed on his feet in a crouching position.

Enso's blue aura faded away as he stood back straight on his feet. He moved his hands and bent his knees in a defensive stance.

"You've clearly gotten stronger..."

"I know." Izuku responded in all seriousness.

"What an answer..." Enso then remarked.

Izuku chuckled, bending his knees and keeping low to the ground with his hands to his sides.

"Remember what I promised you?"

"You didn't technically promise." Enso responded.

Izuku wasn't amused. "Good, then you do remember."

"...Yes."

Izuku's hands tightened into fists, "I said that I'd win... So I'm going to!" He declared.

Enso just narrowed his red eyes.

"Then prove it."

Izuku didn't even hesitate to blast forward, body bright shining in green and red.

"Rapid Fire." Enso sprang forward as well with his fists vibrating yellow.

Both teens collided in a barrage of punches.

Enso rapidly struck at Izuku, and Izuku swiftly struck back. Izuku focused One For All to enhance the speed and power of his own punches, hitting as fast as he could to match, and go beyond, the punches that Enso threw at him.

Their fists collided continuously, both teens trying to outpace the other in their strikes, both trying to overwhelm the other.

Over a hundred punches were thrown in the exchange of these two, but soon Enso managed to punch Izuku's arm upward and aside. He then quickly used this opening to swing his fist right into Izuku's chest, striking him back.

"Ack!" Izuku was sent flying back and bounced off the ground, tumbling along it for a moment before coming to a stop on his stomach.

_"Damn it... I slipped up..."_ Izuku used his arms to push himself up off the ground.

But he didn't even stand up all the way before he heard Enso appear next to him.

His eyes widened and he instinctively backed up as a foot swung right at his face.

The heel of Enso's shoe _just_ grazed Izuku's cheek as he backed up, creating a cut that slightly bled.

Enso didn't stop and continued to spin his body repeatedly, swinging his legs high and at Izuku again and again while the boy tried to back up.

Izuku jumped back as Enso's leg swept at his feet, he used a forearm to take a kick Enso aimed at the side of his chest, and he leaned back to avoid a high kick aimed at his face.

At one point, Izuku tried to swing his right leg at Enso's side, but Enso slightly turned and caught it around arm while softening the impact, holding Izuku's leg between his arm and body.

Enso then used his raised his other arm's elbow and slammed it onto the leg he was holding, making Izuku grit his teeth.

"Nngh!" Izuku felt a momentary pain before Enso used his leg again to suddenly kick Izuku off his feet with enough force to send him spinning slightly up.

But Izuku gritted his teeth and had about enough.

Izuku used the momentum of spinning in the air to suddenly swing his leg back at Enso while still near him.

Enso's eyes had just started to widen before a foot connected to his face, forcing him to stumble back a step. Izuku landed on his back, but he didn't even wait a moment before sticking his legs outward and kicking Enso back.

Izuku then kicked up at the air and that rose him back to his feet, where he then proceeded to continuously use his palms to attack like a kung fu warrior. Thrusting them forward at Enso, knocking his arms away to make an opening of attack, and moving at fast precise strikes as Enso tried to block each one while recovering from the momentary dizziness caused by the kick to his head.

At one point, Enso raised his right arm up and blocked one of Izuku's palm, but his student's other palm managed to get through and slam into his chest somewhat hard and sending him onto the ground.

"Midoriya finally got Ureshi onto the ground!"

Izuku tried to rush Enso while he was open, but his mentor spun his body on the ground with his legs up, spiraling them to perform a Windmill movement that kicked his student's face as he tried to crouch down to grab him.

Izuku let out a grunt of pain and stumbled two steps back, holding his face in the place Enso kicked.

Enso continued to spin along the ground before using his hands to push himself off the ground and land on his feet.

"He danced again!" Mina shouted.

Kendo looked stunned, "Their fighting styles are so similar... It's as if-" Her eyes widened as she realized.

"-they're the same!" Ojiro finished among his own class with an equally shocked expression.

"What is? Kero?" Tsu asked him.

"Their fighting styles are the same!" Ojiro repeated.

"The same fighting style? What does that mean?" Mineta asked.

Bakugo was furious, "He really taught him... That edgelord really taught that nerd..." He gritted between his teeth, still glaring down at the fight.

"Nani? Nani? Ureshi taught Midoriya how to fight?!" Kirishima exclaimed after hearing Bakugo.

Jiro formed a look of realization. "He did teach him how to project his voice... Was that part of his training?" She muttered to herself as she remembered encountering the two at the karaoke bar.

Momo smiled, but kept her eyes on the fight, _"Well Izuku, looks like they found out."_

"Brute Style." Enso's aura turned white and he kept his arms and fists up as if mimicking a boxer.

_"Okay, now he's actually going defensive." _Izuku thought.

Enso took a deep breath, "Brute Style-Bulk Up."

The white aura around him looked to be growing denser.

_"He's trying to increase his protection!"_ Ten percent of One For All shined around Izuku as he dashed forward to keep Enso from continuously adding onto his defenses.

"Detroit..."

He swung his fist with intense power around it, aiming for Enso's face.

"Smaaaaaash!"

Enso backed up only enough to make Izuku's fist go at his chest instead, breathing deeply before it came at him.

Izuku's fist connected onto Enso's chest with a mighty slam, creating a small shockwave and causing Enso to flinch from the impact.

_"He took the attack!?" _Izuku thought.

But there was something noticeable that happened.

Izuku saw ripples emerge from the spot he had punched on Enso's chest. The ripples were on Enso's aura, but they traveled around his body and to met up at one specific location.

Enso's fist.

"Brute... Style..." Enso said with some stress in his voice. His fist started vibrating violently while brightly shining.

_"What's this!?"_ Izuku tried backing away from Enso, but his mentor grabbed him using his other hand and brought him close.

"Revenge." Enso finished in a cold tone, swinging his fist right into Izuku's stomach in an uppercut.

The impact looked devastating. There was a visible black and red shockwave that emitted from Enso's punch upon connection, showing just how hard he had struck.

A giant blast of air blew behind Izuku, indicating just how much force he took. Enso's fist looked as if it would pierce through Izuku's stomach in any second. Izuku's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he stopped breathing, feeling all the air forcibly knocked out of his lungs.

Enso pushed his fist forward and launched Izuku back, sending him flying with sweat flinging in all directions from the intense force.

Ochako's eyes widened as she saw Izuku fly through the air, making her shoot from her seat in fear.

"Deku!"

Izuku fell to the ground and clutched his stomach, struggling to breathe and closing his eyes closed in pain. Tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes and the colors of One For All's power faded away from around him.

_"It hurts... It hurts..."_

He forced himself to turn his head and gazed over at Enso, who was far away from him with his fist steaming again.

_"Revenge?... Was that... another move?..."_

"Midoriya is down for the count!? What was that devastating punch!?"

Enso shook his hand, feeling some stinging from it. "You didn't think that you saw all my techniques, did you?" He called over to his student.

Izuku's eyes dilated, _"Wh-What?"_

"I absorbed the shock from your punch and swung it back to you along with my own striking power." Enso explained when he saw the look of confusion on Izuku's face.

Izuku formed a shocked look of realization, struggling to breathe as he kept his mouth open.

_"Then ripples on his aura... That was the shock from my punch traveling into his hand?!"_

Enso used a hand to feel his chest, touching the spot that Izuku hit, and flinching upon feeling it.

"Ow..." He then rubbed his hands together. "I prefer not to get hit at all... But I had to absorb that attack to get you down faster."

_"That edgelord just keeps pulling techniques out of his ass... How many of them does he have with each of those damn styles of his? Not even I have that many moves. So for him to have so many... He had to have been training with his quirk for a long time." _Bakugo thought in almost a confused manner.

Izuku moved up onto his knees, using one hand to clench his stomach in pain while his other hand was helping to push him off the ground. He glared at Enso while breathing hard now to try and regain the air he lost.

Enso then blasted forward at Izuku, fist intending to connect with the boy's head.

Izuku's eyes enlarged and he forced himself back up to his feet despite the pain his stomach felt in doing so. He raised his right arm slightly up to block a punch aimed at his stomach again, but even though he did block it, another punch hit him in the face.

"Ugh!" Izuku backed up, and Enso kept rushing forward. Enso repeatedly punched and kicked Izuku in precise areas, not showing any mercy. Izuku couldn't jump away, he couldn't charge One For All around his body, and he couldn't move fast enough to block all of Enso's attacks.

_"He keeps aiming for my stomach first!"_ Izuku thought as a punch slammed into his cheek, making a drop of blood fly from the corner of his mouth.

Izuku kept his arm around his stomach that was still in pain, knowing that if Enso successfully attacked him there again, then he would just be down for the rest of the fight. Enso knew this and kept mixing up his attacks, keeping a constant threat of hitting Izuku's stomach so that the boy wouldn't remove his hand from there, allowing him to keep striking without worrying about getting struck back.

_"I can't defend with one arm! And Enso isn't allowing me to charge up One For All!"_

"Midoriya is in a pickle! He can't get Ureshi off of him! They're both heading to the edge of the arena!"

_"What?!" _Izuku glanced back for a second and realized that indeed he was nearing the edge. But in that one moment, Enso jumped and swung his leg, kicking Izuku's face and sending him falling to the floor.

_"This looks bad!"_ Mina thought, cringing after seeing that kick slam into Izuku's face.

"You can do it... You can do it...You'll think of something." Momo whispered with her eyes glued in Izuku.

Izuku did indeed think of something, but it was something he didn't want to realize.

_"I can't beat him like this... Even if I somehow make some space between us, my body has been worn down too much at this point. He's been punching me everywhere and each punch feels like getting hit with a brick. Everything hurts..."_

Izuku panted while getting up from the ground, his arms shaking and sweat dripping down his face.

_"I won't be able to last longer... I have to be able to end this fast."_

"Midoriya is at the edge!? Is this the end for the crowd's favorite?!"

Izuku knew the out of bound was basically right next to him, making him close his eyes and grit his teeth.

_"Not yet..."_

Enso jumped forward and sent his fist forward with the intent of knocking Izuku out.

The emerald teen's eyes snapped open.

"I'm not done yet!" Izuku turned his head to Enso and forced his aching right arm to swing at Enso as he got close.

Everything moved slow for a moment, but Enso saw green sparks coming from Izuku's hand, but only from a specific area.

His eyes widened.

_"Don't tell me he's going to-!?"_

A look of genuine concern formed on his face. Enso crossed his arms while panting his feet to the ground in an attempt to screech to a halt just as Izuku's finger aimed at him.

_"I have to defend!" _Enso charged the defenses of his white aura as much as he could in that split second.

"SMASH!"

Izuku maintained his ground and flicked his finger at full force.

The blast of pure power instantly shattering Enso's white aura. Even with his increased defenses, the boy was sent flying back with his arms in aching pain from taking such an attack up close.

"Midoriya sent Ureshi flying with one attack!?"

Enso bounced off the ground twice before using a hand to push off the ground and flip himself upright, landing in a crouching position and sliding to a stop.

He glanced at his arms and saw them shaking, he looked behind him to see that he was the one near the edge of the arena, and he knew that he cut it close.

"Phew..."

"What happened?!" Hagakure asked.

"He broke his finger!?" Mineta yelled with bulging eyes.

Momo cringed upon seeing Izuku's red and swollen finger.

"H-He did it again." Ochako muttered next to her, looking just as uncomfortable as Momo.

Enso gazed across at Izuku shakingly stood up straight, panting while holding onto his right hand's broken index finger.

"I should've known..." The mentor muttered held onto his own aching arm.

"You shouldn't be surprised at this point." Izuku joked despite his stinging finger.

"You're going too far."

"You think I don't know?" Izuku responded, going back to a serious voice.

Enso could only stare at him in bewilderment. "Why... Why go so far for a festival battle? I understand what you were doing for Todoroki, but right now, you're not saving anyone. So why break your finger? Why even think about hurting yourself so much?"

Izuku just chuckled, raising his fist up and clenching it tightly despite the broken finger.

"Because I promised..."

Enso stood still.

"I promised that I'd beat you!" Izuku shouted with his eyes closed.

Enso swore that the boy's shout shook the arena for a moment, as you could feel that much powering determination from him.

Enso tightly held his hands into fists.

_"This is foolish... I hate it... He's willing to destroy his entire body to win a festival battle? No one is even in trouble, yet he's choosing to do so much to himself to try and get through me... He's shown that he's willing to do so much, willing to do much worse to win this battle... He shouldn't go through such unnecessary pain."_

Enso looked back at the white line behind him.

_"If I were to just step out of bounds here, then Izuku would have no reason to hurt himself, he could just move on..."_

Enso glanced back at Izuku's determined expression, staring at the face of a boy who was giving it his all, and who was expecting it back.

"..."

Enso looked down as he thought about it.

_"No... If I stepped out now... Then he wouldn't forgive me."_

He remembered how much training Izuku went through and remembered the exact words of the promise his student made.

_"I'm going to find a way to beat you. I'm gonna fight through you and whatever style you throw at me! I'm going to win the festival, I'm going to make sure no one forgets me! I'm... I'm going to show the world that... 'I Am Here!'"_

Knowing what he had to do, Enso sighed.

_"I'm going to be an idiot to go along with this... But he deserves a fight till the end. If he's going to be hurting himself, then I have to stop him the right way."_

He raised his head, his eyes flaring red.

_"I have to finish this. Not for me, but for Izuku."_

He slowly moved his arms and slid his feet into a fighting position, taking a deep breath.

"Legendary Style-Reaper of Worlds."

His eyes gleamed red and a black aura suddenly erupted around him with enough force to violently crack parts of the ground.

Izuku's eyes stared in awe as he saw Enso's demonstration of power explode around him, the aura giving him and the audience chills.

Iida felt his skin crawl. _"This is the same demeanor he showed on the day the media got in!"_

_"Isn't this what he used to kill the monster at USJ?" _Kirishima thought in worry.

"I-Is it just me, or does Ureshi look really scary right now?" Kaminari shook in his chair.

"When _doesn't_ he look scary!?" Mineta shouted.

"Enso-chan's going all out?..." Tsu thought with a worried look and her fingers entwined.

"He knows Midoriya may keep breaking his body to unleash attacks like before..." Todoroki figured out.

Nezu chuckled and sipped his tea menacingly, _"Giving the boy what he wants, good on you Enso."_

The crowd began to whisper to one another in wonder at Enso's new demonstration of intimidating power.

"I haven't seen this yet!" One shouted.

"Did Midoirya push him to use his full force again like he did with Todoroki?" Another asked.

"He looks kinda scary." A third cried.

Sweat dripped off of Izuku's face as he stared at Enso's power, trying not to let this aura of intimidation fade him by keeping a grin.

"S-So I made you use it, huh?"

"If I don't use it, then I'll either get blasted away or you'll break every single bone in your body." Enso responded with his focus on Izuku.

"Heh, maybe both." Izuku answered confidentially.

_"Young Midoriya... Young Enso..." _Toshinori thought from the crowd, looking concerned like many of Izuku's classmates.

"Go, Enso-kun!" Lunch Rush cheered with a large flag of Enso's face that he somehow had.

Enso's eyes flashed red and he vanished from his spot, leaving an afterimage that showed just how fast he moved.

Izuku's reactions kicked in, he managed to make out Enso coming from his right and turned in that direction quickly.

His right hand's middle finger brightly sparked as he pointed it in the direction Enso was coming from.

"SMASH!"

He flicked his finger at full force, bursting out a shockwave that sent rubble flying and sent Enso's feet dragging back against the ground several yards away. Upon skidding to a stop, Enso stuck both of his arms out and started spiraling in place, moving so fast that he formed a tall tornado that he disappeared within.

The flying rubble suddenly looked to have stopped midair before getting pulled into the tornado Enso made, spiraling around it quickly.

"Nani!? Ureshi just twirled like a ballerina into a tornado! Hold on to your seat folks! And your hats! Hold on to everything!" Present Mic shouted, face pressed up against the screen.

Enso then stopped spinning, but with one last turn, he punched forward where he knew Izuku was.

His punch pierced through his own tornado, but all the rubble that had been collected within it was flung in a barrage at Izuku.

Izuku grit his teeth and aimed his ring finger this time, flicking it full force right at the torrent of concrete and stone.

"Nngh!" He felt the pain from his own atttack but managed to unleash a blast of air.

The pure force of Izuku's attack easily shattered right through the flying debris, then continuing to travel right at Enso.

Enso saw the powerful winds coming right at him. He formed his dagger in his right arm before crouching down and piercing the ground with it to keep himself in place.

The shockwave blazed passed through Enso. His long hair flowed behind him from the winds but he managed to keep himself in place with a tight grip on his dagger.

Izuku panted and looked down at his right hand, three fingers used so far.

Enso got back up and pulled his dagger from the ground. It disintegrated in his hand before he then putting on another fighting stance.

_"He's not using his dagger against me. I guess that makes sense because he isn't intending on killing me, but isn't that style of his weaker without it? Aren't his attacks centered around his dagger?"_

He then remembered Enso's words when he had countered his punch earlier.

_"You didn't think that you saw all my techniques, did you?"_

Izuku knew he had to be careful.

_"There must be more to his Reaper Style, not just around his dagger... I have to look out for other moves by him. If I get hit by one while his body is still enhanced, then it may be over. But at the same time, if Enso gets hit by one of my attacks at 100%, then it may be over for him."_

Enso opened his palms and started blasting multiple black energy orbs at Izuku.

_"They're faster than before!" _Izuku moved his head to the side and narrowly avoided one an orb. He dodged and rolled along the ground to avoid getting hit by any more of these spheres coming at him.

Enso then clapped both of his hands together, slowly pulled them apart where he formed a more massive black ball of energy than any of the others before. He raised it over his head before then firing it at Izuku with a shockwave created by his throw.

The energy sphere rolled along the ground and left a trail of destruction in the ground as it rampaged towards Izuku.

Izuku grit his teeth and stuck out his hand at the oncoming attack.

He charged power around his pinky and let loose.

"Smaaaaaash!"

A blast of air collided with the ball of energy, causing a massive explosion that expanded in all directions. Enso and Izuku both had to crouch low in hopes that they wouldn't be blown away from the force while their hair violently blew back.

Class 1-A covered their eyes from the intense winds.

"Man, what the hell?!" Sero remarked.

"So much raw power..." Tokoyami said in awe.

Clouds of dust were kicked up from the explosion, but Enso didn't hesitate to run inside in Izuku's direction. He kept running with his senses at full force, detecting exactly where Izuku was.

But he heard the sounds of something charging up.

Enso felt his state of danger go up and jumped upward as soon as he could.

"SHMPHAASH!" Izuku's mumbled voice tried to shout, yet you could tell that something was in his mouth.

An explosion of force dispersed all the clouds of dust in an instant.

But Izuku hadn't sent that attack along the ground, he had sent it upward.

Enso's eyes widened when the dust dispersed, revealing Izuku with his thumb broken and his mouth partially opened as the shockwave of his attack hurtled at his mentor in the air.

_"He predicted I would jump up and used his thumb!?"_ Enso pointed his palm diagonally up to the right, firing a sudden blast of energy that propelled him down to the left.

_"He must've used his mouth to keep his thumb in place before flicking it, but now he's used all the fingers in his right hand!"_ Enso thought as he flew in the air.

He then sent another blast of energy behind him to drive himself down at Izuku.

Izuku was still recovering from his own attack as Enso came down at him, his eyes widened and he only had a moment to react.

_"I can't move out of the way!" _Izuku raised his left arm as Enso started spinning rapidly in the air, before then performing a large swing with his leg aimed at Izuku's head.

A rather loud sound of Enso's leg slamming into Izuku's arm echoed in the arena, but along with that, there was also the sound of the ground cracking underneath Izuku.

"Nngh!" Izuku felt his legs being pushed down, forcing him to one knee. _"He didn't break my arm, but it sure feels like it!"_

Izuku pushed Enso off of him, sending him only a few feet away. Enso landed on his feet and dashed forward at Izuku before he points more fingers at him.

_"He's trying not to give me a chance!"_

Rather than back up, Izuku dashed forward and tried to swing his left arm forward.

_"Go on the offensive when he least expects it!"_

He swung his arm at Enso, but the mentor grabbed the arm Izuku swung and actually used it to flip himself over the boy in an act of athletic mobility.

_"He used my punch to dodge!?"_ Izuku was barely able to turn his head before seeing Enso swing his leg while still in the air, his foot colliding on the side of his head.

"NNGHH!" The kick was strong enough to launch Izuku off his feet and to the side, his head hurting and vision blurring.

Enso landed on the ground and didn't even wait for a second to blast forward in a streak of black, intending on catching up to Izuku to yank him from the air.

Izuku opened his eyes while flying to see the burst of black that was Enso nearing him already.

_"I need to get him away!" _Izuku managed to aim his left hand's fingers this time while flying. "Delaware-!"

_*Crack!*_

Izuku blink, his mind processing what had just happened.

One moment, Enso looked to have been several yards away from him, but right before he had flicked his finger, his mentor had suddenly appeared right next to him.

Not only that, but he was holding onto his hand, a now disfigured hand.

_"He-! H-He-!?"_ Izuku was shocked.

"He broke his hand!" Kendo said as she put her hands to her mouth with a look of horror.

Enso suddenly gripped tightly to Izuku's left broken hand.

"NNGH!" Izuku felt the pain of his broken bones.

Enso then pulled him from the air and brought him close with an arm wrapped around his back, whispering into his ear.

"I'm sorry... But this has to stop."

Izuku then felt Enso start pushing him towards the edge of the arena.

_"No! NO!" _Izuku planted his feet to the ground and tried to push back, but Enso's aura flared up and gave him more power to push him.

"His fingers and his other hand are broken!" Jiro couldn't bear to think of how painful that must be, but she was more concerned with Izuku getting pushed out. "What can he do?!"

As if responding, Izuku brought his head back, an orange hue forming with green electricity.

"Get-!" He swung his head forward and slammed into Enso's forehead, "-OFF!"

Enso actually grit his teeth and let go of Izuku, retreating back while his head was dizzy from the impact. He jumped several yards away, using his right hand to feel upon his red forehead's stinging.

Izuku skid to a stop before his feet could go across the white line, panting heavily and holding onto his broken left hand.

Enso looked visibly annoyed as he moved his hand off his aching head, "Tsk..."

Izuku glanced down at his current state. All the fingers of his right hand were broken and his left hand along with his fingers had been crushed all at once by Enso's brute force He tried bending his fingers, but a sharp pain spiked.

"Ngh! Damn!" He flinched from the pain holding his fingers with his also hurting right hand. _"He was able to break my fingers all at once!?"_

Enso stood up straight and his black aura faded away, examining his opponent's current state.

"It's over, Izuku..."

Izuku focused his attention on Enso again, "I'm... I'm still in the arena..."

Enso narrowed his eyes, "Look at yourself. Look at the state your body is in, you're in no condition to continue."

Izuku had his head down, shadows over his eyes. "I'm... not done..."

Enso sighed, "No surrender in the end... It makes sense from you. But I've given you the battle you wanted, so now you can go down honorably."

He stuck his palms up and bright blue colors formed. He charged up power in them before then releasing over a dozen energy balls into the air.

At the same time, he used his telekinesis to circle the orbs of energy all around him, ready to be sent forward at any moment.

"There's no way Midoriya could avoid all that!" Kirishima shouted.

"Poor Midori... He really did his best..." Hagakure thought depressingly.

"This looks to be the final stretch, folks!"

Izuku's arms were still shaking, two single tears came from the shadows of his eyes while he gritted his teeth.

Enso took one last look at his student, closing his eyes.

_"You really are an amazing idiot..."_

He swiped his hands down, sending his arsenal of spheres forward and honing directly at Izuku.

Izuku didn't know what to do.

_"Even though I tried so hard... It wasn't enough... I even went 100%, but Enso just kept holding on..."_

Izuku heard the cries of the audience suddenly drown out from his ears while he kept going through his thoughts.

_"I want to win... I want to prove to everyone that I could be the best hero ever... I want them to know that I can win any battle, that I could save anyone from any situation!"_

The sunlight of the world around him suddenly started to dim down.

_"I promised... I promised Enso I would win... I wanted to show him that I'm strong enough to beat him, that I'm strong enough to save him and anyone else!"_

Izuku closed his eyes with a tear dripping down his nose, but he didn't even notice the ground turn completely back around him.

_"Damn it..."_

Suddenly a voice shouted.

"You thought you could be a hero!?"

Izuku's eyes snapped open.

_"What...?"_

He rose his head up, discovering that he was standing in an abyss of pure black.

But in front of him, there was a rectangular panel that contained a familiar blonde teen grinning evilly.

_"Ka...chan?"_ Izuku thought in confusion.

The panel with Bakugo in it grinned in his junior high uniform, "What the hell can _you_ do?! You're quirkless!"

Izuku's eyes dilated and he felt his heart ache from those words.

He then heard laughing and more panels formed around him. He saw all of his previous middle school classmates, all of them laughing at him while showing off their quirks.

"You can't do anything!"

"You can't save anyone!"

Izuku started shaking, he felt his traumas building back up again.

_"No..."_

"You'll just get in the heroes' way!"

"You'll just get yourself, and _everyone _killed!"

_"S-Stop it!"_ Izuku grabbed his own head with his hands and looked down at the ground with something building up, not even noticing that he somehow didn't have any injuries on him.

He heard Bakugo's chilling voice.

"If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it."

Izuku could practically see the grin his tormentor had.

"Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!"

"ENOUGH!" Izuku shouted, causing all the panels around him to shatter in an instant.

_"Why now?! Wh-Why am I remembering!?"_

He felt a sweep of emotions come to him of exactly what he had felt during those moments. Pain, sadness...

Anger.

_"What's going on!?"_

**"Even so, I still love you, my pathetic little brother..."**

Izuku heard this unfamiliar, but powerful sounding voice and looked up to see two blurry silhouettes in front of each other. One was of a man in what appeared to be a suit of looking down at another man who looked rather frail, but angry.

The man staring down at the other grinned evilly, and Izuku felt a chill.

**"You're my only family, after all."**

Izuku felt his blood boiling.

_"What!? What is all of this!? Why do I feel... so angry!? Why!?"_

He felt his body burning up, he felt his head was hurting, and he felt his body shaking. Izuku saw so many other panels form around him, each one containing the same tall man wearing a suit, the man grinned menacingly in each panel, but there some horrendous sights around him. There were people on the floor, people running away, people crying, and people facing the man with their hands balled into fists and with looks of rage.

_"Who is that man!?"_

With each of these visions emerging, Izuku felt his blood turning to flames. His heartbeat was so fast that he could swear it might burst out at any moment.

Then all of a sudden, he saw a black aura form around him. First, it was around his feet, then it went up to his legs, bringing an even more intense pain building up around those body parts.

"NNGH!" Izuku fell to his knees from the sheer pain he was going through, looking down at the lower half of his body that was surrounded in a black aura.

_"Th-This black aura!? No way, i-it can't be!?"_

Izuku heard the sound of something forming ahead of him. He turned his head saw something else that was different from everything else going on.

Seven black silhouettes of different people stood in front of him. Each one of their eyes completely filled in with a blood-red color, and they were all staring at Izuku on the ground.

_"Seven people? Eight including me?"_

Izuku could feel the aura around him going up to his torso now, bringing a burning pain as it did so. The sclera's of his eyes were turning black and his irises red, but despite this, his gaze seemed forced to remain on the seven people standing.

_"What's happening to me?..."_ He thought with a whimper.

He then saw all seven of the standing figures close their eyes, hiding their red color while a denser black aura started to form around them.

They suddenly faded away, forming into some sort of smoke-like aura that combined together and moved right in front of him.

The contents then formed into one person, one that Izuku was the most shocked about.

Himself.

It was a clear silhouette oh himself, as you could immediately tell by just the hair and shape. But it had formed the same purely filled red eyes as the other seven people that had just been standing ahead a moment ago.

Izuku was still on the ground in pain, struggling to keep his arms up as the black aura now went all the way up to his forearms and neck. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what he _could_ do. He couldn't explain anything happening, he could only watch in pain as the black silhouette of himself reach a hand down to him, as if offering it to him.

Izuku found himself reaching his own hand up to his silhouette, whether he was conscious of it or just desperate for help.

The moment he took its hand, he felt his heart stop.

Izuku's eyes dilated as the black aura went around his head and nearly enveloped his face.

And the black silhouette of himself formed a jagged, red smile, giving off the sound of breathing.

**"Let's win."**

The aura then completely enveloped Izuku.

* * *

Enso watched as his large number of spheres of energy neared Izuku, ready to overwhelm the boy and finally send him out of the arena.

But that didn't happen.

**"SMAAAAASH!"** A demonic voice echoed.

Enso's eyes widened as an explosion of force came from Izuku, a force that blasted every single ball of energy from the air with bright bursts of white.

_"What the-!?"_ Bakugo's eyes grew open in shock.

Everyone was stunned, they all had no idea what happened.

The powerful shockwave kept rampaging at Enso, the boy caught so off guard that he barely had enough time to react.

He crossed his arms, "Brute Style!"

A white aura emerged around him just in time. He took the powerful force head-on, feeling it slam right into him and forcefully dragging his feet back against the ground.

He kept sliding until the winds died down, breathing heavier than before and moving his arms out of the way with a new surprising look.

"What just happened!?" Someone in the crowd shouted.

"Did Midoriya do that!?" another yelled.

"Look down there!"

Everyone had their eyes upon Izuku.

The boy was standing in place with his body slightly hunched over. His entire body was surrounded by a familiar black aura and he was hanging his head down.

Momo's eyes grew in fear, "Th-That's-?"

"H-He used that power again? Right now?" Ochako muttered in a similar concern.

Izuku raised his right hand in front of him, revealing to everyone what he did.

His fingers were red and swollen, or at least, that's how they were _all_ supposed to be. But one of them, his index finger, had turned purple with some blood on it.

"He... He used his already broken finger?!" Todoroki muttered.

Hearing that, Izuku's whole class felt a sense of uneasy feelings.

"You can't be serious..." Tsu said with an open mouth expression.

Izuku took a deep breath in, then breathing out a visible black breath that faded into the air. He then balled his left hand's fingers into a fist, cracks of his broken fingers echoing and making many people wince at the sound, yet the boy looked unfazed by his own actions.

Enso could feel a new aura of intimidation. He kept his own white aura up and maintained a defensive position just in case he was attacked.

"You can't be serious... Now Izuku? Of all the times you could bring it out, you somehow do that now?..."

Izuku raised his head up, and sure enough, his eye colors had once again changed into a blood-red, along with his scleras turning black like Mina's, but with red veins bolding out within them. He looked furious, showing his teeth pressed together with a menacing glare directed at Enso.

"You're using Ikari again..." Enso said. "Did you really get so angry from thinking you were going to lose that it activated in response?"

Izuku didn't say anything back, he simply kept glaring at Enso, breathing heavily with a black breathe coming out with each release of air.

Enso knew that something else was wrong.

"Izuku? Are you alright?"

"NNGAAAAAAAHH!" Izuku raised his hands onto his head, and his right eye suddenly blinked back into emerald green.

Enso was shocked to see the two different colors of Izuku's eyes, this wasn't anything like the other times he had used Ikari before.

"Izuku!" Enso took a step forward with a serious look on his face. "What's wrong?!"

"I-It... hurts..." Was all Izuku was able to faintly say, tears going down his eyes.

Nezu wasn't smiling now, he stared at the event unfolding down in the arena.

Toshinori was standing up in his seat with his eyes completely open.

_"Young Midoriya! I hope you can control it! Don't let your power get to you!"_

Enso turned off his aura and started running towards the boy in pain. _"Is Ikari making him lose control again?"_

Izuku lowered his head and took a step back, grinding his teeth together.

**"Win..."** Izuku's hands cracked as he moved them off his head and he flared up in black.

Enso was nearing Izuku when he noticed this, stopping at the menacing voice and actually recognizing it.

_"This is the same voice I heard in Izuku's consciousness when I looked into his memories!"_

**"Fight..." **Izuku looked up and black erupted from his back, shaking the ground as his momentary green eye disappeared into an intense red color that glared over at Enso.

Now, this was where Enso saw a particular shape emerged from behind Izuku.

It was a silhouette of some sort. But in it...

_"Red eyes!"_ Todoroki was shocked to see the red eyes that he remembered seeing during the cavalry battle.

Enso stared at the red eyes behind Izuku.

"I see..."

He got into a fighting stance and narrowed his own eyes at it.

"You're not Izuku."

The silhouette's red eyes narrowed at Enso.

"I don't know who, or _what_ you are, but..."

Enso's suddenly erupted in black, his eyes blazing red as his dagger formed into his hand.

He tightly gripped onto it.

"Give. Him. Back."

The figure just stared at Enso for a few more seconds before retracting back into Izuku, making him rise up to his feet with a threatening glare of fighting intent.

Enso tightened his fist and grip around his dagger.

"So be it. Izuku, I'm sorry. But if you're in there..."

He flipped his dagger in his hand.

"I hope you don't feel any of this."


	30. Enso VS Ikari

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Enso glared at this new being from afar.

Despite seeing Izuku standing ahead of him, he knew that it wasn't the boy in control, clearly indicated by the other figure that had formed behind him.

"Midnight, should we stop the fight before it gets too dangerous?" Cementoss asked in his earpiece.

Midnight stared at Enso and Izuku glaring at one another, taking note of Izuku's injuries, but also gazing at his newfound power.

"Not yet, this might just be an adrenaline rush from Midoriya. He's using this last chance to try and win. Just give it a moment and he should burn out on his own."

That's what she thought would happen.

Izuku forced his arms up.

**"Rgggrraaaah!"** He then slammed his palms right onto the ground, cracking it along with his fingers.

Enso saw the ground visibly start shaking in his direction.

_"Is he trying to shake me off my feet?"_

He leaped up in the air, attempting to avoid the shaking of the ground underneath.

But what he didn't expect to see were several long and black tendrils erupt from the ground he was just standing on, shooting upwards towards him with sharp points.

_"Nani!? How in the world-!?"_

Enso tightly gripped onto his dagger and spun rapidly in the air, lashing at each tendril that came at him to keep them away.

But the instant he did this, Izuku winced in pain and visible splotches of blood visibly soaked into his gym shirt in small straight lines, as if he had been sliced in those areas.

Enso was shocked, _"No way, slicing at these tendrils affected his actual body?!"_

He as he fell from the air and landed on his feet, immediately jumping to the side to avoid another tendril that stabbed the ground violently.

The remaining tendrils all retracted back underground and Izuku pulled his arms up, seeming to ignore the bleeding his body was doing.

_"I can't just slash at any of those kinds of attacks. Otherwise, I may end up giving Izuku fatal wounds."_

Enso slowly stood up straight, thinking about this demonstration of power.

_"So... This is actually Ikari?"_

He then aimed his palms forward and blasted a barrage of black orbs that honed in on Izuku.

Izuku aimed both of his own palms forward, where the black energy of his aura started to concentrate before firing into a giant energy beam. The large beam blasted right through every single orb coming at him and pressed on to Enso without showing any signs of stopping.

_"An energy beam!?" _Enso leaped to the side and avoided getting hit by the attack, which continued on across the arena until it pierced the walls and created an explosion.

"Hey! Watch it!" The audience cried out. Luckily, since they were high up and the walls were thick, everyone was still held up easily without concern.

Enso turned to face Izuku again, more on guard than ever.

_"He was able to create his own black laser? It looked just like Aoyama's, but with a black color instead of white."_

Izuku ran towards Enso in a stumbling manner, his gaze unwavering with fury. He looked as if he would fall but surprisingly proceeded forward, raising his right arm up and his black aura surrounding it.

The aura around it formed into a sword of some sort that completely covered his arm, the blade and point looking rather sharp.

Enso raised his dagger as Izuku's jumped at him and swung his blade down.

The two blades clanked off of one another, Enso pushed Izuku back off him and when the boy landed, he formed his other arm into another sword and proceed to repeatedly swing at Enso with loud cries of anger.

_"No way, it's power is manifesting physical form? Just what kind of ability is this?"_

Enso continuously backed up while parrying each blade trying to slice him. Yet, it seemed easy for him, too easy. That was when he actually started paying closer attention to Izuku's movements.

_"The way he's attacking aimlessly..."_

He blocked a strike of Izuku's blade and kicked the boy backward, then jumping forward and spin kicking his face.

Izuku stumbled back but stopped, looking highly irritated with his blades in front of him.

_"His swings are large and lacking any precision, nothing like the training I've taught Izuku before."_ Enso thought, knowing just how well Izuku was supposed to be at fighting.

_"He's sloppy, there's no way he would move like that."_

Enso jumped over Izuku swinging a blade at his feet, then using the chance to kick him on his chest and sent him stumbling back once again.

_"It may be that whoever I'm fighting doesn't have any experience using body parts... He's just lashing out in any way he can using Izuku's body."_

Enso landed on his feet and dashed forward at Izuku while he stumbled back, easily able to send his palm forward and strike him on his chest again.

Izuku was sent backward several yards away and landed on his back with a grunt.

Enso spun his dagger in his hand and then held it in a backhand grip, glaring down his opponent in another defensive position while waiting for Izuku to get back up.

Izuku got back to his feet and growled. The blades around his arms faded away as if he realized that taking Enso head-on that way wouldn't work in his favor.

You could hear the bones crack as Izuku balled his right hand into a fist, with a black aura surrounding it and started to vibrate violently.

_"That isn't good..."_

Enso dagger disintegrated and he crouched on the ground while taking a deep breath. He charged his own power to his legs as Izuku leaped forward with his right hand swinging at him rather dangerously.

He then exploded forward above the ground as well, leaving behind a streak of black as he did so and swinging his foot.

Both of them met in the center of the arena, where their attacks collided and created a giant shockwave that sent dozens of already loose pieces of the ground flying into the air.

The powerful winds caused by the collision reached the audience and caused all of them to shield their eyes as small rocks also flew at them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the hell is going on!?" Ojiro shouted over the winds.

"What the hell happened to Midoriya and that black stuff around him!?" Kirishima added.

As the winds died down quickly, Ochako slightly opened an eye and tried to frantically search around the arena floor, only to find no sign of Izuku nor Enso anywhere.

_"Where did they go!?"_ She thought as her eyes frantically scanned the arena.

As if on cue, someone yelled, "What in the world!? They're flying!?"

Ochako looked up in the sky and her mouth became agape.

"No way."

Many large pieces of the arena floor had flown up sky-high, nearly getting out from the open area of the dome. But they reached their peak of descent before they could make it out, then slowly starting to fall down and picking up speed.

That was when Ochako saw Enso running up along the side of one of these flat pieces of cement.

At the same time, Izuku was springing from tile to tile, smashing each as he jumped off with a pure look of rage on his face, attempting to reach the tile Enso was at.

_"How did they get up there!?"_

Everyone saw Izuku jumped off another flying piece of debris, but then they also saw him stick both of his arms out to the side and open his palms.

Two long, black tendrils grew out from each of Izuku's palms, stretching out a few yards in length each until attaching to two other flying pieces cement of the arena.

Sero looked more than just stunned to see this.

"Wait, isn't that like my quir-!?"

He didn't finish before the sound of Izuku's pained grunts echoed through the air.

**"NNGH!"** The boy forced his hands to tightly hold onto the black tendrils he made, then pulling them forward and resulting in both large rocks to be swung at Enso in an attempt to crush him between them.

Enso managed to run to the top of the platform and leap off of it right before it was smashed between the two other projectiles Izuku swung, their pieces scattering around upon the impact.

Izuku landed on another falling piece of the ground and managed to stand up on it, aiming his palms upward at Enso as he landed on another platform.

He then released several black energy orbs from his palms, plunging them at Enso.

Enso leaped from piece to piece of the flying debris to avoid each orb of black that came at him, avoiding multiple black explosions as he headed to Izuku.

Seeing him get closer, Izuku jumped up at Enso as well, reaching his right hand up and charging his power.

Enso spun his body in the air, ready to move as he neared Izuku.

Izuku's arm blasted another beam of black energy upward at his mentor, one that Enso bent his back and swerved his body to somehow move out of the way while still in the air.

Now close to Izuku, Enso swung his leg and nailed the boy on his stomach, launching him backward in the air.

Izuku grunted and was sent spiraling back, smashing right through another flying portion of rubble and proceeding to keep spinning.

Enso didn't delay to bounce off another platform with a powerful jump to reach Izuku again.

He easily got close and lifted his leg in the air, then ax-kicking Izuku's back to send him straight down to the ground.

The boy crashed through a few other pieces of rubble before dropping to the ground with a big shock and caused a veil of dust to emerge where he fell.

Enso wasted no time to raise a palm above his head, creating a globe of energy that he let explode to launch him downward at flying speeds.

While falling quickly, he pointed his fist earthward, intending on crashing directly downward on Izuku to finish this.

But out of the clouds of earth, black flames suddenly erupted upward.

And they were coming right at him.

_"I have to move!"_ Enso's eyes widened and he spun his body to the side right before the black flames could engulf him, feeling the intense heat near his skin as he did so.

Both Todoroki, and even Endeavor's eyes, lit it up from the crowd.

_"It can't be-!?" _Endeavor started.

_"-flames?!"_ Todoroki finished in his own thoughts.

Enso was caught so off guard by these flames that he didn't notice another black tendril reach out from the clouds of dust and coming right at him.

He only heard the 'woosh' of it piercing through the air, turning his attention away from the now dying flames and just seeing the tendril reaching for him.

_"I was careless!" _He formed his dagger in his right hand and was just about to slash at the tendril, but he froze for a moment and remembered the last time he did that.

_"I can't slash it without harming Izuku!"_

This moment of hesitation gave the opportunity for tendril to wrap tightly around Enso's torso and forced his arms to be stuck to his body.

_"Damn it!"_

He was yanked downward all the way to the ground, where he felt the tendril slam him down on his back.

The dust cleared to reveal Izuku tightly holding onto the tendril of his right hand, gritting his teeth before applying both of his hands to yank Enso towards him.

Rather than struggle out of the aura wrapped around him, Enso bent his knees as he neared Izuku at a quick pace, then sticking them out just as he reached the boy.

_"Sorry about this Izuku!"_

Enso dropkicked Izuku right on his head, causing the aura-like tendril to retract back to the boy due to the concussion he received in the process.

Izuku was sent backward and tumbled along the ground.

Enso landed on his back but spun his body on the ground using his dancing skills, spinning himself back to his feet.

Two other tendrils came from Izuku's aura and pierced the ground as he flew back, pulling him a stop and back onto his feet with a pissed off glare.

Enso was still thinking about Izuku's previous attacks, so far unable to understand how he was able to use other quirks.

_"How was he able to produce flames? Just what kind of power does Ikari give him to be able to do that?"_

Izuku raised his arms up into the air, gritting his teeth before then letting out another battle cry and slamming his palms on the ground once again, cracks echoing and drops of blood flying from his hands as he did so.

The ground rumbled before larger black tendrils erupted from it and started reaching at Enso once again.

Enso dashed forward towards these tendrils and jumped as three of them stabbed the ground where he was standing before.

Two other tendrils chased after him in the air, their sharp points shining for a moment.

Enso spun his dagger while in the air and parried one of the tendrils that tried to pierce him, knocking it away. He flipped in the air just as the other tendril came from behind him, actually avoiding it and letting it pass underneath him.

Still flipping, Enso managed to grab one of the tendrils and swing himself onto another, landing and sliding along it to get closer to Izuku.

He saw another one trying to pierce him from behind and leaped forward, letting it pass underneath him before landing on top of it and proceeding to run on top of it.

Enso then saw the tendrils start to produce thorns out of them, to which he then jumped off before they could pierce his feet. He still kept going forward, heading right for Izuku with only a short amount of time before he would reach him.

Izuku saw Enso getting close so he retracted all the tendrils back into his aura and crossed his arms, focusing power as his opponent came near him.

Enso spun his leg rather swiftly and aimed it right at Izuku, trying to knock the boy down for good.

But the moment his leg made contact with Izuku's arms, it bounced right off with a newfound pain going through his foot.

_"Nngh! What did I kick?!"_

In this moment of confusion, Izuku pointed his right arm forward and the aura around it grew rather dense in black, obscuring it and enlarging over five times its size.

"A-A giant hand!?" Kendo couldn't believe it.

"He hardened the area around his left arm too!?" Tetsutetsu added.

Monoma glared down with his eyes narrowed. "It's as if he's..."

Enso was still in the air and couldn't move out of the way of Izuku's large attack, so he just crossed his arms just as the boy swung his large, black fist and slammed it right into him.

He was sent flying backward and ended up tumbling along the ground for a moment, but he was able to perform a few flips in the air to help him land back on his feet. The bottom of his shoes dragged against the ground until he came to a complete stop.

It was here where he saw that the aura around Izuku's left hand looked rather dense and solid, but his right hand looked to have been turned into an entirely black and larger fist.

_"So he used his energy to harden his left arm to shield my attack, then counter-attacked by adding more mass to his right arm for a bigger strike? But how? I've only seen two people do something similar to those techniques... Kirishima and Kendo."_

Both of Izuku's arms changed back to normal their normal size and aura density, but the boy wasted no time to shove his open palms forward and send a wave of black electricity that spread towards Enso like a merciless wildfire.

"Even mine!?" Kaminari shouted while pointing to himself.

Enso's eyes came with a look of realization the moment he saw this attack that resembled another classmate's quirk.

_"I see!"_

He charged power into his right arm and punched the ground in front of him, resulting in a small wall of dirt and stone to erupt and take the electric currents, keeping them from reaching him.

As Enso defended, his thoughts were rabidly coursing through him.

_"It's copying their quirks! No... 'copy' isn't the right word... What it's producing aren't exact replicas as the originals..."_

The electricity died down, to which Enso used the chance to roundhouse kick the wall of rubble in Izuku's direction.

_"It must be converting its energy to only_ '_mimic' the properties of other quirks! It fired pure energy in a straight line to resemble Aoyama's naval laser. Then it changed the shape of its energy to resemble the properties of fire like Todoroki. And it even solidified its energy around its arms to increase density in his left arm like Kirishima's quirk, while making his right arm only 'appear' larger like Kendo's quirk."_

The scattering of debris flew right at Izuku to which the boy just gritted his teeth and aimed hands forward, sparks beginning to ignite on them.

_"Oh boy." _

Enso kept low to the ground as he witnessed Izuku unleash two large, black explosions from his palms, completely obliterating the rubble while seeming to shake the ground from the blasts.

_"He allowed his energy to expand in an explosion of force, just like Bakugo... It's seen everything Izuku has seen, it might know everything Izuku knows, and if it really has all the knowledge that Izuku has written down in all of those notebooks..."_

Now that was a chilling thought.

_"So many ways to fight..."_

The crowd had gone entirely crazy over this new demonstration of power from Izuku, they cheered loudly while some others looked worried and kept quiet.

Aizawa and Present Mic were completely stunned in silence, not knowing what to say about what was happening.

"Eraserhead, s-since when was Midoriya able to do... 'this!?'"

"He wasn't. This is unlike anything I've ever seen from him before."

As for Class 1-A, there were so many looks of fear and confusion.

"Hey... Hey! HEY!" Bakugo stood up from his seat and slammed his hand on the bar in front of him, hand steaming in pure rage. "DEKU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING USING MY QUIRK!?"

"Th-This is scary..." Tsu croaked out, eyes completely widened and her mouth agape in fear.

"How is this even possible? For one person to have so much power and diversity?" Tokoyami muttered with a stunned look.

Todoroki narrowed his eyes, _"Midoriya... You're in pain right now, aren't you? But are you unable to stop it?..."_

Ochako was scared, but not because of all the quirks Izuku appeared to be using, she was scared of how he looked using it.

She was staring at his eyes, she's never seen them have so much anger, so much _fury _in her time knowing him. The innocent look her friend had was gone, replaced with something more dangerous.

Momo had a look of pure horror on her face as she stared at Izuku's shaking arms and bloodied fingers.

She hated it, she hated seeing him doing such a thing to himself, but she couldn't believe that the novice hero kept fighting as if it was nothing. She couldn't even imagine what kind of backlash his body would suffer after the battle, she couldn't think about the pain he would feel in his body when everything was over.

Momo stood up in her seat and leaned forward, surprising some of her classmates when she screamed with tears leaking:

"IZUKU! STOP!"

Cementoss stood up in his seat and put a hand to his earpiece, "Midnight! We have to stop the battle!"

Midnight nodded in acknowledgment from her side. "Agreed. This is getting out of hand."

A third voice was then heard on the earpieces, "Hello? Hello? Can you two hear me?"

Cementoss recognized the voice, "P-Principal Nezu? How did you-?!"

"I'll explain that later. For now, I've called to tell both of you that... You should let this battle play out."

Midnight and Cementoss were both shocked at this suggestion.

"Why on Earth should we allow this dangerous battle to continue!? Midoriya's injuries are only getting worse!" Cementoss argued.

"I know, but it's the best we can do at this point. We have to let them finish this fight, otherwise, their entire battle would be for nothing. If we stopped the battle, then that will mean that we've just wasted the pure spirit and determination of both fighters giving their Plus Ultra, only for neither of them to get a result from it."

"But Midoriya's body is breaking apart!" Midnight pointed out to him.

"And even if you try to stop him, he'll keep breaking it. We don't want the audience to see him fighting you two, I know it won't be easy to take him down while in this state. Just let Enso-kun handle this."

Midnight and Cementoss were momentarily silent at this. They turned to the stadium and saw Enso roll on the ground to avoid a laser blasted at him from Izuku.

"...Yes sir." Cementoss reluctantly answered.

"Good." Nezu formed a small smile in corner of his mouth as he moved his phone down, focusing on the battle bellow.

Toshinori turned to him rather worried, "Are you sure this is alright?"

Nezu nodded, "If there's one person that could save Midoriya right now, it should be Enso-kun."

"I see..." Toshinori looked down again, thinking about Izuku's current state of fury.

But then he thought something else.

_"Wait, Enso-kun?"_

He wondered about the nickname.

Enso slammed his elbow into Izuku's stomach, the boy gritting his teeth in pain as he felt it. Yet Izuku pulled his head back and then slammed it onto Enso's head.

Enso was about to strike Izuku again, but the boy stuck his arms out and an explosion of black occurred from him, pushing Enso back into the air. He used a hand to push off the ground and flipped himself onto his feet in a crouching position, eyeing Izuku from afar once again.

Izuku then stomped his right foot to the ground, where black crystals of some sort formed and started hurtling towards Enso.

_"Todoroki's ice too!?"_

Enso jumped to the side and avoided the 'ice', rolling to the side and then getting back to his feet.

He turned to the black ice, eyeing it curiously before placing his hand upon it.

_"It isn't cold... So there are even some properties that his energy can't mimic."_

The 'ice' crystals then shattered and evaporated in place, surprising Enso at how quickly they just disappeared.

He turned to Izuku and saw him send out a mixture of tendrils that looked like both vines and tree branches coming at him.

_"Even the branches of the first hero I encountered? So annoying!"_

He ran towards the barrage of branches and vines coming at him, and as the branches got near him, he got on his knees and leaned his body and head back, letting the branches pass over him. He then jumped off the ground in order to also avoid the vines tried to grab him.

Izuku retracted the vines and branches and instead fired more energy orbs at Enso.

Enso front flipped over one orb, spun around another, and then even did the splits to duck under another one. He then jumped back to his feet and noticed something about Izuku's current state.

The boy looked pale, no... The boy _was_ pale. His skin was clearly changing white and he was breathing more heavily while shaking in a way that made Enso feel concerned.

His eyes then widened as he realized:

_"Hold on... Those are the symptoms of blood loss! But the cuts made by me slashing at his tendrils weren't that big though, there wouldn't have been enough blood to get him in this state!"_

Remembering that slicing Izuku's aura did physically harm the boy, Enso thought of the energy that Izuku fired himself as projectiles.

_"Don't tell me... The energy he blasts away acts like a source of blood!?"_

His opponent seemed to realize the same thing too, as it was now backing up rather defensively rather than continuing to fire at Enso, still panting rather hard and shaking.

Enso spun his dagger in his hand and maintained a defensive stance.

_"If this battle keeps going on... There's a chance he'll die."_

Izuku gritted his teeth and aimed his right hand at Enso, but instead of keeping his palm open or sending out any kind of tendril of the sort.

He aimed his fingers in a flicking position.

Enso had alarms blaring through his head. _"Don't tell me it knows how to use-!?"_

His question was answered before he even finished, as Izuku's broken middle finger lit up with One For All.

**"SMASH!" **His demonic voice echoed as he flicked his finger at 100%, completely obliterating the ground in front of him while the shockwave of the attack barraged at Enso.

Enso coursed his hand with energy and punched the ground as hard as he could, forcing a large mound of dirt and cement tiles to erupt upward in front of him. This proved not to be useful, as the force of One For All literally smashed through the mound and bashed Enso backward.

_"One For All!? Is Izuku actually still conscious!?" _Toshinori shouted in his head.

Enso was still flying back, but he gritted his teeth and aimed his palms behind him. Two energy spheres were formed, but he let them explode in his hands to send himself forwards and cancel out the winds.

He landed on his feet and immediately ran forward to close the space between him and Izuku.

_"This thing isn't relying on its own power anymore, it's using One For All!"_

Izuku had two shattered fingers of his right hand now, but it didn't stop him from already aiming another finger ahead.

Enso quickly threw an energy orb even faster than a professional pitcher, sending it flying too quick for anyone to see.

It hit Izuku right on his chest right before he could flick another finger, exploding in a small blast of black upon contact.

**"Ack!"**

There was now a cloud of smoke where Izuku was standing, hiding him from everyone's sight.

Enso ran to the cloud and plunged forth with his legs sticking out in a dropkick form.

But a black tendril with the shape of a hand on the front suddenly reached out and grabbed him by his forehead.

_"What the-?!"_

It pushed Enso down and slammed the back of his head right into the ground, visible cracks coming on the cement but luckily not from the boy's head.

Izuku then jumped out of the dust and got on top of Enso, using his knees to pin his opponent's arms down with more tendrils with hands pinning down Enso's legs. He kept him pressed down and aimed his actual hand right at him, bending his ring finger into a flicking position just above his target.

_"Is he going to 100% at point-blank!?"_ Toshinori shot up from his seat and was about to buff up.

But Enso disintegrated his dagger from his hand and formed it in his mouth. He had the handle between his teeth and stuck it straight up, quickly using his mouth to swing and slashed the black, aura-like hand holding down his forehead.

Izuku's hand formed a visible cut on that bled, making the boy wince and back up with the black tendril letting go of Enso's head.

Enso felt the other hands holding him loosen and used this chance to pushed his head and body up in one sudden thrust. His dagger disintegrated before he then used his head to slam his now free head onto Izuku's forehead.

The boy stumbled back and but before he got out of reach, Enso kicked Izuku's kneecaps, causing the boy to fall to the ground in a frustrating pain.

Enso kicked up and landed on his feet, then jumping forward at Izuku to keep on the offensive and prevent him from using any more fingers again.

However, despite on the ground, Izuku rolled onto his back to face Enso and was already aiming his ring finger at him.

**"SMASH!"**

Enso barely had enough time to react, he managed to do a front flip right over Izuku before he had flicked his fingers, avoiding to get hit by the shockwave but still getting sent flying from the force of it.

The mentor landed on his feet and slid along the ground until coming to a stop.

Izuku got up from the ground and turned around to see Enso several yards away, but at this point, he was had just about enough and kept on letting loose, aiming his broken pinky finger this time with dilating eyes.

Enso stood up, "Stop it! You're just killing him!"

**"SMASH!"**

Enso pointed a palm to the side and let an energy orb explode to propel him away just in time to miss getting obliterated by One For All.

"H-His fingers! His fingers!" Kendo was whimpering at the sight.

Monoma wasn't wincing, he had a serious expression on his face with narrowed eyes.

_"Midoriya... Don't you know how worried you're making my classes' big sister?"_

The boy sighed and reluctantly pat Kendo on her shoulder, "Leave it up to Ureshi to kick his ass."

Kendo didn't even acknowledge what he said, her eyes were just too concerned with Izuku and his bleeding fingers.

With each flick, with each small splatter of blood, with each finger turning from red to completely purple, Mina shook more in her seat. She lowered her head down and covered her face with her hands.

"I can't watch..." She whimpered to Hagakure.

Enso slid on his feet and tried to call out again, "Let go of Izuku! You're only hurting yourself!"

He heard the gritty voice, **"Shut... up..." **

Ochako felt a chill in her spine, _"H-His voice... it changed!?"_

Izuku raised his broken thumb and put it in his mouth, charging power into it.

Enso narrowed his eyes and placed his palm upon the ground.

Izuku used the corner of his mouth to keep his thumb in place before pulling hard and flicking it that way.

Enso exploded the ground under him and flew upward in the air, letting the sheer force of One For All's power pass underneath him.

He pointed his palm back and unleashed another explosion of his own energy sphere that propelled him forward at Izuku.

_"Nngh!" _He felt a burning pain in his hand from repeatedly using his own explosions to fly, something he never tried before until seeing Bakugo's quirk.

Nearing Izuku, he spun rapidly in the air just as his opponent glanced up in shock to see that he hadn't been blown away.

"Snap-!"

He axe kicked Izuku right above on head.

"-out of it!"

Izuku bent his knee and was nearly forced to the ground, his head shaking as Enso pushed his foot down on him.

**"NGGHH!"**

His body erupted in black energy that had enough force to send Enso back, making him land several feet away.

The sudden black power retracted back and Izuku lowered his arms while panting hard.

Enso put his hands close to each other, where a large ball of black energy emerged.

"Just go down."

He then boomed it ahead right at Izuku.

Izuku looked up and saw the large orb of power coming at him.

He clenched his teeth together and forced his broken left hand to crack into a fist, bringing it behind him.

Enso saw the colors of the boy's quirk go around his entire left arm, urging him to lay low and try to keep himself in place.

**"Detroit SMASH!"** Izuku swung his entire left arm, where he unleashed a devastating blast that connected to the large of energy, resulting in the combination to explode in all directions and light the arena in black.

Enso and Izuku both had their feet sliding away from the arena from the overwhelming force, but both made themselves stay put so they wouldn't get sent out of bounds.

Izuku's broken left hand had become shattered now, and the rest of his arm that had been okay was now red, broken from being used up. Yet Izuku didn't seem to care, he just kept a look of rage and fury at Enso.

_"I need to get him to stop, Izuku's body is on the line!" _Enso stood up, attempting to get through somehow.

"What do you want!? Why won't you stop this?!"

"What's Ureshi saying?" Kirishima asked, trying to shout over the shouting of the crowd.

Jiro was confused, as she was the only one able to distinguish between the voices and focus on Enso's.

_"He's asking Deku why won't he stop?"_

Izuku's body twitched and he looked down, hiding his eyes as he struggled to stay up.

**"Win..."**

_"Win?"_ Jiro repeated in her head, _"Is that idiot still only thinking of winning now!?"_

Enso, on the other hand, understood the situation just from that.

_"It... It's still acting based on Izuku's desires. It's pushing him further to achieve the goal he wanted from the beginning of this festival... To win."_

Enso recalled the obstacle course race, where Izuku had swung his arm to make black flames to force him to back off and win. He then recalled that during Izuku's battle with Todoroki, Izuku had a new goal to help the ice and fire teen and Ikari had emerged to help achieve that.

_"From the very beginning... It's only been trying to help Izuku. What does that mean then? Is it actually trying to be... his ally?"_

Enso closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

_"But now I know what I have to do... It will keep fighting until he makes sure he wins in the right way."_

Enso snapped his eyes open and gazed at Izuku's shaking body.

"One attack."

That seemed to get the boy's attention, making him raise his head back up with red pupils glaring at Enso.

"Just one more attack, that's all we need. So..."

Enso's black aura started to violently vibrate in a way that the ground around him started to crack.

"Come at me with everything!"

Hearing the exact same words Izuku had used against Todoroki before the final blow of _their_ battle, Enso's opponent actually grinned.

**"Win..."**

He clenched his right hand into a fist, despite the shattered fingers, and his entire arm started glowing orange with green sparks of electricity.

"He's going to use his whole arm despite the shattered fingers!?"Toshinori cried out.

However, what no one expected was to see was the orange hue of Izuku's arm turn into a blood color, his bolded red veins turn into a deeper shade of red, and the green electricity sparking turned into a completely black color.

The black aura around his arm violently flared up, he bent his knee and brought his arm back, and charged up to the best he could.

_"He's going to use both powers at once in one arm?!"_ Toshinori was even more terrified.

Enso narrowed his eyes at this sight but crouched down with his dagger forming in his right hand, his weapon violently shaking in black as he held it.

Ojiro recognized Enso's stance.

"Wait! That's the attack he used to slice off monster's head at USJ!"

Hearing this, a sense of dread grew in Momo.

_"What? Ureshi can't possibly be thinking... He can't!"_

The whole stadium felt as if it was shaking, but people couldn't tell if it was due to the power that the two teens were showing off, or if it was just themselves shaking at the sight of it.

"Oi! We have to stop this crazy battle!" Present Mic yelled.

"Legendary Style..." Enso said, tightly holding on to his dagger.

Izuku had a pained expression on his face from his vibrating broken arm, charging his power into it despite the shock that came with it.

Seeing this battle coming to such a peak, Midnight and Cementoss ignored Nezu's previous orders and activated their quirks.

"We won't make it!" Midnight shouted as her aroma came from her quirk and Cementoss created a tidal wave of cement to try and stop the fight.

Izuku's arm became an even denser black and that was when he leaped forward off the ground.

Once he jumped, he unleashed black explosions under his feet, blasting himself forward like a bullet to Enso.

"-Utter End!" Enso blasted forward in a streak of black in a straight line, heading straight for Izuku with his dagger close to him.

_"I have to time this just right, otherwise I'm risking killing Izuku right here, or he'll just blow up the entire audience behind me!"_

As Izuku and Enso neared each other in such a short time, the world seemed to move in slow motion.

Enso took a deep breath as he moved just above the ground, taking into account all of his surroundings as well as where he was exactly located in the arena.

He took into account the wave of cement coming from the side towards him and Izuku, he looked at how Izuku's feet were just above the ground, and he looked at the clear sky with no sign of anyone above.

_"I can't let Izuku unleash that punch at these people..."_

Enso let his feet hit the ground and canceled his attack, suddenly blasting upward straight up into the sky while making a ninety-degree angle of black from the streak he left behind.

Everyone's eyes followed him as he flew straight up, shocked that he changed his approach.

Izuku was one of these people, looking up at Enso flying with his eyes dilating. He had already charged One For All and his aura to the max, so he needed to unleash it, but he knew who he had to unleash it to.

**"One For All...**

He stretched his legs out and slammed his feet onto the ground, then bending his knees and holding back his violently shaking arm.

**"Doomsday..."**

His eye flashed red before he swung his arm upward with all his might.

**"SMAAAAAAAAASH!"**

The bones of his arm shattered, some blood spilling from it.

The ground rapidly cracked underneath Izuku and a giant pillar of force blasted skyward at Enso. The large diameter of force surprisingly had a visible black color as it fired upward, caused by the mixture of black aura enhancing the attack.

The concrete of the ground and the large wave of concrete coming from Cementoss broke apart violently and flew upward from the powerful winds created by the punch.

Midnight was sent ragdolling through the air. "NOT AGAIN!"

The audience shielded their eyes from the tiny pieces of cement and dust mixed into the powerful winds that blew at them so hard, it was as if it was trying to fling them right off from their seats.

Unfortunately, this happened to Mineta.

"GAH!" The winds blew him upward and nearly sent him flying away if it weren't for Shoji stretching one of his limbs and grabbing the boy's leg and hold him.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Sero screamed over all the noise.

"LANGUAGE!" Iida shouted despite everything else going on.

Enso saw the black shockwave and thousands of pieces of cement coming upright at him.

_"This is gonna be close!"_

He pointed his left palm to the side and created the largest black energy orb he could make at the moment, about twice the size as a normal one. He let it explode right on his hand and it abruptly sent him to the side, but open cuts and burns came along with it in that same hand.

_"Nngh!"_ He tried to ignore the pain in his hand and managed to shoot right out of the way of a direct hit by Izuku's attack, but there were still powerful winds and several pieces of cement that came up too, he wasn't out of it yet.

Enso's head hit one table-sized piece of cement and he was sent spiraling back with some blood coming from his forehead.

_"Focus, focus."_

He tightly gripped his dagger on his other hand and took another deep breath, holding it as he moved his weapon to his side before spinning rapidly to slash apart several pieces of cement large and small coming up at him.

At one point he saw a piece larger than him come up and he used this as his chance. He spun his body and pointed his feet down, letting himself land on top of the piece of rubble and jamming his dagger into it to keep himself in place.

The large platform of cement rotated in the air, but Enso stuck his feet down on the surface of it while keeping his grip onto his knife to keep himself standing on the rock all the way until it rotated him upside down.

Seeing what direction he was pointed, he kicked his feet off the concrete while pulling his dagger out at the same time, pushing himself to blast downward.

_"This is it!"_

Enso spun and slashed at other debris coming near him, heading straight down over his intended target.

The poor boy below had his head down and breathed heavily with one his left arm completely broken while the other one he had used became completely shattered along with his fingers.

He glanced up, his red eyes showing signs of starting to dim, his look of anger looking to turn to exhaustion.

But then his eyes widened with a look of fear.

When he had looked up, he saw Enso's body covering some of the sun above, and what this did was make him into a menacing silhouette of black. His red eyes shone in this silhouette and his dagger reflected some of the sunlight as he pointed it right down at Izuku, looking like a reaper of some sort coming to harvest him right then and there.

The winds from before were just dying down and Momo forced her eyes to gaze down over at the arena, but that was when she saw Enso's silhouette reaching Izuku, dagger straight downward.

Momo could feel herself turn pale as she saw the dagger shine.

Izuku tried to move, but it seemed that the damage his body took finally caught up to him, he felt his muscles ache and his body stiffened up.

Just as Enso's dagger closed in on him right above.

He closed his eyes, as if waiting for death to come.

But instead, a fist met him.

Enso's fist connected to Izuku at his human missle speed, completely exploding in dust and sending debris in all directions. This last explosion wasn't as strong as Izuku's punch, and it didn't create powerful winds, but it did kick up clouds of dust that obscured the arena.

Then, for the first time since the battle started, there was only silence.

The audience looked around at the giant wall of dust that obscured their sight. No one said anything, no one did anything, they could only stare with completely bulging eyes and shaking bodies.

"I-Is... Is it finally over?" Present Mic weakly called out, peeking up from under the desk while shaking.

Aizawa peeked over the desk as well, completely wrapped in his yellow sleeping bag with widened eyes.

"What the hell was that battle?"

Seeing that there were no more explosions, Mic had the courage to lean forward on his desk and search around the dusk covered arena.

"I can't see a damn thing! What happened to our fighters!?"

Class 1-A looked numb. Seeing their classmates in this type of battle was rather scary for them, but what made the experience even more confusing and frightening was the fact that one of their own was using some of _their_ powers, in one way or another.

But the girls of their class were the ones who looked the most terrified, worried about the conditions of their favorite green-haired boy.

Everyone anxiously waited for the dust to clear up, but it felt like forever.

But that gave everyone to realize that there was still something above them.

Ochako looked up and saw what nearly looked like another version of the attack she had used on Bakugo during her battle. But the thing about that though:

Was that it was on a very larger scale and raining down to the arena.

Ochako nearly screamed and jumped out of her seat, but someone realized the situation just like her.

A large figure jumped out from the crowd, carrying a small person on his back in a piggyback fashion.

Ochako saw who the two were once they landed on the arena, some of the dust blowing away from their landing.

_"All Might and Thirteen!?"_

**"Let her rip Thirteen!" **All Might cued.

"Thank you All Might!" Still on his back, Thirteen pointed a finger up and the cap opened, where a black hole emerged and started sucking all the falling pieces of concrete into it while disintegrating them into dust.

Some people tightly held onto their personal items as the suction of Thirteen's black hole quirk even reached them.

Nearly the entire arena's worth of concrete was absorbed into the black hole, but all the dust got sucked in the process, giving the audience a clear sight of the state of the students.

Thirteen's quirk shut off, that was when everyone gazed at the field and had their eyes widen in shock.

There it was, a large crater right in the center of the arena. It had such a large diameter that looked to consist of a total of at least half the entire stage. Nearly all of the concrete had been broken off the ground from the scale of both participants' attacks, and there were now only a few pieces on the ground that remained stuck the entire time.

Standing in the center of the crater, was a teen with long black hair with only the right arm of his gym uniform entirely torn off. His red eyes shined but were narrowed as he remained looking down at his friend on the ground.

Laying on the ground in front of him, was the fighter that had basically been the cause of the whole arena's destruction. Izuku was lying lifelessly on his back with his arms sprawled out, no longer maintaining a black aura around his body. Both sleeves of his uniform and even a part of the clothes on his chest had been torn off in the entire battle.

His left hand was completely purple from being shattered while the arm connecting to that hand was only red and broken. As for his right arm and hand, both were shattered and purple, but there were signs of red on them that was actually blood.

Nezu stared seriously at Enso, _"He jumped up so that Midoriya would swing his attack upward and wouldn't hit the audience... Then as he fell, he kept his dagger pointed straight down to slice the obstacles under him as he fell, then using that falling momentum for one powerful punch..."_

Nezu formed a smile in the corner of his mouth.

_"How professional."_ He chuckled.

Enso's arm was shaking from the attack he did, and he could swear that his arm was broken, but he didn't care. He only stared down at Izuku's unconscious state.

"H-He looks... so terrible..." Was all Mina was able to whimper out, looking at the red and purple colors of the poor boy's arms.

Midnight and Cementtoss both stood up and rubbed their heads, having been launched backward due to the powerful scale of the boys' final attack. They both glanced at the large crater and their eyes widened at the sight.

"U-Ureshi is still standing!" Midnight said with hands atop of his head.

Hearing that snapped Midnight from her dazed state.

She cracked her whip and tried to maintain her composure.

"I-Izuku Midoriya is knocked unconscious, Enso Ureshi wins!"

No one cheered, no one shouted, no one even moved, they all just sat in silence and stared in awe at the giant crater in the arena.

Present Mic turned to Aizawa with a blank expression.

"Eraserhead... Talk to your students later."

"...Fine." The erasing hero sighed back.

All Might put Thirteen down and walked up to the crater and slid down to Enso and Izuku, staring down at his student in depression.

_"Midoriya... For you to go through such a thing."_

He was about to crouch down to pick the boy up, but surprisingly, Enso reached down first and put his arms underneath Izuku's knees and back, lifting him off the ground and keeping him in his arms with his signature cold expression once more.

**"Ens-*ahem* Ureshi? Allow me, you should go to Recovery Girl and-"**

"No..." Enso responded almost immediately, staring down at Izuku's condition.

**"N-Nani? Are you sure?! Your arm is shaking and-!"**

"I'm taking him... I did this to him after all." He said with his eyes closed.

All Might was rather surprised by that response.

**_"Could it be... He believes himself to be responsible for Izuku's condition?"_**

He didn't get to ask, as Enso bent his knees and leaped out of the crater, landing outside of it and acquiring everyone's eyes on him.

He proceeded to walk off the arena, carrying Izuku close and keeping his eyes on him.

_"I'm sorry..."_

* * *

Kamui, Death Arms, and Mount Lady all had their mouths agape and eyes completely opened. The giant hero even dropped her bag of takoyaki by how stunned she was from the scale of that battle.

They had seen the giant black explosion of force that Izuku had shot up from the opening of the arena and sometimes they even felt the ground shake from the scale of some of their attacks.

Kamui stared at Enso's face on the screen, being declared as a winner.

He then turned to his two other comrades, who were still in a stunned state.

"I'm gonna invite him, and I'm gonna make _sure_ he accepts."

* * *

Shigaraki's hand tightly gripped on a cup and he disintegrated it on the spot, shaking with dilated eyes of rage after finished watching the battle on the computer.

"S-Sensei, h-he copied you! He copied you!" he yelled in a childish tone, grinding his teeth and glaring furiously at Izuku getting carried off.

The audio static voice chuckled.

_"Calm down Tomura."_

"B-But he-!"

_"You don't have to put so much anger into him. His quirk is clearly different than mine. And if anything... I believe you should be happy about this. His strength will be valuable for you in the future."_

"Wh-What?! B-But he's a fan of All Might! There's no way I'd let that brat anywhere near me without crumbling him on the spot!" Shigaraki slammed his desk.

His Sensei just laughed.

_"He's an incredible child that has proven his power, intelligent, and would fight to the end for his beliefs. So... what if he fought for the end for 'our' beliefs?"_

"B-Beliefs?" Shigaraki whimpered, putting a hand on his head with his brain in shambles.

_"You'll understand soon Tomura. But he isn't the only one worth taking into account... Enso Ureshi, another boy of such power and intelligence. Yet... He doesn't seem like a novice hero at all. It's clear that there's something so more. So much more..."_

He let out a cold, menacing laugh.

Shigaraki was just confused, he had his head down and his hands shook.

_"Why?... Why?"_

The static voice slowly came to a stop in laughing, then taking one deep breath before speaking again.

_"I have but one selfish request for you Tomura."_

Shigaraki gazed his head back up at the screen of the festival.

_"I wish for you to capture Midoriya, while also leaving Ureshi alive. Anyone else you may do as you please based on your own judgment. I hope you can accomplish this."_

Shigaraki frantically scratched his neck with pure anger in his eyes.

"Why... Why him? Why capture him of all people? And why leave that other brat alive? You're not making any sense Sensei..." He gritted between his teeth.

_"I know Tomura, I know. I would suggest for you to capture Ureshi as well, but I don't think you even have to bother. After all..."_

On the other side of the call, the tall figure grinned.

"If Midoriya is with us, then _he'll_ come too. I _know it._"

* * *

~{Warehouse}~

Dabi's eyes were wide open after witnessing the performance of the two insane kids of the hero course. Never did he think that he would see something so... destructive for a sports festival.

"Holy shit, that was insane." He adjusted himself on the couch and ruffled through his hair. "I wouldn't wanna go against either of those two anytime soon..."

"*Giggle*!"

"Hm?" Dabi glanced at the source of giggling and realized that Toga had planted herself a few feet from the T.V now, a large ear to ear toothy grin.

Her yellow eyes seem to sparkle as she giggled, "I-zu-ku..."

Dabi tilted his head to the side, "What's up with you now?"

"He had… so much blood on him… he looked so... so cool!" Toga blurted out.

"What?" Dabi's eye twitched.

Toga got even closer to the screen as it split to show the winner and loser on two sides, with Izuku being on the losing side. She pressed her cheek against Izuku on the screen and started breathing excitingly.

"I wanna meet him... *Giggle* I wanna talk to him!" She purred.

"You crazy blonde... Stop being creepy and back away from the screen." Dabi sighed.

"He looked so hot when he was beaten up... I think I really like him!" Toga said with blood-red hearts in her pupils and a frightful laugh.

Dabi felt a chill and looked at Izuku on the screen.

"Poor bastard..."


	31. Recovery And A Revelation

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

~{Nurses Office}~

"Dear lord, you've gone too far, both of you!" Recovery Girl frantically shouted as Enso gently rested the unconscious Izuku atop the bed. "What were you two thinking!? It's like you were trying to kill each other!"

_"A part of that is technically true..." _Enso thought, recalling when Izuku's enraged state nearly blasted him point-blank with One For All.

He heard the door slam open and turned to see All Might there.

**"Young Enso! How is Young Midoriya!?"** He asked right before poofing down into his skinny form.

"I don't know yet." Enso responded as Recovery Girl came back with bandages.

Enso reached in his pockets and pulled out his small dice bag, but only noticed the small number of beans left.

_"Oh well..."_

He reached in to take one out for Izuku.

"No!" Recovery Girl used her cane to smack Enso alongside his arm, stopping the boy.

"What?" Enso gazed down at her.

"No more! If you keep using those miracle beans on him, then that'll just encourage the boy to keep on breaking himself! No more healing these types of injuries! It's the only way to teach him!"

"B-But doesn't Young Midoriya need it right now?!" Toshinori pointed out.

"I know I can heal him right now. Not all the way, but enough to get him by until I could heal him again tomorrow."

Enso glanced down at his small bag, and then to Izuku, wondering what he should do.

Recovery Girl placed her cane down and sighed.

"Besides, judging by the size of that bag, you barely even have any left, don't you? Save them for when someone _really_ needs it."

Enso narrowed his eyes and reluctantly put the bag back into his pocket.

_"I'm sorry Izuku..."_

"To let a young and innocent boy go through this type of trauma... I don't like it Toshi." Recovery Girl said in a genuine sadness to Toshinori. "You can't keep letting him do this. This is the only way for him to learn."

Toshinori's gaze fell down with a look of shame.

They then heard a small whimper.

The trio's gazes turned to Izuku on the bed, looking to be in visible pain as he came to.

"I didn't think he'd wake up yet..." Enso muttered as he quickly grabbed a seat and placed himself next to the boy.

Izuku slowly opened his eyes, his vision slightly blurry from just waking up. He was momentarily blinded as he stared straight up into the bright lights of the ceiling, then turning his head away and blinking multiple times to regain his vision.

"Where...?" His voice was low and tired. He slowly tilted his head to see the two adults and his previous opponent watching him.

"Hey kid... How are you feeling?" Toshinori asked him.

Izuku blinked a few times to focus his vision.

"All... Might...?"

"I'm here kiddo." Toshinori forced a smile.

Recovery Girl sighed, "I'll get started on treating both of you. How do your injuries feel sonny?" She directed to Enso.

"Well, my head somewhat hurts..." Enso said as he placed a hand to his head and felt the blood that was still there. "And my arms are still shaking from the recoil of my attacks..."

"You'll be fine then. Just wait until I treat Midoriya."

"Understood." The boy nodded.

"En...so? What... happened?" Izuku weakly called, getting his attention.

Enso turned to him.

"You lost."

Recovery Girl smacked Enso on the back of his head with her cane.

"Why is that the first thing you tell him!?"

Enso rubbed the back of his head where he was struck, looking somewhat annoyed.

"I thought it would be the first thing he'd want to know."

"Not in that way!"

Izuku turned his head and looked down at his arms, his eyes widening as he saw their terrible states. His entire right arm had a mixture of purple and red colors, while his left arm didn't look that much better in a shade of red with blood on it too.

"I suggest you try not to move." Enso instructed him.

Recovery Girl got on a chair and rolled near Izuku's bedside, "You overdid it again sonny. You shattered the bones of your right arm, and your left arm isn't that much better. They will never be the same as before…"

Enso turned his head away with narrowed eyes, visions of small splatters of blood coming from Izuku's arms and fingers when he had used them.

Recovery Girl continued, "I have to remove the pieces of bones stuck in your arms to make sure that they don't stay in your joints. I'll fully heal you after that."

Izuku grunted in pain. "But... Can't... we use-?"

"No more of those beans." Recovery Girl sternly told him.

Izuku looked shocked.

"It's the only way _you'll_ learn."

Knowing what she was talking about, Izuku turned his head away in shame.

Toshinori and Enso both gazed down at the ground.

Then all of a sudden, the door slid open and in came the six different girls.

"Midoriya-chan!" Tsu shouted.

"Izuku!" Momo yelled.

"Midori!" Mina and Hagakure both said in unison.

"Deku!" Ochako and Jiro both shouted in sync.

"PFFFFTTT! GAH!" Toshinori jumped and comedically spurred some blood from his mouth by the surprise.

_"God they scared me…"_

They zoom past him and Enso, going right next to Izuku's bedside.

"You're all so noisy!" Recovery Girl said as she walked to her desk to grab a few tools.

"Every...one? But… what about the next match?" Izuku uttered out with pain detected in his voice.

Jiro's eye twitched, "Did you _see_ what you and Ureshi did to the area!? It's nearly obliterated. Present Mic announced a break until they could fix it."

"Oops." Enso remarked next to them.

"Midori, what in the world happened!? You went all, 'ROAAAARRRR!' and then went all, 'Boom!,' 'Bam,' and 'ka-blooey!'" Hagakure acted out with her movements.

"It was... kind of scary..." Mina said, a look of pure concern on her face.

Ochako's eyes had a look of horror as she saw the unnatural colors in Izuku's arms, causing her to gulp air.

"D-Deku? A-Are you alright?"

Hearing that question, everyone got silent and glanced at Izuku's arms, feeling chills going down their spines.

Izuku turned to his damaged arms, a depressed expression forming on his face as he remained in silence.

Momo stepped up from the group, looking on the brink of crying but still trying to hold a brave front.

"Izuku… what happened to you?" She whimpered.

Izuku had an emotionless stare directed at the ceiling.

"I..."

Enso decided to step in.

"I'm sure we've mentioned this before, but that was the other side of Izuku's quirk. If you remember what happens to him when it comes out, then you would know that he doesn't remember anything he's done upon using it, so there's no way-"

"No..." Izuku's weak voice interrupted him.

"Hm?" Enso turned back to the boy and raised an eyebrow.

"I... remember..." Izuku's gaze remained on the ceiling.

Recovery Girl turned back from her desk and listened.

"I… I remember everything... What I did during that battle… All the different quirks I... 'used', and... _All_ the pain from it..."

Everyone was shocked to hear that.

"But I felt like… I couldn't stop it..." Izuku finished, his voice cracking in pain with a tear going down his eye.

The girls looked mortified. Thinking about just how painful Izuku's attacks were. Breaking his fingers, breaking his arms, shattering them, and then still using it. Ochako visibly recoiled from the thought, and Mina even glanced down to her own fingers, which she saw were shaking from the thought.

Recovery Girl sighed, knowing that it was probably best if the girls didn't see the boy in that state. She jumped off her desk chair with her tools in hand and walked over to them.

"I know you're worried for the boy, but I have to do surgery on him right now."

"SURGERY!?" All of the girls yelled.

Recovery Girl covered her ears to shield out the screams, "Go on now, get out of here!"

"Are his injuries that extreme?!" Tsu needed to know.

"Will you be able to heal him up fully?!" Momo asked with a hand clenched over her chest.

"You don't worry about that, I'll fix him up!" Recovery Girl motioned them out.

"S-Sorry, let me just tell him one more thing!" Ochako turned her head to Izuku.

"Deku, Iida would've checked on you, but... he had to leave early... I think something happened." she said with a worried look on her face.

Izuku turned his head to her and noticed the way she said it, _"It must've been something serious… I'll have to get the details later."_

"Now get out!" Recovery Girl ushered the girls out of the room.

"Talk to us later Izuku, please." Was the last thing Momo said before Recovery Girl closed the door on them.

She then turned to Izuku and let out a sigh.

"I swear, I knew you were a ladies man, but this is just ridiculous!"

"Eh?..." Izuku blinked in tired confusion. "What… do you mean?"

"Nothing for you to worry about right now," Enso responded to him.

_"Young Midoriya... You're really too loved..."_ Toshinori sweatdropped.

Recovery Girl turned to Enso, "You have to leave to sonny."

Enso glanced down at her, "I do?"

"What? You think that just because you're a special case among students, you could just stay wherever you want and watch a surgery go on even though you shouldn't?"

"...Maybe?"

The office door slid open and Enso was comedically kicked into the hall, landing in a sitting position with his legs crossed as the door shut behind him.

"But Toshinori gets to stay...?" He grumbled.

Deciding to be some sort of bodyguard despite the empty hall, Enso remained sitting in front of the door, just waiting patiently for the surgery to be done.

_"This might take a while..."_

He heard some footsteps and turned his head left to see a familiar, ginger-haired girl who looked rather unsure of something, was now walking towards him.

"Kendo... was it?" Enso asked as he got back to his feet.

Kendo forced a small smile. "Hey Ureshi. What are you doing here?"

"First of all, call me Enso. I feel more comfortable with that name."

Kendo looked a little confused that the boy wanted to be referred by the first name.

"Okay, 'Enso.' Why were you just sitting here?"

"I'm waiting for Izuku to get out of surgery." He bluntly answered.

Kendo turned pale.

"S-Surgery?" She whimpered. "Were his injuries that bad?!"

_"Perhaps I should've eased her into that... Whoops."_

Enso sighed. "He'll be fine. Recovery Girl herself is working on him. And it isn't a major, life depending surgery. She just has to remove some things."

"R-Really?" Kendo asked, looking slightly relieved.

Enso nodded in confirmation.

"You can't see him right now though, Recovery Girl wouldn't even let me stay. I'll let him know that you're worried about him and to go find you later."

"I... I guess that's alright then. Thank you." Kendo lightly smiled and turned around, taking a few steps back.

"Wait a moment." The girl said as she suddenly stopped.

"What is it?"

She turned back to Enso and looked more serious than before.

"Hey... Ure-*Ahem*, Enso? Did you and Midoriya train together?"

"What makes you assume that?" Enso immediately responded with another question.

"I saw how you two fought. It looked... so similar. I could only guess that you both trained together in martial arts."

"Hm, if you noticed that, then you must have some martial art knowledge as well."

"Yeah, I trained in Karate and Kendo." The girl responded.

"...Just lik-?"

"Don't you dare." Kendo said with a blank stare, knowing what Enso was going to bring up about her name.

"Okay then... But anyway, you're only half right about Izuku and I. We didn't 'train' together. I 'trained' him."

"You did?!" Kendo was surprised to hear this.

Enso raised an eyebrow. "Is that so surprising?"

"B-But, you taught him _all_ of those martial arts?!"

_"So Izuku told her about the variety he knew?"_

He sighed, "I did. I'd rather not get too deep on the subject. You could ask Izuku about it later."

Kendo smiled, "Let's spar some time, alright?"

_"She's quite the eager fighter..." _Enso thought about her.

"I'll think about it."

Seeming satisfied, Kendo walked off and turned the corner of the hall.

But she was out of sight of Enso, she lowered her, a pained expression forming on her face as she did so.

She glanced down at her hands, noticing that they were shaking and had been that way ever since she saw Izuku's arms breaking.

She placed her hands on her chest and let out a sigh.

"Oh Midoriya..."

She didn't even notice that an angry blonde teen passed by her, heading to the place where she had just left.

Enso started writing a small notebook that he somehow had, scribbling away with focused eyes as he waited.

"Move it red eyes." He heard someone growl.

Enso stopped and raised his eyes, discovering the ticking time bomb right in front of him.

"Good to see you too Bakugo. But... shouldn't you be getting ready for your fight against Tokoyami?"

Bakugo just looked pissed, "The arena is still complete shit right now because of you and fucking Deku! Which on that note, step aside edgelord, I've got to talk to that nerd!"

"What business do you have with Izuku?" Enso didn't wait for a second to ask.

"None of your damn business! Move before I _make_ you!" Bakugo threatened.

Enso just remained still.

"This is about his ability to mimic other quirks, isn't it? You're angry that he was even able to even mimic your quirk to a degree?"

Bakugo glared daggers at him.

"So then you know what his other quirk does then? You know where he got it from?!"

Enso narrowed his eyes.

"I have no clue if it's a second quirk or not, nor do I entirely understand it. I only made a guess based on what I experienced _firsthand._" He declared. "And I'm sure you've seen how Izuku looked during the battle. Did _that_ look like someone who understood his power, let alone where he even got it?"

Bakugo remembered when he had encountered Izuku in the stairs, and for a moment he looked like someone else.

"Tsk! Just let me talk to the damn nerd!"

"Unfortunately, I can't let you even if I wanted. Izuku is currently having surgery on his injuries, so no one else is allowed in there right now. There's no telling how much time it'll take, so I suggest you leave. _Unless_ you want to jeopardize your position in the festival."

Bakugo looked less pissed off and more serious now, standing up straight as if trying to make himself taller than Enso.

"Fine. Just answer me this. You're his shitty _'mentor,'_ right?"

_"He really is a sharp boy..."_ Enso thought.

"I guess there's no point in hiding it. Yes, I was the one who taught Izuku all the way until now."

Bakugo remained in momentary silence as he stared at Enso, eying him suspiciously.

"What?" Enso asked, noticing this suspicion.

"Just... Just who _are_ you?" Bakugo asked almost accusingly.

Enso momentarily paused before answering, "What do you mean? I'm me. Enso Ureshi, and that's what I'll keep being."

Bakugo balled his hands into fists, "There's much more to that, but if you wanna keep your mouth shut, then fine..." He turned around and starting making his way back.

"I don't know what you really are, but no matter what, I'm gonna kick your ass in front of everyone when I beat bird brain..."

"..."

Enso stared at Bakugo until he was out of earshot.

"Such a troublesome kid..."

* * *

~{Meanwhile}~

Nearly all of Class A either had their heads down or were frantically talking to each other about what they just witnessed.

"Just when the hell could Midoriya _copy _our quirks?! That's so stupid!" Kaminari complained.

"His laser wasn't as sparkly as mine though!" Aoyama remarked as twinkles comically appeared around his face.

"He even copied Todoroki and Bakugo's quirks... Two of the strongest students in our class. He gave the top of the class a run for his money..." Sero shook nervously.

"I wanna see if his barriers or my hardening is stronger!" Kirishima excitedly declared as his skin hardened.

"I wonder if he could copy mutant quirks as well...?" Tokoyami glanced at Dark Shadow next to him.

"B-But, d-didn't you see how he looked while using that!? Th-That was terrifying! H-He looked like a villai-AHHHH!" Mineta suddenly tensed up as a jack stabbed itself into his ear by a pissed-off punk girl.

"I suggest you shut the hell up." Jiro glared at him.

Ochako stared down in silence, her finger entwined and depressed expression on her face.

Momo turned to her concerned friend.

"Are you still thinking about Izuku?"

The girl nodded.

"Of course... He's getting surgery right now... Isn't that a big deal?"

Momo forced a small smile. "He'll be fine. Recovery Girl is healing him after all."

"I know, but..." Ochako's hands tightened together. "I'm more worried about.. afterward."

"Afterward?" Momo repeated in the form of a question.

"I mean..." The gravity girl gazed at the giant crater being filled up. "He broke his arms again... Worse this time, he _shattered_ them. But you heard Deku, he remembered everything, but he said he wasn't in control... So... What if it happens again?"

Momo understood just how worried her friend was and felt a sick feeling in her stomach, thinking about the small splatters of blood that came from his shattering fingers and arms.

"I'm sure that all started because Izuku wanted it... I believe he mentioned the other side of his quirk to me before. He said that... it activates in dire situations in which he has a strong desire. I don't know too many details though-"

"Then let's ask Deku about it." Ochako turned to Momo with a serious expression. "Let's have him explain his quirk to us, and if there's a way to stop him from hurting himself so much, then I want to help him. I-I... I don't want to see him like that again..."

Momo glanced down with a hand on her chin at the thought. "Yes... That would probably be the best thing to do. We'll ask Izuku when he comes out."

Ochako stared at Momo taking a deep breath and keeping a composed stance. _"She's trying to be strong, but..."_

She lowered her gaze to Momo's hand, which was trembling.

_"She's really worried too..."_

Meanwhile, Jiro twirled both of her earlobes with both of her fingers, an uneasy expression on the girl's face.

Tsu noticed these obvious actions of concern.

"Are you worried about Midoriya-chan?"

Jiro flinched and turned to her with a blush forming. "N-No! Why would I!?"

Tsu tilted her head to the side with a finger on her chin. "Because that's what a friend would do?"

"Urk!" Jiro looked ashamed and look down with red ears.

"You really are a tsundere, aren't you Jiro-chan?" Tsu smiled.

Jiro wanted to retaliate but was too embarrassed to do so, only covering her face with both of her hands.

"Sh-Shut up..."

_"Kawaii..." _Tsu thought to herself.

But she remembered the current situation and decided to comfort the girl.

"I'm worried about him too... We all are." Tsu told her in a more somber voice.

Jiro slowly removed her hands from her face, her previous expression of worry returning but with the red from her blushing face.

"He's such an idiot... Breaking his arms again... When he gets back, I'm gonna knock him senseless!"

"I don't think you should injure him more than he's already injured himself. But I do agree that we need to talk to him. Kero." Tsu told her.

Jiro fiddled with her earlobes as she thought about Izuku.

_"Idiot... What are you doing, making everyone worry?"_

Mina and Hagakure were sitting a few rows back, with Mina hugging her legs on her chair with a depressing look of disappointment.

"What's wrong?" Hagakure asked her friend.

"Well…" Mina turned her head to her. "Since Midori is getting surgery right now… won't that mean he won't be able to go on that date with me after school…?" The girl pouted.

_"She was really looking forward to it, so cute!"_ Hagakure chuckled. She reached over and pat her friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry! I'm sure Recovery Girl will heal him just fine! And I'm sure Midori would still want to go on that date with you!"

That didn't Mina feel better as she thought about it.

"But... I'd feel terrible to make him go with me if he's still injured..."

"Well… Then just ask Midori how he feels when you see him again." Hagakure suggested.

"I guess I will…" Mina replied, still not sounding so sure.

* * *

Enso had his back to the floor and legs straight up on the wall, along with his head staring up at the ceiling with his hair sprawled out on the ground.

_"Hm... I see."_

He sprawled his arms out and sighed.

_"It all makes sense now..."_

He closed his eyes.

_"Waiting IS boring..."_

The door slid open and Toshinori walked out.

"Recovery Girl says it's okay to- What are you doing?" The number one hero had walked out, only to see Enso laying on the ground with his legs against the wall.

"Just thinking about the meaning of life..." Enso answered.

_"Was that sarcasm?"_ Toshinori looked confused. "Um... well, Recovery Girl said that you can come back in now..."

Enso didn't move.

Toshinori tilted his head. "Um..."

Enso slowly turned his head to him.

"...My legs fell asleep." He confessed.

Toshinori sweatdropped.

* * *

"CHU!"

Izuku felt the small amount of stamina he had left drained from him by Recovery Girl. But in return, some of the pain he felt in his arms was gone now.

"Thank you... very much." Izuku said with a tired voice.

"How are you feeling?" Izuku heard Enso from the doorway.

He turned his head, "I'm feeling a little- WHY ARE YOU UPSIDE DOWN!?"

Enso was doing a front handstand with his head glancing over at Izuku and his legs dangled in front of himself.

"Legs fell asleep, but that doesn't matter. What were you saying?"

Toshinori walked in after Enso and watched as the acrobatic boy quickly used his hands to walk to Izuku while keeping balance.

_"He never ceases to amaze me..."_

"U-Um..." Izuku tried to ignore what his mentor was doing. "Recovery Girl healed me enough to walk and move my right arm, but my left is gonna stay in a cast."

Enso couldn't see Izuku's condition as he got close to the bed since his head was so low to the ground, so he bent his arms and then pushed himself off the ground, then landing on Izuku's bed.

_"Amazing gymnastics!" _Izuku thought with widened eyes.

"..." Enso stared at Izuku's right hand, viewing the noticeable scars. He followed those scars up to his arm, as even though they were healed, they were still obvious on the skin.

Recovery Girl sighed to Izuku.

"Let that arm be a warning. You have to stop resorting to doing those insane stunts. You'll not only hurt yourself, but you'll make so many others worried."

"R-Right… S-Sorry for causing so much trouble…" Izuku stammered in an ashamed manner as Recovery Girl finished wrapping the rest of his bandages.

Enso glanced up at the clock, "It will take a bit of time for the arena to clean up for the next fight, so..." He waddled over to the edge of Izuku's bed and managed to swing his legs between his arms with a jump that then allowed him to land in a sitting position, although bouncing the bed in the process.

"What the hell happened out there?" He sternly asked.

Toshinori and Recovery Girl turned to the injured boy as if expecting an answer.

Izuku lowered his head with a scared look as he thought about the experience.

"That was the power of your other quirk... Ikari, was it? It activated during that battle, but... It was on a whole other scale than before." Toshinori pointed out first.

"..." Izuku stared at the scars on his hands, remembering the events in order.

"I... I closed my eyes and thought about how much I wanted to win... I thought about how angry I was knowing that I was about to lose then and there, I thought about... my promise..."

Enso narrowed his eyes as he remembered Izuku's claim that he'd beat him.

Izuku tightly clenched his hand into a fist.

"But then... I suddenly heard a voice... Kacchan's voice."

"Young Bakugo?" Toshinori asked in surprise.

"What did he say?" Enso asked after.

Izuku remembered it clearly.

"H-He asked me... If I really thought I could become a hero. I opened my eyes when I heard this, only to find myself surrounded in... nothing. Just darkness and with my injuries gone. I had no idea what was going on."

_"An empty void of black? Was it his subconscious? Or that place that I had gone to before?"_ Enso wondered.

Izuku continued. "From there, I saw so many of my past memories coming back. Kacchan, my junior high, my class... I-I saw them again, a-all of them were pointing at me... Laughing at me, saying that... I-I couldn't become a hero." His voice started cracking.

Toshinori looked sympathetic to him. _"Young Midoriya..."_

"Th-They kept saying things like that, over and over again... Th-Then Kacchan... H-He said..." Izuku's voice trailed off and he started shaking with tears forming in his eyes.

"Izuku... What did he say?" Enso demanded, a serious stare in his eyes.

"Young Enso? I don't think we should force him-"

"Shut it." Enso snapped to the hero, shocking him by the sudden tone. "What did he say Izuku?"

Izuku shook more than ever, sweat and tears starting to trail down his face.

"H-He said-" His was whimpering, "T-To believe that I-I'll be born with a quirk in my n-next life and... a-and-"

Toshinori formed an angry expression. "Enso, this is enoug-"

"- take a last chance dive off the roof, correct?" Enso finally finished with a glare.

Izuku's eyes dilated, Recovery Girl gasped, and Toshinori looked stunned beyond belief.

There was a moment of silence between all of them, a shaking Izuku confused and scared.

"H-How... H-How d-do you-?"

"I was there..." Enso started to explain, looking down as he recalled the day. "I was observing you from afar, you were in your junior high, the class had just ended, and then I saw Bakugo confront you for wishing to attend U.A..."

Toshinori had a look of horror, _"Young Midoriya... just how much suffering have you gone through?"_

Izuku had his gaze down as he used his bandaged arm to wipe his eyes.

Enso tightly gripped his hands into fists.

_"That explosive disorder is still haunting Izuku even now... But why? He must know that he can fight him, he should know that he can beat him... I'll have to ask afterward, but for now..."_

"Izuku, for now, forget about what you saw and tell me what happened next."

Toshinori looked concerned, feeling to need to discuss the topic of Izuku's bullying, but Enso turned to him with a face that reassured that they would get back to it.

_"I guess it'll give Midoriya a chance to calm down..."_

Izuku took a deep breath, regaining his composure before speaking again with watery eyes.

"A-After that, I screamed and all the memories shattered, l-leaving me in darkness. U-Until... I heard a different voice..."

Izuku took a moment to recall the moment.

"I-It was a man, I know that. H-His voice gave off such a powerful presence in itself... He said, _'Even so, I still love you, little brother...'_"

Toshinori could feel a block of ice drop in his stomach. _"Little brother?! No, it couldn't be-!"_

"I-I saw two people... One standing in what I thought was a suit, and the other on the ground shaking. I couldn't see either of them too clearly, it was like they were fading away." Izuku's speech was beginning to turn normal now, showing fewer signs of the trauma from before.

Toshinori feared this, _"So... Then it really is..."_

"He said one last thing before the vision changed. He said, _'You're my only family after all.' _Then everything... Just went ballistic. I felt angrier than I had ever felt in my life, yet I didn't want to be. My blood felt as if it was boiling, I saw so many people dead, and... I-I saw that same man... I saw him over and over again, appearing in so many suddenly flashing images that weren't _my_ memories, each one with people lifeless on the ground. I-I didn't know what was going on..."

Enso had no idea what this meant, but judging by the pale and angry look on Toshinori's face, he knew what it was.

Izuku continued, "With each passing image... I felt myself growing furious, but I didn't know why. I must've been so angry because I didn't even notice... that a black aura started forming around my feet."

Enso raised an eyebrow, "Black aura like Ikari?"

"I-I don't know. It wasn't just going around my legs, it was entirely covering them with black aura, I couldn't even see them."

"I see..." Enso looked curious.

Izuku took a deep breath before continuing on. "After that... I looked ahead of me and saw... seven people."

Enso could swear that if Toshinori got any paler, that he'd die right then in there.

"They were black silhouettes of different people, b-but they all had intense r-red eyes... They glared at me, just watching me as the aura kept going up my body. I felt as if something was filling my eyes, and everything just kept burning in me..."

Izuku's eyes dilated as he remembered what came next.

"Th-They... They all then closed their eyes and... evaporated? Disintegrated? I don't really know how to describe it... They all just 'poofed' into a cloud of thick, black smoke, combining together in front of me."

Now Toshinori looked less mortified and more confused now.

"Th-The smoke then formed into something, it formed into-" Izuku stopped as he remembered.

"What it turn into?" Enso pressed.

"...me." Izuku muttered, remembering his demonic-looking form.

"You?" Toshinori repeated.

"Him?" Recovery Girl titled her head.

"I-It was me, but... at the same time, it wasn't. It was just a silhouette of me, purely black like the other seven figures from before. It... It even had the same, filled in red eyes. B-But..."

"But?" Enso repeated as a question.

Izuku gulped nervously.

"I-It reached its hand to me, and I felt my movements go against my will. I-I reached my hand back, taking it into my palm. But... That was when it s-s-smiled..."

"Smiled?" Toshinori tilted his head.

Izuku started shaking again, "B-But i-it wasn't a normal smile... I-It opened its mouth, revealing a j-jagged and disturbing smile... A-And the moment I took its hand..."

Everyone waited patiently.

"I-It talked..."

That surprised them.

"A darker version of yourself spoke to you... What did it say?" Toshinori asked.

"_'L-Let's win...'_ After that, the rest aura of the aura completely wrapped around me... And the next thing I knew, I found myself back in the arena. Only... I wasn't in control."

They all stayed in momentary silence. Toshinori and Enso both looked to be deep in thought, each of them having their own ideas about what happened.

"Wh-What happened to me...?" Izuku mumbled, desperately wanting to know.

"Hm..." Enso turned to the blond hero, "Toshinori... You look like you realized a part of what Izuku was going through. Can you please explain it? If I learn more about what was it he actually saw, then I may be able to figure out what happened to him."

Izuku's eyes focused on Todoroki now, desperately wishing for information.

Toshinori had a serious expression on his face as he cleared his throat.

"Alright... Young Midoriya. As you know, One For All comes from a long line of heroes... Nine to be exact if we include you. If you're here, and I'm still here then that means the other seven..."

Enso and Izuku's eyes both came with a look of realization.

"What I/he saw were the other seven holders?!" Izuku and Enso said in sync.

Toshinori nodded, "That's the only thing that makes sense. In that moment of... 'disturbance', you may have seen the other previous holders of One For All."

Enso narrowed his eyes, "But... Why did they all look the way Izuku described them? Dark with red eyes out of everything?"

"I don't know why, but... there had to be a reason why they were there. And there has to be a bigger reason why they morphed into... yourself."

"That may have been Ikari..." Enso suggested.

"What do you mean? Toshinori asked him to clarify.

"I'm saying Ikari may have chosen to take the form of Izuku, but I don't know why it developed based on the other users..."

"You... Really think so? Is it... really a person now?" Izuku asked nervously, not liking the idea of someone else living in him.

"From what I noticed during our battle, someone else was acting out for you. That may have been your quirk, that may have been Ikari, that manifested into some sort of alternate personality. Yet, it acted based on what you wanted Izuku, it kept fighting to win."

Izuku looked down in shame. "I... I kind of figured that out already... But I'm just confused as to how Ikari formed, or what it actually is."

"Let me finish my explanation on Izuku's 'visions.' It may help find an explanation." Toshinori suggested to them.

Both boys turned to him in silence.

Toshinori rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Although... It does require me to tell you both about someone sooner than I wanted to..."

He pulled his shirt up to reveal the large scar on his chest.

"As you both know, I obtained this injury years ago, limiting the amount of time I can use One For All."

Enso curiously wondered why the sudden bring up of the past while Izuku nodded.

"As for the villain that gave me this scar..." Toshinori lowered his shirt and stared at Izuku with a serious expression. "I have no doubt, that it was the same tall man that you saw in those visions Young Midoriya..."

Hearing this, Izuku tensed up and his eyes dilated, flashes of death passing through his mind once more.

"Wh-What?"

"The villain who gave me this injury... He's been around ever since quirks first appeared in this world, becoming an evil ringleader among the people with one of the most _powerful_ quirks ever known... The power to give and take quirks... The name of this quirk, and of this villain, is... All For One."

"All... For... One..." Izuku repeated in a slow, and intimidated voice.

"As in All, or everything, for One person... Himself..." Enso deducted.

Toshinori nodded, "When quirks first showed up, before society had figured out how to deal with the changes of the world... The appearance of quirks shattered the definition of what made someone a 'normal human.' Laws lost meaning, civilization seemed to halt... It was literal decay."

"And yet, now what's considered to be a 'normal human' is having a quirk, and those without quirks have faced the same discrimination as back then, just because people think that isn't 'normal.'" Enso said.

Izuku looked down in sadness as he remembered his past again.

Toshinori continued.

"During that chaotic period, there was someone who was the first to unify the people... Stealing quirks, giving them to others who wanted them, receiving loyalty from those people, soon he became a powerful figure, essentially ruling all of Japan from the shadows..."

"But... what happened to him?" Izuku asked him.

Toshinori looked down in his palm, "He can steal quirks, you know? So anything goes... A quirk to stop aging, he must've stolen one like that. He was basically immortal... With his abilities and the chaos of the society, there didn't seem to be any hope of beating him. But..."

Toshinori turned to Izuku, "That's where One For All comes in."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked.

"I said that All For One could also give quirks to others, right?"

"You can't possibly be saying that the most powerful evil figure of the world gave someone the quirk that made you the most powerful hero in the nation?" Enso suspected.

"Not just 'anyone.' He had a younger brother... A quirkless, younger brother." Toshinori started. "His brother was small and sickly but had a strong sense of justice. He hated his older brother's deeds, so he kept resisting to follow his rule. So... the older brother force a quirk onto the younger one. A quirk that could stock power onto his younger brother. At this point, it was impossible to know if this was out of kindness or to force his younger brother into submission."

"Don't tell me..." Izuku realized.

"Yes. The younger brother thought he was quirkless, but there was something inside him. Something that neither he himself nor others around him noticed. He had a useless quirk that can pass on quirks!"

Toshinori opened his arms.

"The quirk to stock power combined with the quirk to pass on quirks! That is the origin of One For All!"

Enso put a hand to his chin, "So... Then as for what happened to All For One?"

Toshinori lowered his arms and looked down.

"As the eighth holder of One For All... I had enough power to finally fight that man... I fought him years ago... And I defeated him, I thought I defeated him. I made sure he wasn't moving... I-"

"Killed, him?" Enso narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Hearing that, Toshinori and Izuku flinched.

"A-All Might?" Izuku uttered for confirmation.

Toshinori looked down in shame. "I... I have no excuse... I did something a hero shouldn't have done out of pure anger..." But he pointed his finger at Enso, "That doesn't mean _you_ should do something like that!"

"But I-" Enso was about to retort, but then he picked up something out of Toshinori's lines.

"Wait... Say that again." Enso told him.

"Eh?" Toshinori wasn't expecting that kind of answer, "That doesn't mean that you should-?"

"Not that, before that."

"Um...I did something a hero shouldn't do out of pure anger?"

"Yes." Enso looked down with a hand on his chin, deep into thought. "Anger... Could it be-?"

"Enso?" Izuku partially worried about what he was thinking about, hoping that it didn't have to do with murder.

Enso snapped his fingers.

"I think I have it."

He turned to the two, "But just to be sure, Toshinori, finish what you were saying about that man. You say you _finished _him off, didn't you?"

Toshinori looked unsure. "I... I thought I finished him off... So I don't know why Midoriya saw him in those visions..."

Enso sighed, "Perhaps that means you didn't finish him off like you thought."

Izuku and Toshinori both looked frightened at the claim.

"But... I swear that I..." Toshinori looked down, not wanting to admit what he did.

Enso pointed at him.

"What Izuku saw has to mean something Toshinori, even you agree with that. It could've shown any other visions, and yet... It showed that man. It showed All For One, over so many injured and dead. Don't you think it could be a message from the previous holders saying that he's still alive?"

Toshinori didn't wish to believe it, but he had a point. He turned his head to Izuku.

"Young Midoriya... It pains me to say this, but it appears that one day, you will have to fight All For One..."

Izuku gulped nervously but nodded.

"I-I... I understand..."

Enso shook his legs to see if they woke up, and seeing that they did, he jumped off the bed and landed on his feet, then turning to the two.

"Toshinori... Izuku... I may know exactly _what_ Ikari is."

Now it was their turns to pay attention to Enso.

"Toshinori, you said that when you passed One For All, you passed down eight generations worth of stockpiled power... correct?"

"Um, yes. That was how One For All grew in power."

"Well... That may have not been the only thing passed down." Enso started.

Both Toshinori and Izuku looked confused.

"Izuku, have you ever gotten angry before meeting Toshinori?"

"U-Um, well. Yes, everyone's been angry at one point before... I-I don't really tend to get too mad though."

Enso turned to Toshinori.

"And if you think about it. Ikari has never once activated in Izuku's childhood, it never came out until _after_ Izuku received One For All."

"You're saying that One For All gave Izuku the power of Ikari? How would that happen?" Toshinori asked.

"Starting from the beginning, Izuku had never activated Ikari in his childhood before meeting you Toshinori. And as we also know, Ikari activates and is powered based on anger, perhaps with a mixture of the desires Izuku wishes to achieve. But..."

Enso pointed a finger at Izuku.

"But... that doesn't mean that it's _only_ Izuku's anger powering it up."

"Eh?" Toshinori and Izuku blinked.

"Think about it. What Izuku saw must've been the angriest he's ever been, when Bakugo confronted him on his dream... But then he saw the other users, the _memories _of the other seven users. Each one had All For One in it, so that must've been _their_ angriest moments. Being unable to fight him, being unable to save all those lives that he took, watching people die without being able to do anything... All of their anger, all of their rage... All of those feelings must've been passed down to Izuku when he received One For All."

Izuku's eyes were nearly bulging at the claim.

"Generations and generations worth of anger, all passed down to a single person who has the ability to convert anger, into power. Before receiving One For All, Izuku was too timid to ever use that kind of power from his _own _anger, if I know him correctly, and I know I do, he most likely barely ever got angry. But after receiving it... He became a vessel of stockpiled power and rage. I don't know why Ikari formed into its own consciousness, but I'm theorizing that it's a side effect of receiving all this power, literally creating a manifestation of rage. That's why Izuku has lost control sometimes, it's because of all this anger that isn't his, he sometimes isn't able to control it.

Izuku and Toshinori were shocked beyond belief. These claims were something that made sense, but Izuku looked mortified to discover that.

"One For All... Created Ikari?" Toshinori muttered, unable to believe it. "So then... all that pain Midoriya went through, the loss of control... was because of me passing down my quirk?"

"Th-That's not your fault All Might!" Izuku quickly flailed his moveable hand.

"Ikari is connected to you Izuku, connected to you in so many ways. Even during that battle, I saw you blast away energy, only for you to look pale. It was like you're using your own blood. And when I slashed those tendrils, you got cuts on your actual body as well. You're dangerous to yourself, so you have to find a way to come to a mutual understanding with Ikari."

Izuku looked down in worry. "I see... What if you go into my subconscious again? Try and talk to Ikari?"

"Sorry, but I'd rather risk not dying in your head again." Enso immediately shot it down.

_"Figures..."_

"For now... We'll have to figure out what to do later. Ikari acts out based on what _you_ want Izuku, so I don't think he's a 'threat,' but I do think he can get out of hand."

"I see... I-I'll see what I can do." Izuku said with a determined expression.

"Good. We'll talk later." Enso turned around to walk to the door.

"Wait." Toshinori said, sounding more serious.

Enso stopped and turned back, "What is it?"

"I told both of you about the threat you'll be facing in the future, so... Don't you think you should do the same?"

"..." Enso stared at Toshinori.

Izuku glanced rather curiously at Enso.

"Fine..." Enso came back and sat down on a chair with a sigh. "As I've mentioned before... There is a serious threat coming to this world..."

"Wh-What's coming?" Izuku asked, a new face of worry growing on him.

Toshinori remembered the first night he had met Enso:

_"Well Toshinori, I don't know exactly how strong this 'villain' is, but... But this monster we'll have to face in the future... it may be even worse."_

Enso folded his palms together as he faced the two.

"Izuku, Toshinori... What's coming to your world will no doubt be one of the toughest challenges you'll face. By this world's standards, no... by _your_ standards, this will be one of the worst villains you'll ever have to face."

Enso gave off an intimidating aura which showed just how serious he was.

Toshinori and Izuku felt chills going down their backs, and even Recovery Girl looked rather uneasy from her desk.

"W-Who is this... 'villain'?" Toshinori managed to speak.

Enso closed his eyes.

"Someone who treats life as his own personal playground, someone who has the ability to travel to other worlds too, with only the intention of shaping it into chaos with his own hands. His name..."

Enso opened his eyes and they gave off a dark red glow.

"...Is Lynch."

* * *

~{Meanwhile}~

In the city of Musutafu, the streets were surprisingly somewhat empty. It appeared that all the commotion of the sports festival had convince many people to stay inside and watch the live spectacle on whatever screen they had.

But there were those that didn't care about such events and were more concentrated on their own personal matters, including four men gathered up in an obscure alley between two old abandoned buildings. They were clearly thugs of some sort, as they all wore worn out, dirty coats and ripped pants.

They laughed as they took swigs of whiskey.

"Hey, how much money did you swipe from that old lady." One of them asked.

"Eh? I only got a few fucking bucks, she didn't have shit on her. I thought you said that the old ones had the most money?" The second man said as he trimmed his bushy beard with a sharp blade.

"Well, you jumped her right after she left that fancy looking restaurant, so you really think she had much left on her after she blew all her cash?" The third man said as he scratched a patch of black fur around his neck.

"Hey, cheer up guys, at least we got that bottle of whiskey she was holding. Ain't no prize like a good drink!" The fourth man said right before taking a swig of whiskey.

"Hey! Don't drink it all you arsehole!" the man with fur snarled as he snatched the bottle away.

"Wha-I was taking a sip!" the man growled back, reaching to take his prize away."

"Piss off!" The man with fur pushed his 'friend' back, causing him to stumble back and fall onto the ground on his arse.

"Or you're _so_ dead!" The man shot back to his feet and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket.

"Ya wanna fuckin go mate!?" The other man grew some short claws in his hand while the other two just laughed at them.

But their laughter was cut off when they heard of something bubbling violently.

"Oi! Behind you! What the fuck is that!?" The man trimming his beard pulled his arm down and tightly gripped his blade.

A few feet away behind the man with the switchblade, a large, black, and circular shaped puddle about two yards in diameter emerged on the ground. The puddle violently bubbled as if it was boiling water, the popping bubbles splattered black liquid along the ground, and the stench of the liquid smelled rotten.

The man with the switchblade turned around and was shocked to see this puddle, then backing up and regrouping with the three other men.

They watched as something emerged from the mysterious black liquid.

The first thing they saw come out was a large hand and arm, yet they were covered in the thick, black liquid of the puddle. It reached out of the puddle and slammed onto the ground, splattering away much of the liquid to reveal a skinny, clawlike-hand that looked boney and rotten.

Its claws dug into the cement ground of the alleyway, when another hand came out and grabbed the ground as well, then pulling itself up.

A large figure completely emerged from the puddle, covered in the thick, black liquid that was still bubbling but was now slowly trailing off to the ground.

The moment both of its legs came out, the black puddle shrunk in size until it completely disappeared.

"Wh-What the fuck is that?!"

The four men froze as they saw the black liquid drip off the large figure, revealing its entire disfigured body.

He was a towering 8ft tall, nightmarish creature that looked to have the body of a skeletal corpse with some rotting parts of flesh as if it were some sort of large zombie. But despite the dead-like body, the figure still looked rather muscular due to abnormally thick bones seen through some open cuts of its pale skin.

As more black liquid dripped off him, more detailed features were exposed.

The only piece of actual clothing the figure wore were the remains of black business pants that had been stretched and ripped to now look like shorts. He had a heap of old bandages wrapped around his arms and entire upper body as if some kind of shirt, but filthy with splotches of dried up dark red spots.

The remains of an old noose hung around his neck that slightly swung as he took a barefoot step forward to reveal spiky and pointy toes on both feet. Multiple spikes stuck out of his back, each one made out of bone about the size of one foot.

The figure had his gaze to the ground, revealing a tattered, brown burlap bag of the sort wrapped his entire head. He let out heavy breathing that had a red mist, before then finally turning his head towards the four terrified men, all of them seeing the most terrifying part of this monster.

Instead of a normal face, he had a dark gray trauma mask that had many marks on it along with a few parts chipped away, revealing hints of rotten flesh underneath. The eyeholes and mouth had been amateurishly carved to form slanted, evil eyes and a jagged, open mouth smile. But the eyeholes and mouth were completely filled in with a mystical blood-red glow, no pupils, no irises, just a completely filled in red.

It let out a ghostly chuckle. **_"Well, well, well... It looks like I'm finally here." _**His voice echoed through the alleyway, it was rough and gave off chills. His voice was muffled behind his mask, which looked to be welded to or was entirely a part of his face.

It seemed to ignore the four men entirely, standing up with cracks of his bones ringing, staring over the men and to the busy streets of the city behind them. It then glanced around at its other surroundings, eyes glowing menacingly as it examined where he was.

**_"Interesting..." _**The large figure's feet let out loud stomps as it turned to the four men. **_"What do we have here?"_**

The four men staggered back at the overwhelming presence this 'person' gave.

**_"Hmph, just some street trash. But I guess you'll have to do."_**

Hearing that claim, more fear grew in the men, wondering what was he implying.

"GYAAAHHH!" The man with the switchblade had enough and tried to dash out of the alleyway, leaving his three other companions still frozen in place.

**_"Now, we can't have that..."_** The figure stuck out its left hand, where his palm literally opening up like a jaw and sent out four long and rotten looking tendrils stretching out after the man.

All four tendrils passed by the other men from above and caught the running man in no time, one wrapping around his face to keep him from screaming, the others catching his legs, arms, and waist before hoisting him up in the air.

"Mmph?! Mmm!" The man tried to yell as he was raised off the ground and yanked back to the figure.

**_"Running, not even fighting... How pathetic." _**He reeled in the man close, then using his other hand to wrap all of his fingers around the man's head.

He then tightened his grip as hard as he could.

"MMMMMMPPPP-! The man's attempt to scream was cut off as the loud cracks of his head crushing echoed in the alleyway. Blood spattered and dripped in the figure's hand, he opened his palm and dropped the crushed man's head and corpse onto the floor.

**_"So... Anyone else?"_**

The other three men were completely frozen in place, choosing not to move or end up like their fellow man.

**_"Good, now..."_** The large figure stepped over to the men and crouched down. **_"I need only ONE of you to tell me about this world, as well as where to find a certain person. But the question is..."_**

He slowly pointed a boney finger at them.

The men couldn't see it, but the figure was grinning in excitement.

**_"Who's gonna fight for it?"_**


	32. Lynch

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

{Outside of U.A Academy}~

The towering figure took a step forward on a roof of a tall building and got to one knee, staring at the giant dome that had fireworks exploding up into the sky.

**_"Hm..." _**His ghostly hum echoed in the air, some ends of bandages flowed with the breeze.

He stood up straight and turned back to one of the men from the alleyway. He had blood splatters on his clothes and arms, visibly shaking in terror with his hands over his head.

**_"So... That's where he is?"_**

The man visibly flinched in fear but managed to slightly turn his head to the massive monster.

"Y-Y-Yes... H-He should b-be there..."

**_"How do you know?"_** The figure didn't hesitate.

"I-I r-remember seeing a g-guy that m-matched what you said... R-Red eyes, l-long black hair... R-Really cold face..."

**_"..."_** He turned back to the festival, fireworks still exploding in the distance. **_"Is something going on right now? What is that place anyway?"_**

"W-Well… Th-There's a festival going on… wh-where those kids show... you know… their qu-quirks and stuff…" The man stammered.

The figure's head glanced back at him.

**_"Quirks?"_**

The man nodded, not sure why the figure sounded confused at that.

It fully turned its body and walked over to the man with heavy steps, stopping a foot away.

**_"Well... It looks like I'm gonna need a history lesson."_**

He crouched down and his right hand grotesquely chained into a bone-like mace with jagged spikes.

"W-WAIT!" The man desperately tried to back up on the ground, not even getting to his feet.

The figure pointed its mace at him.

**_"Now, here's the deal. Unless you wanna get smashed in the face, I suggest you start telling me everything you know about these 'quirks' and what that 'school' over there is all about. No questions, I don't have time for that."_**

The man was pale beyond belief but frantically nodded his head in agreeance.

**_"Good, now that we got that out of the way..."_** The figure's hand turned back to normal and he sat down in a cross-legged manner. **_"Better get talking then, before I get bored."_**

He maliciously entwined his boney fingers together, cracks occurring as he did so.

He let out a ghostly breath of red, his eyes brightly blazing red.

**_"Start with... Just where am I?"_**

* * *

Izuku and Toshinori both blinked upon hearing that name.

"Lynch?" Both repeated in unison.

Izuku gulped nervously and instinctively wrapped a hand around the front of his neck, shivering by what that name implied.

Enso rubbed his palms together and stared down to the ground.

"Lynch is a villain who's only joy in life is to inflict fear and suffering to others... He enjoys manipulating people into situations where they're forced to follow whatever he says, he enjoys tormenting the minds of others due to their 'own' actions. He focuses his attention on the strongest-willed individuals he can find, which means..."

Enso sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"...he's particularly obsessed with me. He's mentioned to me that he's making it his lifelong goal just to corrupt me. Or break my mind, one of the two..."

He removed his hand from his face.

"I don't know what he has against me, I don't know what's going on through that head of his, but what I _do_ know that he'll do whatever he takes to get his way."

"How terrifying..." Toshinori muttered with widened eyes.

Enso continued, "Experimenting with human nature, forcing people to participate in life-threatening activities, forcing them to fight amongst themselves... It's just whatever he wants to see out of people at the given moment."

Izuku shook nervously at the thought of such a villain.

"Wha?... Wh-Where- He-?!"

"I think what Midoriya is meaning to ask... Is what are this 'Lynch's' origins." Toshinori deduced.

Enso rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't know... I know nothing about him before waking up. I don't know how he was created, who he was, or why he has a grudge against me. He just acts how he wishes, sometimes serious, sometimes like a child, and... sometimes as a surprisingly intelligent creature. I don't understand how... I don't know _what _he is."

He glared at Izuku.

"But what I do know is what I've seen... Breaking the wills of people, forcing them to go through torturous pain if they wish to live, forcing them to make choices involving their own life and others, forcing them to fight one another to see who would be the last one alive..."

Izuku began to shake in fear and disbelief.

"Wh-Wh-What kind of… P-Person does that… for fun?!"

"I don't think it's for fun... A part of it may be for the amusement, but..."

He narrowed his eyes to the ground.

"...A part of me knows that there is more to it than that... At every moment I've encountered him, he was always honest. From every person I asked who survived an encounter with him, they point out that's he's always kept his word. He lets people know exactly what they'll be dealing with when he forces them to make choices and will always fulfill whatever promise he makes, whether good or bad. He could be considered the definition of unpredictable."

"What kind of being-?" Toshinori looked genuinely confused.

"H-Have you ever f-fought him before?" Izuku asked.

Enso grabbed his gym shirt by the bottom and pulled it up, revealing several noticeable and horrid scars on his chest.

"Does this answer your question?"

Izuku and Toshinori stared at his scares, feeling sympathy as they checked their own scars.

Izuku glanced down as his right hand with a sad expression.

Toshinori instinctively used his right arm to feel the large hole of a scar on his chest.

"I'm... sorry..." Toshinori faintly said.

Enso let go of his shirt and let his scars get covered.

"H-Have you ever b-beaten him before?" Izuku asked curiously.

Enso turned to him and his red eyes glowed.

"You don't beat him, you survive."

That gave both males chills.

"J-Just, how powerful is he?" Toshinori stammered.

Enso rested his arms in his chair.

"He has some basic body characteristics that are enhanced due to how his body was mutated in the past. He has a considerable amount of strength, but I honestly doubt that it would be enough to overpower you, Toshinori. He has a large figure, his limbs are rather durable, but nothing too special. I've even sliced them apart a few times, but... he makes up for that lack of basic defense with a large number of additional abilities, including being able to regenerate limbs nearly instantly. His intelligence is high for someone that acts so absurd, yet I'm not sure if it's actually natural or not."

"B-But, what is h-his main quirk? Or power... What do _you_ call it?" Izuku asked eagerly despite being so nervous.

"..." Enso turned to Izuku, then turned Toshinori, who couldn't help but have a bad feeling in his stomach when he did.

"His 'quirk,' if you can even call it that... Is the ability to learn how to use other powers."

"What!?" Toshinori and Izuku shouted

"I-Is it like... A-All For One?" Toshinori looked devastated.

Enso shook his head side to side.

"No... It's not like that. How he's able to use powers isn't an ability in itself... It's... He just uses science..."

"What... do you mean?" Izuku asked him.

Enso formed his dagger in his hand, then pressing the blade to his finger and gently cutting it.

"This is what I mean." He said, raising his finger to show the small drop of red liquid.

"Blood?" Toshinori and Izuku questioned in sync.

"Yes... What Lynch can copy isn't as easy as using a power to let him do that. He actually _learns _how others use their powers and steals the DNA of those people in order to adjust his own body. By changing his body to be able to use another's ability and by understanding how the power itself works, he's able to use it. He just uses basic science to learn and adapt, but it does take time for him to study. But so far it's given him many horrid abilities..."

Enso clenched his hand into a fist, the small blood on it trickling down.

"He just uses science. He finds a power he likes, researches the person's DNA, whether dead or alive, and learns what he has to modify about himself for his body to _use_ that power... It's all just research to him. Whether he just combines his cells with another to use an ability, combines powers he already has to mimic another's power, or... sometimes he's able to just straight out take a person's power."

Hearing that, Izuku instinctively wrapped his movable arm around himself as if protecting it.

Enso's eyes directed to Toshinori.

"His biggest strength isn't his power... It's his intellect and his ability to get what he desires."

He waved his hand as if presenting the room.

"And here we are right now... A world full of superpowers, a world of endless possibilities. If he arrives here... then we have to stop him, otherwise, we're all done."

Toshinori and Izuku had looks of horror on their faces, the world around them turned to static like their thoughts at the hundreds, thousands, and past billions of possibilities.

Enso raised his left hand up.

"We have one villain, one who can take and give power to people as he pleases, wishing to force his own meaning of an organized society to the world..."

He raised his right hand up.

"And then we have the other, someone who only cares about chaos and testing the morals and will of humanity. If both meet..."

Enso clapped his hands together, the blood that was trailing down his palm splattering between his hands.

He separated them to show the small blood splatter.

"Annihilation... That's what I fear will happen."

Toshinori and Izuku turned blue.

A cane whacked Enso on the back of his head.

"Look what you're doing! You're scaring the boys!" Recovery Girl fumed.

"Why do you think I hesitated to tell them anything before?" Enso refuted as he rubbed the comedic red bump on his head. "I know this is a lot to take in. The entire fate of this world, as well as the other worlds, will depend on us..."

"That's not helping sonny." Recovery girl glared as she patted Izuku on the back to calm him down.

Izuku took a deep breath and gazed at Enso with a worried expression.

"I-I'll... I'll get stronger... I-I'll learn how to use I-Ikari a-and One For A-All... I'll protect this world. I-I'll..."

Izuku held his free hand by his chest and looked as determined as he could.

"I'll be here!"

Enso, Recovery Girl, and Toshinori all stared at the boy.

"Well said Midoriya!" They heard someone chuckle.

The four of them turned their heads in shock to see Nezu sitting on a spinning chair.

He took a loud sip of tea.

"How is that you always seem to sip tea in such a menacing manner?" Enso asked him.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU ASK FIRST!?" Toshinori and Izuku cried out.

Nezu laughed, "Still humorous as ever Enso-_kun_."

Enso flinched and his eye started twitching.

"Why are you-?"

"Lunch Rush." Nezu cut him off.

"Of course it was him..." The teen facepalmed with a sigh.

"P-Principal!? When did you get in!?" Izuku frantically wondered.

Nezu chuckled, "Of course there wouldn't be a place I won't be able to go in my own school."

_"The principal is terrifying!"_ Izuku shivered.

"Now then..." The principal put down his teacup and formed a serious expression, surprising those in the room.

"If you're wondering, I've heard more than enough... This is far more than just a concerning manner."

He got off his chair and walked over to Midoriya, glancing up at the boy.

"You must learn to control that other quirk of yours, Midoriya. Not just for yourself, but for the sake of others."

Izuku stiffened. "Y-Yes sir!"

Nezu turned to Enso, "Do you have any idea as to how to have Midoirya possess better control of his other quirk?"

Enso put a hand on his chin in thought, "He has to learn to control the anger of the previous generations... Therefore, he needs to practice bringing that anger out and continuously use it to do so. I have an idea for that and I'm sure I found the right person for it."

"Th right person?" Toshinori repeated in confusion.

"I'll explain when I have all the details worked out. For now..."

"Sorry if that took a while folks, but we've finally fixed the arena! Kids sure do like blowing up stuff these days, don't they?! Will out next contestants get ready!" The group heard Present Mic shout.

"It seems our time is up... Right now Bakugo should be about to fight against Tokoyami. We should get going." Enso suggested to them.

"Hold on now." A more demeaning voice came Nezu, getting everyone's attention at his professionally serious face.

"On the topic of Bakugo... Could anyone give me a good reason as to why I shouldn't stop his next battle and just throw him out of this school?"

It was as if something had shattered in the room, the principal's dangerous tone in his words was a fright for Izuku and Toshinori. It was clearly a threat, even if not directed at them.

Enso on the other hand, just sighed.

"I'm assuming that you've also listened in heard about Izuku and Bakugo's previous... _interactions_?" Enso asked him.

Nezu nodded. "I can't just ignore the fact that one of my students has previously harassed and even encouraged another student to commit suicide."

"But you ignored him nearly killing another student during an exercise?" Enso glared.

"..." Nezu glanced up at Toshinori with a smile, yet you could see the menacing purple aura and Oni mask behind him.

"Toshi, what does he mean?"

Enso raised an eyebrow, _"He didn't know?"_

Toshinori turned blue and started shivering.

_"SHIT! I NEVER TOLD HIM ABOUT THAT!"_

Toshinori glanced down and nervously fiddled his fingers.

"W-W-Well... Y-You see..."

"Bakugo nearly murdered Midoriya during a hero exercise." Enso bluntly answered.

Nezu's purple aura flared up more and an Oni Mask above him slowly glared down at Toshinori.

"_Why_ wasn't I informed of this?" The principal asked with his smile.

"W-Well... I-I simply concluded it was an accident... Wh-Which we all agreed it was!"

"He didn't mean to _directly_ hit Izuku. He still fired that blast despite in such dangerous circumstances." Enso argued.

_"Young Enso, are you trying to get Young Bakugo expelled?" _Toshinori was shocked.

"W-Wait, wait! D-Don't e-expel Kacchan! Please!" Izuku frantically flailed the one arm he was able to move since the other was still in a cast.

They turned to him, with Nezu's aura calming down.

"You wish for me to ignore the acts of bullying and near murder? I thought you, of all people, should think that he should leave based on what he's done to _you_."

"Wh-What he did b-before was just us growing up! W-We were still maturing!" Izuku tried to explain.

"Izuku... You were in junior high. Exactly a year ago when he encouraged suicide." Enso had to break it to him.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"B-But h-he's doing better! Isn't he!?" Izuku changed his defense. "He didn't touch me in this school once!"

Enso's eye twitched.

"We literally just went over how he nearly killed you."

"..."

"W-We know that was an accident! K-Kacchan wouldn't actually _kill_ anyone, especially in U.A!"

Toshinori remembered during the hero lesson indoors battle.

_"If I don't hit him, then he won't die!"_

"He still seemed to keep an important part of his sanity..." Toshinori added.

Nezu glanced up at Enso, his smile fading away.

"We both know that you out of all people shouldn't say anything about murder."

"..." Enso turned his head away with narrowed eyes.

Nezu focused back on Izuku.

"Midoriya, has Bakugo committed the same sort of actions to others as he's done to you?" Nezu asked him.

Izuku nervously looked down, "K-Kacchan... Um..."

"Young Midoriya... Just answer, please." Toshinori asked of him.

Izuku gulped.

"H-He did wh-when his quirk first manifested at four years old... H-He used it to show that he was better than everyone else... But then, suddenly all of his focus went onto me. He didn't pick on other people as much as he did before, I think he stopped focusing on them entirely. H-He just k-kept choosing me..."

"Do you know the reason?" Nezu asked him.

"I-I think it was because I was quirkless... S-So he may have viewed me as just the easiest and most vulnerable target..."

Enso narrowed his eyes in an intense glare.

_"No... The look I've seen in Bakugo's eyes before... Those were looks of anger, of pure hatred to Izuku specifically. There has to be a bigger reason. If I remember, they may have said something during their indoor hero lesson, but..."_

"Izuku." Enso stepped forward to him.

"E-Eh?" Izuku looked up nervously at the glare his mentor had.

"Do you still view Bakugo as a friend?"

There was a moment of silence within the room. Izuku was surprised to hear a question like that.

"I-W-Well-"

"Do. You?" Enso repeated.

Izuku's gazed fell to the bed.

"I-I do... E-Even if Kacchan and I have had our d-differences... W-We both grew up together with the same goals, we both got along decently well. E-Even if I was just a lackey of his group... I still felt like I knew him the best, and I know that he knew me the best too. F-For him to suddenly change from gaining his quirk and learning that I was qu-quirkless... It's sad... I really wanted us to be the best of friends..."

"Yet you have no idea why he changed? Why he despises you so much?"

"Eh?" Izuku glanced back up at Enso. "I-I said before, I-I think it's because I was quir-"

"It can't be just that. There has to be more to it."

"What?" Izuku was surprised at the claim.

Enso turned around.

"And I'm going to find out."

Izuku swore that he could detect venom in the boy's voice, making him nervously shake.

"Wh-Where are you going!?" Izuku stammered.

"To get ready for my next match." Enso responded, getting out and shutting the door behind him.

_"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"_ Toshinori shook.

Nezu pat Izuku's leg to get his attention.

"Midoriya. Do you really wish for Bakugo to remain here with you?"

Izuku nervously nodded that he did.

Nezu's serious demeanor changed into a big smile.

"I guess I should've expected Toshinori's successor to have the heart to give anyone a chance! Normally I would throw the students in a moment's notice, but I'll make a special case for you! Bakugo can stay, but I won't overlook any next form of bullying that he does towards you or other classmates. But if you really feel uncomfortable around him, then you could just snap and I'll be here to erase him from existence!" The principal laughed menacingly.

"I-I d-don't think that'll be necessary..." Izuku shivered.

"Well, I'll see you another day then." Nezu walked over to Toshinori and reached his hands up. "Carry me."

"U-Um..." Toshinori nervously reached down and picked up the small principal, then turning into his buff form. **"Where to?"**

"Back to our seats, please. Izuku, you'll be fine by yourself correct?" Nezu directed to the boy as he hopped onto All Might's shoulder.

"Y-Yeah." Izuku scooted off the bed and stood up, taking a few steps to show that he was alright.

**"Alright, then we'll be off!"** All Might slid the door open and blasted down the hall in an explosion of speed, laughing heroically all the way with Nezu laughing on his shoulder too.

Izuku sweatdropped.

"I suggest you get ready to explain to your fellow peers what happened to you. I'm sure they'll have dozens of questions, so be sure to explain what your other quirk does. But just don't tell them that it's another quirk." Recovery Girl warned him.

"Y-Yes. Thank you Recovery Girl." Izuku bowed to her.

Izuku was about to step out the door.

**"Wait!"**

All Might suddenly appeared right in front of him in the doorway.

"KYAAAH!" Izuku screamed, not expecting him to be there.

"Oh look, you scared him." Nezu chuckled.

**"My apologies young Midoriya, but I had to say one more itty bitty thing!"**

Izuku panted and tried to control his furiously beating heart.

"Y-Yes All Might?"

All Might planted both of his hands on the boy's shoulders.

**"Young Midoriya, even though you lost that fight against Enso, I'm still proud of you at how far you've gone. You've kept exceeding my every expectation and I'm blessed to have a successor like you to save the world. You have indeed told the world that you're here, and I know that you'll be a greater hero than even me."**

Izuku stared at his idol in awe for a few seconds, then comedic tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

"*sniff* Th-Thank you… All Might… *sniffle* I-I'm really glad… t-to have met you…"

All Might was surprised to see the boy suddenly crying, but he laughed and used his hand to rustle the boy's hair.

**"You're still such a big crybaby though! We still have to work on that!"**

"S-Sorry... *sniff*" Izuku chuckled as he rubbed his eyes.

**"Now then, I'm-" **All Might blasted down the hall. **"-OFF!"**

Izuku watched as his idol and the principal disappeared nearly the moment they took off, leaving him alone in the doorway.

Izuku happily smiled.

"Thank you... All Might..."

"Heya Izuku!"

"GYAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Izuku comedically shot up a second time from the sudden voice behind him, turning his head and panting heavily by the scare.

He saw a familiar pair of pink dreadlocks.

"M-M-Mei!?"

The inventor girl giggled at his reaction.

"Wow, I haven't seen anyone jump that high ever since we flew into the air!"

Izuku slowly regained his composure.

"H-How long have you been there?!"

"Since the big guy ran away!" She exclaimed.

_"Good, then she didn't hear much..."_

"Wh-What are you doing here?" He nervously asked her.

"To see you of course!" The girl said with a large grin.

"Eh? R-Really?" Izuku couldn't help but blush slightly.

But that light color turned into a full-blown red when he suddenly felt the girl feeling all over his body, including his chest.

"Yeah! I wanted to feel the girth of these!" She said, feeling upon his muscles with her hands.

"Wha-Wha-Wha-!?" Izuku was frozen as Hatsume's glove covered hands touched him.

"Hm, very, _very,_ thick indeed. I guess those really were your muscles that I saw!"

Izuku had a blank face.

_"Why did she think they were fake too?"_

He felt a spike of pain.

"Ow!" Izuku backed up and felt the arm on his cast where Mei had just felt upon.

"Whoops! My bad." The girl said despite just maintaining a smile. "You really do have nice pecks!"

_"She's too straight forward!" _

Izuku moved several feet away from Mei, shivering nervously at the lack of personal space.

But she seemed to completely ignore this and pushed forward, getting inches from his face again.

"You'll do _just_ fine!" She giggled.

_"Too close, too close! Wait, 'just fine?'"_

"J-Just fine for what?" Izuku asked, picking up a faint scent oil off her.

Mei backed up and put on her goggles with a smirk, a star even sparking from her smile.

"We'll get back to that later. I'm still making plans with Uremi after all!"

"U-Um, who?" Izuku uttered.

"What do you mean? I'm talking about your friend that helped you blow up the arena."

Izuku sweatdropped. "I think you mean 'Ureshi'..."

There was a small pause.

"U it is then!" Mei said with a gleaming smile.

_"She just went with the first letter!?"_

He sighed and gave up. "A-Anyway, wh-what 'plans' are you making with Enso?"

"Something _really_ special for you! I give you a 100% Hatsume-guarantee that it'll be worth what happens later! I'm glad to see that your body's okay, try to keep it that way for me!"

_"What the hell are Enso and Mei planning to do to me!?"_

"You'll see me again soon enough, so until next time Mr. Muscle man!" Mei grinned before some weird rockets of the sort appeared around her shoes and blasted her across the hall, then sharply turning the corner.

There was a loud screech and then a crash.

Izuku watched with a blank face as a few screws rolled into view.

"I'm okay!" He heard her positive voice.

He sweatdropped.

* * *

The large figure was laying on his side with his elbow propped his head resting in his hand.

**_"So... Everyone in this world has a 'quirk', and now there's a hero school where all those 'kids' with strong quirks can go in order to become so-called 'heroes'?"_**

The man in front of him shook.

"Y-Yeah... A-And what they're doing right now is a f-festival where these kids can sh-show off th-their quirks..."

**"And what are they doing right now?"**

"F-From what I h-heard in a moment, they were fighting o-one another."

The figure immediately shot up to its feet with a loud stomp, one that cracked some of the roof he was standing on. The man shrieked back at the sudden shaking.

**_"You didn't tell me this sooner!?"_**

He turned around and saw on a town big screen of the town, there were images of three people and heard the voice of an obnoxiously loud hero.

"Now we're finally off to the second battle of the semi-finals!"

**_"It's nearing the end!? Damn it, damn it!" _**He got on all fours and all of a sudden, his body started to grotesquely mutate. **_"Nngh! Damn that stings!"_**

His body shrunk and shrunk until it came into one shape, while the man behind him watched with traumatic eyes.

The shape of a bat.

Yet this bat wasn't like a normal one. It was larger and had green eyes along with an oozing green in some parts of it. It let out a screech before leaping off the building and expanding its wings.

The man on the building just stared in horror.

Before then finally passing out.

The figure flapped his wings and started flying towards the stadium, going passed several buildings before stopping and flapping in place.

**_"No... I can't risk them suddenly detecting me. It would be a real hassle for me to go around cracking skulls... I need to know more about the scaling of power in this world before I go around slashing people."_**

He flapped his wings and started looking around the city, looking for someplace to get all this information.

**_ "I should watch them from somewhere safer, but where...?"_**

He kept flying around, turning its head to all directions and even 180 degrees to gaze around.

He then caught sight of a sign that indicated some sort of a Net Cafe.

**_"Bingo."_**

He flew onto the sign and hid behind it, latching onto the back.

His body then grotesquely started to crack and deform into something else.

His body folded and shrunk even more, shrinking into the size of a baseball, where eight legs and a big behind then burst out, giving him the shape of a dangerous arachnid.

**_"Hate doing that..."_** He shivered. His new eight-legged form then started crawling to the wall and went through an upper open window of the shop. once inside, he noticed that the place had a lack of any normal windows, making it rather hard to see from outside. He quickly crawled around, not caring that he left drops of radioactive green behind, and traveled by the ceiling until he was on top of a large and empty booth.

He let himself fall off the roof and into the booth, landed on his back before disturbingly cracking it leg's and getting back up.

**_"This should do it."_**

He jumped onto the ground of the booth before his body then started cracking and morphing. He started growing back to normal size, spider legs violently retracted back into his body as his actual arms and legs burst out with some blooded dripping.

But rather return to his normal disturbing form, he took the form of a plain-looking man, his rotting skin suddenly looking healthy and wearing business clothes, yet he had no form of hair on his head or face.

He didn't hesitate to sit on the chair of the booth and start typing away on the computer, opening several tabs and bringing up several search results at once.

The very first tab was the live feed of the sports festival, and the other tabs searched up topics such as the strongest heroes, the previous sports festival battles, and the most notable villains the public have seen.

He scanned pages upon pages of information, searching up several kinds of quirks and the concept of heroes and villains.

He grinned when he came upon the top hero.

**_"All... Might?..."_**

He saw pictures of him one-shotting villains, of him saving dozens of people at once, and showing shocking demonstrations of pure power from just punches alone.

He couldn't help but feel annoyed.

**_"Who. the hell is this guy?"_**

He examined the other heroes, noticing the differences of power among each of them.

He saw the number two hero in a burst of flames, saw a rabbit hero sending a person spiraling down the street with just one kick, saw a man with wings fly at incredible speed, and so much more.

**_"So many new powers, so many new possibilities!" _**He started breathing heavily as he scanned through more and more heroes.

**_"This world..."_**

He let a deep breath of bliss out.

**_"This is paradise..."_**

He checked the tabs of the festival, watching videos of all the teenagers give it their full effort.

**_"Amazing... Amazing!"_**

He madly clicked on several different videos of students that used their quirks, his excitement growing with each one.

**_"I need them... I need them all!"_**

He then stopped when he saw a familiar pair of red eyes.

He saw his long-black hair, his cold, emotionless look, and his pale skin.

**_"Reapy..." _**His eyes and open mouth brightened in red.

**_"Reapy...!"_** He repeated louder.

He pressed his boney finger on the screen, letting out a chilling chortle.

**_"I. Found. You."_**

Enso marched down the hall with a rather intimidating aura despite not even having any of his styles currently active.

_"Bakugo..."_

He had to learn the reason why. He needed to know why was it that Bakugo hated Izuku with what seemed to be with every fiber of his being. Clearly, Bakugo's anger to Izuku still haunted him to this day, and it must've been even worse in the case that the boy didn't even seem to know an exact reason why. Izuku was smart, so he must know deep down that there was a sincere reason as to why Bakugo despises him, not just for being quirkless.

He was going to find this reason and bring it to light for his student, because it'll be the only way to get him an actual answer and to see that he has to forget about Bakugo.

_"It must've been a specific moment during their childhood. Izuku himself claimed that this bullying towards him started when he was four, so what moment could have caused this hatred and why? Why hate someone like Izuku of all people?"_

He turned the corner and passed by a few students that shivered as he passed, wary of him ever since the display of power he showed in his recent battle.

_"Izuku wouldn't have any idea where this could have originated. And I can't simply ask Bakugo, there's no way he'd easily admit what was the reason for him to abuse Izuku. The best method for me to get an answer out of him would be by using Memory Breach in order to gaze into his memories. But I need him to think of the exact memory where his hatred sparked so that I could see it..."_

He saw the light of the outside ahead.

_"When could be the time for me to be able to accomplish this? Where could I bring this up to him?"_

Enso marched into the sunlight, noticing the crouch cheering madly for the next battle to start.

_"Where could I lower the guard of his mind so that I could look into his head? Where?..."_

"On one side, we got Mr. explosive disorder himself, Katsuki Bakugo! And on the other side, we have Ravenclaw- Er, I mean Fumikage Tokoyami! The winner of this battle will go to the final round and fight against Enso Ureshi!"

Hearing his loud voice pointing out the arena battle, Enso glanced down and saw the enormous sight of the now completely fixed arena, where Bakugo and Tokoyami were cross from each other ready to fight.

He gazed down at Bakugo's serious face, then he looked at the battle arena.

He paused, repeating the information in his head that the winner would be the one to face him.

His eyes shined as he thought of an answer to his previous question.

"Perfect."


	33. Countdown Of A Clash

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! NjxWgY6

* * *

Enso walked to the edge of the railing, grabbed onto it, and glared down at Bakugo below.

_"During our fight... I'll find out..."_

His grip tightened on the railing.

"Go For Broke!"

Bakugo and Tokoyami changed into fighting stances.

"Fight!"

Enso let go of the bar and turned around to leave, not bothering to watch the fight and left a visible dent on the railing he grabbed.

As he started making his way back, his classmates started to notice him.

"Hey Ureshi!"

Enso stopped and turned right to see some of his male classmates rushing over.

"Dude, you guys were insane!" Sero was the first to say.

"How is Midoriya doing?" Sato asked him.

"Did you really teach Midoriya how to fight?" Kirishima asked him with excitement.

"..." Enso sighed. "First of all, call me Enso. Second, Izuku is doing fine and should be coming back soon. Third, where did you hear that _I_ was the one who taught him?"

"Um, I heard it from Bakugo." Kirishima said, looking a little worried if he said something wrong based on Enso's response.

Enso glanced at Bakugo currently blasting away Tokoyami's Dark Shadow with an evil grin on his face.

_"How vexing..."_

Enso scratched his head. "I suppose there's no point in keeping silent about it... I did teach Izuku what he knows about fighting."

"Really!? Teach me!" Kaminari said with a determined smile.

"Hell no."

He turned black and white.

"Wh-Wha-?"

"I'm not going to take more out of my time to teach you. Plus, I have standards for the people I choose to teach."

"Standards? What standards?" Ojiro asked curiously.

"If you listen and do every single thing I say until life itself ends."

_"Those are too high!" _The group thought.

"C-Can't we talk about this?" Kaminari hoped.

"Not right now at least. I have prepare for my fight... It looks like Tokoyami isn't going to last long..."

The group turned to see what he meant, noticing that Tokoyami was visibly struggling against Bakugo's explosions of light.

Enso used this chance to walk away from the group, leaving their matters until later.

_"Bakugo won't be a pushover. I'll have to be careful."_

He kept marching back into the hall until he caught sight of Izuku walking towards him as well, arm in a cast and the other wrapped in bandages.

"Enso? Where did you go to?" Izuku asked as he met up with him.

"I went to watch the first part of the battle, but now I'm going to get ready for my final match."

"Oh, okay then." Izuku smiled.

Enso tilted his head as he noticed that Izuku's eyes were watery and a little red.

"...Don't tell me you cried again?"

"Eh?" Izuku was surprised. "I-It shows!?"

"Of course it does you idiot. It's _you_ we're talking about."

_"Why do I feel insulted?"_ Izuku thought with a blank expression.

Enso sighed and pulled a black handkerchief from his pocket.

"Hold still."

Izuku complied as Enso gently patted the handkerchief on areas near the boy's eyes. He did this for a few seconds before adding conversating to it.

"Why were you crying this time?"

Izuku opened an eye as the handkerchief wiped the other.

"W-Well... All Might told me how p-proud he was o-of me and I-I was really happy to hear it..."

Enso paused his wiping for a moment, staring at Izuku's eyes.

"Wh-What?" Izuku stammered.

He just sighed.

"I'm proud of you too, you idiot..."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked. "R-Really?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? You did so much during our fight, even ignoring Ikari's rampage. You knew what you were doing and applied everything I taught you."

He reached up and patted the boy's hair, yet he still maintained an emotionless face.

"Before being happy that others are proud of you, you should be proud of yourself."

Izuku's eyes started waterfalling again as he put a comedically crying face.

"E-Enso!" He wailed happily.

Enso knocked him on the head.

"Ow!" A red bump formed. "B-But why!?"

"Stop crying again after I literally _just_ cleaned you up you crybaby."

"S-Sorry!" Izuku whimpered as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes again, letting Enso clean his face again.

After a few moments, Enso removed his handkerchief.

"There."

Izuku opened his eyes and blinked, then forming a small, blissful smile.

Enso raised an eyebrow, "What is it now?"

"A-Ah! Well… I-I was just thinking... I'm really glad I met you Enso... Y-you've taught me so many things... I'm so much stronger than I've ever been before, I learned so many things I never would've thought about learning... You've done so much for me..."

He gave him a close-eyed smile that brightly lit the halls like a sun.

"Thank you for always watching over me…"

Enso stared at Izuku as he shined, his eyes starting to visibly sizzle as if getting fried.

_"Note to self, carry sunglasses around."_

Enso used his handkerchief to cover his eyes.

"You're welcome. Now stop burning my eyesight."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked as he was confused by what he meant.

"My battle is next and your classmates are worried about you... Get out there." He finished as he walked passed him.

Izuku watched as Enso started walking off, remembering just how much the boy had helped him over the last year.

He smiled before calling out, "Enso!"

He stopped and looked back, cautiously removing the handkerchief from his face.

"What is it?"

"Good luck! Kacchan is strong, but... I know you can do it!"

"Of course I can."

_"No hesitation!?"_

"But... Thank you for the encouragement." Enso continued on, heading for the intended contestant preparation room.

Izuku smiled as Enso turned the corner, then turning to the outside light and taking a nervous deep breath.

He stepped out and saw Bakugo swinging his palm at Tokoyami.

"SHINE!"

_"Shine?"_ Izuku thought with a blank face.

Tokoyami backed up with a worried look on his face, Dark Shadow looking oddly timid.

Izuku glanced over at his class and saw them engrossed on the fight, although many of them had different faces of concern.

_"Well, here goes nothing..."_

Izuku carefully walked down the stairs and to his classmates' seating.

"H-Hey guys."

Nearly everyone turned to him. "MIDORIYA!/IZUKU!/MIDORI!/DEKU!"

Izuku's hair blew back by the combined power of yells, then blinking in shock as the force died down.

The next thing he knew, nearly all of his classmates surrounded him.

"Midoriya, are you alright!? What happened to you out there man?!" Kirishima was the first to say.

"What was all that!?" Sato added.

"Were you using our quirks!?" Sero asked, the visual fresh in his mind.

"Could you teach me how to fight!?" Kaminari tried his luck.

"U-Um..." Izuku awkwardly backed up as he was bombarded with questions.

"Izuku... What _is_ your quirk?"

Everyone got silent at that question and turned to who asked it, finding out to be Momo with a stern gaze to him.

Izuku gulped nervously as everyone's eyes focused on him again.

_"How am I supposed to explain Ikari without bringing up One For All?! If I lie then she'll just see right through it!"_

"U-Um... I-It's kind of complicated."

"Fumikage Tokoyami has surrendered! Katsuki Bakugo wins!" Midnight called out from the arena.

Everyone's eyes momentarily turned to see Bakugo on top of Tokoyami with an evil grin, letting out consecutive explosions from his palms to keep Dark Shadow down.

"With this, the final match will be between Ureshi and Bakugo!"

The crowd cheered.

Izuku formed a serious look as he saw his childhood bully look more serious than ever, the boy tightly gripping his hands into fists as he thought about his next opponent.

_"Kacchan..."_

"Well, we have time before the final round so... let's hear it." Momo said, her gaze remaining on Izuku despite hearing the winner.

"Eh?" Izuku turned and saw her furrowed brow.

"Let's hear your quirk. Everything about it." Momo sternly demanded again.

_"She's really mad!"_

He gulped nervously.

"W-Well... My q-quirk as a whole i-is called... Ikari." Izuku decided to start off with.

"Ikari? As in anger?" Todoroki raised an eyebrow.

"Y-Yeah. Although, I only recently started calling it Ikari because of the recent events involving me using it... Basically, how it works is that the angrier I become, the more powerful I get."

"Really!? But what about the normal strength you used during our previous classes before? You didn't seem so angry." Sato pointed out.

"Th-That was just the base form of it! I could charge up my power throughout my body to enhance my strength and speed. But when I end up getting _really_ angry, more of my power ends up getting unleashed and causes it to u-um... 'change' I guess you could say?"

"Hm, I did see the green electricity and other colors change into darker ones..." Sero said while recalling the showcase.

"But doesn't it seem a little _too_ different than the normal form?" Kirishima asked him curiously.

Izuku flailed his one good arm in panic. "I-I know it's really weird by how it changes! One moment it seems like a simple speed and strength enhancing quirk, then the next I'm sudden leaking energy that could change in shape and mimic the properties of other quirks! B-But even I don't really know _why_ it changes that way!"

Momo squinted her eyes suspiciously.

"I-I'm guessing that because what I have is just energy, it doesn't have an actual shape or form! A-And that's what allows me to change its form to mimic what I think of, i-including y-your quirks!" Izuku continued.

"So you're saying that it only _looks_ like your using our quirks?" Todoroki asked with a hand on his chin.

"Y-Yeah. I wasn't actually 'copying' them. I-It was just me changing the properties of my e-energy to try and match them the best I could."

"The best that _you_ could?" Ochako asked, walking through the group with a look of concern. "But... Didn't you say something about not being in control? What did you mean by that, Deku?"

"Eh?! Did someone else take control of you with a quirk!?" Kaminari shouted in a shocked state.

"N-No! It was nothing like that!" Izuku shook his head side to side to reassure them.

He turned to Ochako and noticed the concerned looks of her and all of his other caring classmates, wondering what he _did_ mean.

"Look, during my fight against Enso, I learned that... Ikari... may have its own consciousness in my head."

Everyone blinked

"..."

"EHHHHH!?" Everyone shouted with bulging eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait! You're telling me that you have someone else in your head!?" Ojiro asked in disbelief.

"How does that work!? Who is he?! Is he some kind of parasite that tried to go up your nose but then got stuck in your hand!?" Mina frantically spoke.

Hagakure sweatdropped. "Mina, you watch too much anime..."

"How did this happen? Kero" Tsu asked, the calmest out of everyone else.

"U-Um, I don't know... It was right before Enso was going to knock me out of the arena. I went into... a kind of dark place and saw... him? Her? It?"

Comedic question marks appeared on his head from the thought.

He shook his head to get back on talking, "B-But _anyway_, I-Ikari kind of... took over... Even now, I'm not sure exactly what happened... I can only guess that it must've formed as a side effect of my quirk... Or is _he_ my quirk? I don't know anymore!"

Izuku grasped his head with his hand in frustration.

Momo stepped forward with a horrified look.

"So... Your _own_ quirk formed a mind of its own and took over!? Then choosing to injure you again and again past the point your body could handle?! It looked like it was trying to kill you!"

Izuku quickly flailed his movable arm.

"No, no, no! I-It wasn't like that at all! I-Ikari seemed to act out based on what I wanted!"

"Eh? So you _wanted_ to break every single bone in your body? I didn't think you were into that kind of thing..." Mineta shivered.

He was punched.

"I-I didn't want to break my bones!" Izuku immediately responded with a small blush. "I-I just... really wanted to win..."

His voice trailed off.

"And then your quirk acted based on that, Kero?" Tsu asked him.

The boy nodded shamefully.

"So 'Ikari' detected how you felt and took it upon himself to achieve what you wanted under any means, even if sacrificing his own host in the process..." Todoroki summarized.

"Y-Yeah, so... This was... kind of my fault..." Izuku sighed.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, staring in wonder at the boy after receiving more insight into his 'quirk' and understanding what was it that actually happened to him.

"Have you ever been able to actually talk to it? Get into some kind of communication with it?" Momo asked him.

"N-No... When I saw it in that dark place... I found myself unable to talk. I don't know why."

"Then find a way. Please." Momo pleaded. "I... I don't want to see you get so hurt anymore... We all don't."

Izuku glanced around at his entire class, noticing the similar faces of worry.

"I'm sorry..." Was all he was able to say looking down.

He felt two arms wrap around him and heard the dropping of jaws.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked and realized that Momo was hugging him. Hugging him in front of everyone.

"Stop worrying me so much..." She whimpered.

Kirishima clenched a fist close to his chest with comedic watery eyes.

"So manly..."

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN RIGHT HERE!?" Sero confusingly shouted.

Mina pouted and her ears turned slightly lilac.

_"Oh boy."_ Hagakure sighed.

"Um... Did I miss something?"

Momo and Izuku blinked as they turned and saw a confused looking Tokoyami standing behind them, just finishing coming back from his battle against Bakugo and witnessing the sight of Momo hugging Izuku.

The girl realized what she did in front of everyone and immediately let go, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.

_"What am I doing!?"_

Izuku hid his face down to hide his intense blush.

"Teach us Sensei!" Kaminari and Mineta wept as both bowed before Izuku after the demonstration of conquering power he displayed.

"Teach you _what_!?" Izuku was genuinely confused.

"After Bakugo rests up for a moment, it'll finally be time for our two strongest first years to duke it out!"

Everyone turned to the screen and saw the profile pictures of Bakugo and Enso, both looking cold in their pictures.

_"Enso... Kacchan..."_

Turned away in thought.

_"I can't imagine what's going to happen..."_

* * *

Enso stretched his arms as he headed for the player participant room for the last time. His final battle would be up against Bakugo, a battle that he was going to take _very_ seriously.

Not for winning, but for finding the truth.

After all, he had to find the actual reason for Bakugo's harsh treatment towards Izuku. Otherwise, it seems that the matter might continue to haunt Izuku like during his fight against the boy.

Enso turned the corner of the hall and saw a built-up man of flames standing right next to the participant room door.

Endeavor's arms were crossed as he waited for the boy with a stern look.

He walked up to the door and paused to look up at the number two hero with his usual cold expression.

"..."

"..."

Enso slowly opened the door, went inside, and closed it without much thought.

But the moment he turned his back to the door, it exploded open and sent him comedically slamming into the wall.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Endeavor stomped in with his flames erupting in comedic anger.

Enso slid off the wall and plopped on to the floor, then glancing up at the hot-heated hero.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked in annoyance, getting back to his feet and dusting himself off.

"Hmph, irritating brat." Endeavor growled, grabbing one of the chairs from the ground and placing himself down onto it.

"What do you want? In a moment I'll have to leave for my last match." Enso glared at him.

Endeavor rested an arm on his knee, leaning forward and regaining his composure.

"Then I'll get straight to the point. I wish for you to train Shoto in combat."

Enso narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

"I've seen your fight against Midoriya. You both have a similar fighting style, but clearly, you have a better grasp of it. You were the one who taught the boy, correct?"

_"He's sharp... I haven't once ever talked to him and he already figured this out? Is this the intellect of the number two hero?"_

"I take your silence as a yes?" Endeavor raised an eyebrow.

"Good grief... You're so annoying..." Enso sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

Endeavor was irked but chose not to call him out on that comment.

Enso lowered his hand. "Fine. You want me to admit it? Yes, I taught him how to fight."

"I expected as much." Endeavor leaned back in his chair. "You shall be the one to teach my prodigy."

"Hmph. Why have _me_ train Todoroki? Why can't you have him be under the guidance of a professional? I'm sure your 'status' would allow that." Enso rebutted against Endeavor's request.

"Because something about you tells me that you clearly have professional experience. And by being a fellow classmate of Shoto, I'm sure he'll accept this help from you rather than any help I try to give him... He's still somewhat in his rebellious stage after all."

"He only seems rebellious to _you_? Why is that?" Enso interrogated.

Endeavor looked pissed, "Don't go asking about family matters." he snarled.

"Family matters huh? Hmph." Enso leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

Endeavor calmed himself, trying to keep a professional stance.

"The way you fight is unique. Those spinning movements, the mixture of fighting abilities, and applying these abilities to your quirk to create your own fighting styles-"

"If you're trying to butter me up, it's not working." Enso interrupted.

"I'm giving you reasons as to _why_ such skill would benefit Shoto. This knowledge will be invaluable for him."

Enso leaned forward with unwavering eyes.

"And do _I_ get anything out of this?"

Endeavor raised a hand. "Of course, I will pay you enough for your troubles. Money is of little concern to me."

"I don't need money." Enso immediately rejected.

Endeavor lowered his hand, "Tsk! Then what _do_ you want?"

"In all honesty, I wouldn't want anything from you. But your current standing... may be beneficial to me in the future."

Endeavor was shocked by how he was thinking.

"You can't possibly be thinking to use my power to have an influence on a selfish decision of yours?"

"Just on one future favor. If I ever need your assistance, if I ever need your influence, then you'll come at my beck and call."

"You expect me to blindly agree to such an offer? Like some kind of dog ready to serve his master?" Endeavor stood up with his flames looking more intense, fists tightening in annoyance.

Enso stood back up too and walked up to him.

"No. I expect you to be ready to _work_ with me in the future."

Endeavor was surprised by that sudden claim.

"What?"

Enso poked him on the chest.

"I don't like you. I could tell that you're not a hero to save people. Whether you're blinded by money or obsessed with power, I still have to agree that being the number two hero proves your strength. And we can both agree that there are some things in this world that need to happen. So when one of those moments do come, I'll come with a favor that we both can agree has to happen."

Endeavor stared down at the boy with a newfound curiosity.

"Boy... Just _who_ are you?"

Enso removed his finger and stared at him.

"That's quite the ominous question."

"You're quite the ominous person." Endeavor retorted. "You're unlike anything close to a normal student."

"I agree." Was all Enso responded.

They were quiet for a few seconds before Endeavor actually grinned.

"Interesting. You've piqued my interest boy. I'll go along with this... For now. Teach my boy the art of combat, and I'll swear to grant this 'favor' of yours in the future."

"I'll train him if he comes to me."

"I _know_ he'll come to you. I'll make sure of it." Endeavor's stern face returned before he turned around and left through the doorway, already heading down the hall to who-knows-where.

Enso walked out of the class and watched as he left, then glancing at a dented rectangular object on the floor.

_"So...He's not going to fix the door?"_

* * *

Izuku stood near the railing of the section his class was at, just staring over the edge at the empty arena with a face of wonder.

He recalled what Enso had claimed before he had left the nurse's office.

_"It can't be just that. There has to be more to it. And I'm going to find out."_

Izuku directed his gaze at the floor now.

_"I have a bad feeling about this last battle..."_

"Deku."

Izuku turned around to see Ochako and Momo with an empty seat between them. The gravity girl pointed it rather demandingly with a pout, signaling him to sit between the two.

_"Oh boy..."_

He gulped nervously and walked over to the two, sitting down between Momo on his left and Ochako on his right.

He sweated nervously. "Wh-What is it?"

"You scared us... a lot." Ochako didn't hesitate.

"R-Right…" was all Izuku could mutter back.

Momo sighed, "I know that you wanted to win, but for you to force yourself to the point where you broke your fingers..."

Izuku looked down a little ashamed, "S-Sorry...I-I wanted to end it with pure force... But Enso somehow just kept on going... Then Ikari activated because of that..."

"Deku, you said that your quirk worked on anger, right?" Ochako asked for confirmation.

"Y-Yeah?"

She tilted her head curiously, "Then... did wanting to win really get you that angry? I don't really think it would be enough to let your quirk take over..."

A series of seizure-inducing images flashed through the boy's head in such a quick second. He saw the faded figure of All For One, the cries of help and pain of people, and his lifelong bullies grinning at him.

His eyes dilated. "I-I..."

Momo saw the look in his eyes and an idea immediately came to her mind, an idea that she hated to think about.

"This is about Bakugo... Isn't it?"

He flinched and looked down lower.

"Bakugo? Was it when he a-almost-!?" Ochako started, fear growing when she remembering seeing him and Izuku fight during the first hero lesson they had.

"No Uraraka, you... You don't understand..." Momo calmly said, knowing that the girl didn't have the knowledge of Izuku's childhood.

"Then... Can you help me understand? Please?" The girl pleaded with begging eyes.

Momo looked down at Izuku for approval, to which the boy nodded up and down.

"Uraraka, you see... Izuku was bullied by Bakugo ever since he was four..."

Ochako's eyes dilated in shock, "Wh-What?"

"It's a rather sensitive matter... But just know that for a long time... Izuku had to deal with a lot." Momo said, looking at Izuku with a sympathetic look.

Ochako connected the dots from there. "S-So... then Ikari activated because...?"

"Yeah..." Izuku responded before she even finished. It was technically true, as Bakugo was basically the one that had sparked Ikari, but he didn't add anything about All For One or the encouraging suicide Bakugo gave.

They were silent as the cheers of the crowd echoed in the arena, Ochako lowered her head and slightly shivered.

"I-I didn't know..."

Izuku turned to her and formed a small smile.

"You weren't supposed to know. But you don't have to think too much about it. I'm just glad that I have so many friends now."

"Oh Deku..." Ochako faintly mumbled, looking down with a sad look.

"Izuku, you now know how Ikari can activate... So do you know how to stop it from happening again? To stop you from hurting yourself again?" Momo asked him.

Izuku glanced up at her, "Well... Enso is going to help me find a way to control Ikari. So then I could finally learn to use it myself."

"Then... Can you promise something?" Ochako piped up, puppy-dog eyes staring at the boy.

"U-Um, wh-what?" Izuku nervously stammered when he saw her gaze.

"Promise me... Promise _us_ that you won't do th-that again." Ochako gently took Izuku's right hand with her left and raised it up to reveal the large scars on it.

"When you broke your arms and then s-still kept using them... I-I was really scared. I thought that you wouldn't be able to use them again, even with Recovery Girl's healing..."

"And to know that you were going through so much pain. It was terrible for us to know that, to know that someone so innocent would go through something so... painful." Momo added with an uncomfortable look.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't just _say_ you're sorry Izuku... Actually don't do it again, please. Promise us that you won't break your arms like that again, we can't bear to seeing you like that..." Momo reached her hand and gently held the same hand Ochako was holding.

_"H-HAND HOLDING!?"_ Izuku's brain exploded and he could swear that all of their hands were blurred out.

"Promise?" Momo and Ochako both pleaded in unision.

"I-I promise!" Izuku didn't hesitate, raising his voice in a confident manner and forming an unwavering expression to prove that he meant it.

Momo and Ochako formed small smiles, feeling relieved that he promised not to do such a thing again.

A long tongue interrupted their moment, quickly but gently wrapping around Izuku's waist below his cast.

"Eh?" They all blinked.

Izuku was yanked up.

"WAH!?"

The girls' grips slipped as their eyes and mouths of shock as they watched Izuku get pulled farther back.

He gently plopped right in the middle of Jiro and Tsu, who released the boy and pulled her tongue back.

"Sorry, we have to borrow him for a bit!" The frog girl yelled to a confused Ochako and Momo.

"T-Tsu!? Jiro!?" Izuku glanced back and forth at them.

"Y-Yanking you here wasn't my idea!" Jiro immediately defended.

"Sorry about that Midoriya-chan, I hope I didn't hurt you. Kero."

"N-No you didn't... You were pretty gentle..."

But then he immediately got hurt by a smack to his head.

"Ow!?" He turned to Jiro while clutching the comedic red bump. "B-But why-!?"

"Because do you know how worried you made everyone!?" Jiro snapped at him.

"I'm sorry!" Izuku immediately responded with comedic tears.

Tsu giggled, "You know Midoriya-chan, Jiro-chan was _really_ worried about you."

"Wh-Why are you saying it like that!?" Jiro blushed with an irritated look.

"I w-won't do it again! I promise!" Izuku slightly bowed in his seat.

Jiro averted her gaze but embarrassingly twirled with her earlobes. "You'd better not... Idiot..."

Tsu nodded in agreement.

"I'd rather see the cute, nervous Izu-chan than the angry, scary one..."

_"C-Cute!?" _Izuku's skin turned into a deep red tone and he covered his face with his hand.

"See? Like that. Kero." Tsu giggled.

Jiro smirked at the boy's reaction, enjoying to see him embarrassed.

"Jiro's really cute too." Tsu then added.

"Eh?!" The girl turned red at this unexpected claim, she covered her face with both of her hands. "Wh-Where did that come from!?"

_"They're both so kawaii!"_ Tsu thought in bliss at the sight of both cute teenagers red and covering their faces.

Tsu then noticed the scars on the hand Izuku used to cover his face, getting a sick feeling in her stomach just thinking about how painful those must've been to receive.

She gently took the boy's hand between her own hands.

"E-Eh?" Izuku felt his hand removed from his face and opened his eyes to see Tsu's focus on it.

"You poor boy..." Tsu muttered, gently caressing his hand.

Jiro peaked between her fingers and caught sight of Izuku's hand too, flinching as she saw those scars and slowly lowering her hands at the sight.

"Wow..." The punk girl muttered, cringing at the thought of receiving all those marks. She reached over and touched his hand too, gently feeling each of the scars on it.

Izuku could swear he saw their hands blurred out again.

_"Okay, I can't just be seeing things..."_

"Psst! Midori!"

The three of them snapped out of the moment in surprise, instinctively letting go of each other's hands and turning away from each other tensely.

Izuku then robotically glanced behind him to see Hagakure's floating clothes crouched down next to his chair as if trying to be secretive.

"T-Toru!?"

"Yeah, I've come on a top-secret mission to recruit you to fix a lovely, fair maiden's heart who is suffering in grief and worry. I need you to be her prince and break the spell of depression and suffering that was placed upon her by a mighty battle of pain!"

Izuku blinked in confusion. "Um, what?"

There was a brief pause, then he heard her sigh.

"Go talk to Mina... She needs you... We both do."

"Oh."

Izuku looked past her to see an anxious-looking Mina fiddling her fingers while looking down.

"Go help her." Tsu encouraged. "Want me to carry you to her?"

"N-No that's okay. I-I can make it myself." Izuku rose from his seat and carefully passed Tsu and through the aisle.

Jiro watched as he left and turned her head back to Mina suspiciously, noticing the unusual nervousness to the upbeat girl's personality.

"Something's up..."

"Probably. Kero." Tsu agreed, but not even looking back to them.

"Yet you don't wanna do anything?"

Tsu turned to her, "Let them feel better. They're just as worried about Midoriya-chan as we are after all."

Jiro lightly blushed and looked away.

"G-Good point..."

_"Kawaii."_ Tsu giggled at her reaction.

Izuku went up the aisle with Toru and sat down between her and Mina.

"So..." He turned his head from girl to girl. "I'm guessing that you were worried too?"

"Geez, _how_ did you know?" Mina pouted. "You... You scared me so much..."

Izuku sweatdropped embarrassingly.

"I-I promise I won't do it again..."

Toru let out a disappointed sigh.

"Making everyone worry is another quirk of yours isn't it?"

"I-I don't mean to." Izuku stammered.

"Then don't!" Toru repeatedly punched Izuku on his shoulder in a comedic fashion.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Wai-Ow!" Izuku tried to shield his body in vain.

Toru pouted and put her hands on his hands, fumes coming from her head.

"Make it up to Mina!"

Izuku turned to the pink-skinned girl and saw her just staring at him with puppy dog eyes, eyes that somehow even looked even more adorable with their black and yellow color.

"Midori?" She calmly breathed.

He tensed up in red, feeling as if an arrow had pierced through his heart.

_"C-CUTE!"_

"Y-Yes!?" He straightened his back as he nervously shivered.

"Um, if you're not feeling well, then... Do you wanna go on our d-date another time?"

Hearing that, Izuku remembered and his head erupted like a volcano.

"I-I-I'm really sorry! R-Recovery Girl wants to heal the rest of my injuries tomorrow! S-So, u-um-!"

"Oh Midori, always making things complicated." Toru sighed.

"W-We'll go on the weekend!" Izuku immediately thought up, assuming it was the best time.

Mina formed a big smile on her face and her eyes became stars.

"Sure Midori! I wanna make sure your arms are completely healed by then! I have great plans for where we're gonna go!" She reached forward and wrapped her arms around the back of the boy's neck and hugged him tightly, bringing his head down right into her chest.

"MMPH!? MPHINA!?" Izuku muffled, his head his face sinking within the soft feeling as swirls replaced his eyes.

Mina formed a mischievous smile, _"How cute..."_

_"Ah, it looks like she's back to normal."_ Toru thought when she saw her friend's mischievous demeanor come back.

Mina and Toru then recalled the pure boy's green hair as they saw it right in front of them. They both glanced at each other and grinned.

Face still stuck between her bosom, Izuku felt two heads placed against the top of _his _head.

"E-EH!?" Izuku was barely even to turn his head to catch a glance of both girls resting their head on his hair. Mina's eyes were closed in bliss and you could practically visualize the same look of bliss onto Hagakure.

"So soft..." Mina cooed.

"So warm..." Toru purred.

Izuku had a blank look on his face now, lips pressed together to form a thin line with comedically emotionless eyes.

_"Maybe I should cut my hair?"_

"It's finally the last battle of the U.A sports festival!"

Everyone cheered at the top of their lungs in excitement.

Izuku formed a serious look on his face as Mina and Toru turned their heads to the arena.

The boy managed to get both girls off of him and maintained his serious look as he caught sight of the two boys walking out from the separate entrances of the arena.

One boy ad an arrogant grin with every intention to win.

The other's gaze was so cold and sharp that you could swear that it would pierce right through you.

"The top of the first years will be decided with this _final_ match!"

Izuku turned to Toru and Mina, who were surprised to see him get so serious in a moment's notice.

"I'm gonna sit closer, I really want to watch this battle up close."

He turned to leave, but felt his sleeve get tugged. He turned back to them and saw that Mina was holding his sleeve with puppy-dog eyes once more.

He glanced down at the arena as Enso and Bakugo got on the concrete battlefield, then noticing more empty seats in the front near Ochako and Momo.

"J-Just sit in the front with me." He rushed, not wanting to miss a moment of this battle.

Mina and Toru both seemed happy as they got up and followed Izuku down to three front seats, sitting themselves down with the boy between them.

Momo and Ochako saw them too.

"They followed him?" Ochako pouted in irritation.

"Focus Uraraka. I think this may be a battle we need to watch, it's the final one after all." Momo said in all seriousness, focusing her gaze back down below.

Ochako turned to her, then took one last glance at Izuku before taking a deep breath and turning forward.

"On one side, we got the explosive-hot head from the hero course, Katsuki Bakugo!"

Bakugo's hands sparked as he grinned menacingly.

"On the other side, the crazy student that managed to beat up his other crazy classmate, Enso Ureshi!"

Enso rotated his arms to stretch them.

"Go Enso-Kun!" Lunch Rush cheered on with twice as many signs of Enso around him than before.

_"Where did he even get those!?"_ The audience internally shouted.

"It's finally time for you to get what you've had coming to you for a long time!" Bakugo shouted.

Enso grabbed his sleeves and rolled them up, not keeping his gaze off of Bakugo for even a second.

The boy noticed this along with the somehow distinct look in the usually cold boy's eyes, making his smile fade momentarily.

_"He's different... This is different than when he was going to fight Deku!"_

Enso then took a deep breath and slowly moved his hands into a fighting position.

Bakugo's grin returned.

_"Is he being serious from the start? I guess he knows who's the strongest that can beat him!"_

Izuku saw the look in Enso's eyes too, which made him worried.

_"He's... He's different. I have a bad feeling about this..."_

Present Mic slammed his hands on his desk in excitement.

"Let Your Skills Do The Talking!"

Both boys narrowed their eyes.

"Final Round, FIGHT!"

Bakugo immediately blasted himself towards Enso while maintaining his grin.

"SHINE!"

Enso kept still as the boy exploded towards him, the flames of the erupting pots reflecting off his red eyes and making it seem like there were literal flames in his menacing glare.

"About time."


	34. Enso VS Bakugo

Bakugo soared towards Enso with repeatable blasts coming behind him, then spiraling himself to swing his leg at him.

Enso took a deep breath.

"Snipe Style"

His colors turned of yellow, and he vanished from his spot as Bakugo's kick came, missing him entirely.

_"He sped up!"_

Bakugo flipped onto his feet and slid along the ground in a crouching manner, keeping vigilant for where Enso would be.

He heard a 'woosh' behind him, making Bakugo snap his head back while already aiming a hand.

"SHINE!"

He unleashed a large explosion behind him.

After a second of silence, he heard someone behind him.

"Your reaction time is impressive..."

Bakugo looked shocked but didn't hesitate to swing another arm at an attempt to explode Enso behind him.

His arm was knocked up by an uppercut palm strike, resulting in the boy's explosion to be redirected upward rather than forward.

"Tsk!" Bakugo took a step away and tried to lift up his other hand to fire, but by then, Enso already thrusted another palm right into the boy's chest.

An echo of the slam rang throughout the arena as Bakugo was sent flying backward straight.

_"Damn it!"_ He felt pissed as he forced his arms behind him and blasted forward at Enso again.

_"So aggressive..."_ Enso opened his arms and palms, surrounding himself in blue.

"Punk Style-Mind Storm."

Dozens of small blue spheres materialized from his hands and shot right for Bakugo.

Bakugo maneuvered passed these orbs with multiple well-timed explosions in the air, ducking and jerking himself to the side as he got closer to Enso. However, once these orbs passed by the boy, they circled back and continued to home in him.

Bakugo noticed the lack of explosions behind him and glanced back to see the orbs still coming for him.

"Tsk!" He stopped going forward and rapidly spun in place while letting out continuative explosions, surrounding himself in a giant cloud of smoke to obscure his location to Enso.

Enso narrowed his eyes and closed his palms, directing all the energy orbs right into the middle of the clouds of smoke. They collided with one another, resulting in a combination of blue explosions merging into one large one.

Enso's hair blew behind him from the winds of the powerful explosion, lowering his arms as he stared at the spectacle.

He detected someone from the corner of his eye, noticing him go behind.

"Brute Style-"

"SHINE!"

Bakugo swung his palm, and his explosion covered the vast area forward while sending himself jumping back.

He slid on his feet with a grin, watching the black smoke created by his quirk slowly disperse away.

"-Bulk Up." He heard Enso finish.

Bakugo's eyes widened as the smoke cleared to reveal his opponent with white eyes and a white barrier.

He snarled at him. "Damn you and your little force field."

Bakugo stood up straight and casually pointed his right palm behind him, suddenly exploding forward towards Enso again.

Enso's reactions kicked in, and he swung an arm as Bakugo got close, but the explosive teen blasted his palm underneath himself, jumping over him and flying behind.

Enso glanced behind him just as Bakugo pointed a palm back yet again, firing himself at him with his feet sticking out with the intend to dropkick him. Enso jumped to the side and avoided the massive slam to the ground, even noticing some cracks emerging on the cement floor. He didn't waste any time to jump forward and punch Bakugo in the chest, uppercut the boy, and then jumped while spinning before performing a heavy kick that sent him flying.

_"Bastard!"_ Bakugo flipped himself in the air and blasted forward again towards Enso, then pointing both of his palms upward.

Enso had landed on the ground and saw Bakugo momentarily above him. Bakugo let out explosions upward to send himself straight down at his opponent, forcing Enso to jump back as the boy slammed his palms to the ground as he released two more explosions.

Bakugo didn't waste any time, he immediately launched upward at Enso in the air while reaching his right hand for him.

Enso narrowed his eyes and swung his leg in an overhead kick, slamming Bakugo's hand upward and redirecting another sudden explosion away.

Bakugo's mind flashed back to when Izuku did the same thing during their first indoor hero training exercise.

_"These fucking nerds..."_

"NOT THIS TIME!" Rather than retreat out of worry of a counterattack, Bakugo used his other hand behind him to propel himself forward and slam his body right into his opponent's, leading with his shoulder.

_"He learned from Izuku doing this before!" _Enso though in irritation as he flew back with Bakugo on him.

Bakugo grinned as he moved his other hand down intending to grab Enso, but the boy managed to kick Bakugo away to separate each other, both then landing several yards away from each other.

Once landing, Bakugo positioned his hands so that one was over his head and aiming behind him, while the other was near ground level and pointing forward.

He gritted his teeth as he repeatedly unleashed explosions from the opposite pointing hands, resulting in him spinning forward as a literal flaming wheel towards Enso.

_"To think he comes up with these techniques himself!"_

Enso crossed his arms, and his white aura brightened.

"Brute-Style- Bulk Up."

His aura visibly got denser before Bakugo's spiraling wheel of explosions crashed into him and repeatedly connected into multiple hits.

"Nngh!" Enso ignored the chaining explosions and mustered his strength upward, throwing the wheel that was Bakugo behind him in the air.

The boy immediately got out of his spinning. He turned his body while pointing his palms behind him, letting out two explosions in unison to send himself firing at Enso with a hand reaching out.

Enso turned around as Bakugo came down at him, jumping back right before the living time bomb slammed down so hard that some chips of cement flew upward.

In a split second, Bakugo grinned and exploded forward once on the ground, reaching forward and managing to grab Enso's flowing hair.

Enso's eyes widened as Bakugo yanked him forward by the hair, forcing the boy's chest to press against his other palm.

He let out an explosion point-blank on his chest, launching Enso away like a cannonball.

"Bakugo is ruthless! But the hair!? Man, really!?" 

Bakugo glanced up, "SHUT IT OR I'LL RIP THAT ROCK-STAR WANNABE HAIR RIGHT FROM YOUR HEAD!"

"GAH!?" Present Mic turned black and white and comedically fell from his chair.

_"K-Kacchan is scary!"_ Izuku shivered comedically.

Enso opened his eyes and spun himself to land on his feet, skidding backward in a crouching manner until he came to a complete stop. He glanced down at his burnt uniform with shadows over his eyes.

"So that's how it's gonna be..." He grumbled.

Bakugo turned back to Enso with a grin and blasted towards him.

At the same time, Enso took a deep breath, his aura changing back to yellow.

"Snipe Style-"

His yellow aura violently vibrated.

"-Piercing shot."

He blasted forward, leaving visible cracks from the spot he was just standing.

Bakugo's eyes widened as he saw the yellow blur come at him in blazing speeds. He tried to point his palms forward to explode, but Enso had come too fast. The boy's fist connected into his stomach in one giant punch, forcing all the air out of his body and causing his head and limbs to jerk forward by the sudden impact.

Before Bakugo could even get launched back from his punch, Enso reached his other hand forward and grabbed the boy's blonde hair. He gripped it tightly and pulled Bakugo over him in an arc, swinging him down and slamming the boy on his back against the concrete.

Bakugo bounced several feet off the ground from the impact, coughing out whatever air he had left in his stomach. Enso continued and front-flipped as Bakugo bounced up, using both of his hands to grab the boy's head as he flipped to pull him in the flip too. He flipped the two of them in an entire 360 degrees before swinging Bakugo and throwing him down to the ground, slamming him downward.

He then landed ahead of him, dusting his hands and glancing back to glare back at the boy on the ground.

Izuku shivered with an agape mouth and shadows over his eyes.

_"I-I think Kacchan made him mad..."_

The girls couldn't help but shake nervously at the thought of getting their hair pulled like that.

"At least he returned the favor." Mic grinned in satisfaction.

Bakugo struggled to catch his breath while sprawled out on the ground, but soon he was gritting his teeth and already using his arms to push himself back up with a _very_ pissed off glare.

"You... bastard..." He hissed.

"Hmph, you started it." Enso pointed out as gently started to finger through his own hair.

Bakugo's eyes dilated in anger. He shakingly got back to his feet with his palms sparking again.

"You're _dead_."

"I beg to differ."

Enso got into a sprinter's stance, the aura of his Snipe Style vibrating as he charged up.

"Snipe Style-Rapid Fire."

He blasted forward with his hands close and balled into fists.

Bakugo swiped his hand to the ground as Enso got near, blasting at the concrete and sending several stones forward.

Enso stopped and rapidly punched each piece of cement that came at him with ease.

Bakugo came afterword with his knee forward, intending on slamming it into his head.

Enso saw him coming and swerved his body to the side, avoiding the attack with squinting eyes. He tried to take the chance to reach up and grab the boy, but Bakugo had already pointed his hands down and unleashed two explosions. The force sent him back in the air while slightly burning Enso's hand in the process, much to his annoyance.

"Brute Style." His body shined white, and he got into a boxer's stance, hands balled into fists and positioning them defensively in front of him.

Bakugo landed and saw Enso going back into a previous style, making him grit his teeth in frustration.

"Stop screwing around..."

Enso raised an eyebrow.

Bakugo clenched his hands into fists with a look of anger.

"Am I not strong enough to make you use it?!"

Enso slowly lowered his arms.

"..."

"Use the power that you used on Deku! Use it that last style of yours! I want an indisputable first place! I can't get that even if I beat scum that underestimates me! There's no point if I can't get higher up than Deku!"

Everyone was starting to get quiet as they heard Bakugo's shouting.

Bakugo opened his palms and small explosions came from them, his pupils shaking in his eyes in anger.

"Use it! Let me kill you while you use it! Right here, right now!"

Hearing those words made Enso ball his hands into fists, causing cracking sounds as he did so.

He formed shadows over his eyes, he took a deep breath, and his white aura slowly faded away to nothing.

He looked down, to which everyone saw him visibly open his right palm, where an object slowly started to develop on it.

_"He's forming his dagger!?" _Izuku could feel his heartbeat increase.

"You'll kill me... huh?" The boy faintly said over to Bakugo.

Bakugo grinned as he saw the dagger and the black colors of a flame-like aura starting to develop around Enso.

Enso raised his head enough that a single red eye flashed at Bakugo.

**"Just like how you told Izuku to kill himself?"**

Bakugo felt a chill in his spine and his eyes widened in shock.

"Wha-!?"

The explosive boy didn't even get a chance to speak when Enso suddenly appeared right in front of him. Bakugo felt his body grow cold as he only saw a black silhouette with a piercing red eye and a dagger reflecting Bakugo's own reflection in the red light of the eye.

Bakugo shoved his hands forward let out two massive explosions, sending himself back to make some distance between him and Enso.

_"What the hell was tha- _MMPH!?" Bakugo suddenly felt a palm grab his face, discovering that Enso had somehow already caught up to him.

He tried to move his palms forward to blast him off, but Enso suddenly shoved the boy down and slammed the back of his head into the ground, the force kicking up many loose pieces of cement from the arena. His red eye seemed to give a dim red to the entire area floor, the black of his aura giving the shade of red a blood color from how they blended in.

So many people gasped at the sight of sudden power, but those with the sharpest of senses detected what it was that Enso had said to Bakugo before the attack.

Momo and Ochako looked horrified at what they heard.

"Wait... Wh-What did he j-just-?" Ochako turned her head in almost a robot-like manner in Izuku's direction.

"H-He didn't, Izuku never told me- Wha-?" Momo's speech was broken as she processed what she heard. When Izuku had told her about Bakugo, he had never told her what she had just heard in the most chilling voice. Her palms shook as she glanced over at the emerald boy's direction.

_"Izuku...?"_

Izuku didn't even know if he heard that right, or maybe he was just _hoping _that he didn't hear that right. He didn't even notice that nearly his entire class had glanced at him several times. He just kept staring at the battle with his eyes wholly engrossed and his ears more attentive than ever before.

The back of Bakugo's head bled, but the boy grit his teeth and forced his palms up, sending two explosions that forced Enso to let go of his face and backflip back.

He landed on his feet low to the ground, holding his dagger in a backhand manner with his furrowed brow visible.

Bakugo got sat up and panted, glaring daggers at his opponent. There was a whole new aura of intimidation just leaking from Enso, which could just be the black aura of his Reaper of Worlds Style, but Bakugo could feel something different. The moment he brought up the nerd, there was a different feeling emitting from Enso, a menacing atmosphere that felt as if it was meant to pressure _him_ more than anyone else.

Bakugo didn't know whether to be angry or confused. "You... We were in class... You weren't-!"

"If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it. Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof."

Bakugo felt his heart stop for a moment. "How... How do you-?"

"I was there." His voice hissed.

"Wha-?" Bakugo could feel a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his head.

"Wh-What?" Mina's yellow irises had shrunken down in fear of what she heard.

Jiro looked completely pissed off, tightly holding her hands into fists. "I'm gonna kill him..."

She felt Tsu's hand hold hers, the frog girl trying to look calm, but clearly distraught about what she heard as well.

Toru curled into a ball in her seat.

Bakugo looked down and felt his anger building up again.

"Why... Why are you bringing up that nerd now!?"

Enso spun his dagger in his hand, holding it upright and tightly gripping it as he pointed it at his opponent.

"Why? Because it was _you_ that made him suffer so much. You've crushed his self-confidence, you made him feel weak, you caused him to be so nervous and timid all this time."

Bakugo felt his blood begin to boil, "Good! That's how he should feel!" he yelled back.

Enso's eyes dilated as he suddenly blasted forward again, leaving a crater behind.

Bakugo held his hands close to each other, where he concentrated a sphere of light between his hands.

He closed his eyes as he shouted. "Stun Grenade!"

The light between his hands suddenly exploded into a large-scale flash, igniting the arena in a blinding light that forced many people to shield their eyes.

Enso tried closing his eyes before the blast but had taken some of the light in them. He stopped and rubbed his eyes with his hand, but realized that he didn't have the time to try and rub them back to get his full vision back. Instead, he took a deep breath and crouched down, listening carefully to his surroundings.

He heard some explosions circling around him, listening as they got close and far. As he heard someone clearly blasting close, so he rolled to the side as he listened to a flying fist soar over him.

He heard the sound of explosions propel the person back, to which Enso did the splits to duck even lower as an explosion occur right above him as his opponent passed by.

Enso didn't hesitate to get on his back and stick his legs outward in the air, rapidly spinning circularly to disperse all the smoke away.

He heard someone land farther from him, to which he guessed that the smoke had dispersed and Bakugo had retreated. He pushed himself back onto his feet, then opening his eyes to find his vision nearly returning.

Bakugo was crouching with an irritated look.

"Tch! Of course, you could still fight through that you bastard..."

Enso just glared at him.

Bakugo then stuck his hands to the ground and blasted it, sending a large chunk upward and at an angle that flew at Enso.

Enso took a deep breath and looked down.

"Reaper Of Worlds Style-"

He tightly gripped his dagger and his red eyes flashed.

"-Reaper's Harvest."

He slashed his dagger at the stone with blinding strikes, to which the giant piece of cement suddenly flashed white and splitting apart everywhere.

But a small splatter of blood landed on Enso's face, the boy noticing it _and_ who it had come from.

He saw Bakugo with a shocked expression. Backing up in the air with a visible cut that went across his cheek, noticeably bleeding.

Turns out, Bakugo had tried to hide behind the large stone to ambush Enso the moment he blasted it apart, but the swift slices were so fast and large-scaled that Bakugo didn't expect it. He had tried to retreat back, but one of the slashes had got to his cheek.

The explosive teen blasted forward to propel himself back, landing on his feet in a stumble before keeping low to the ground. He used his hand to feel the cut on his cheek, then looking frustrated that he got it.

When he glanced ahead, he saw the dust from the cement slightly obscuring Enso. But he could see his own blood on his opponent's cheek, the same area that he was just sliced at.

Enso had a cold gaze at him.

"Why...?"

Bakugo got back to his feet and wiped away the blood on his cheek.

"Why _what_?" Bakugo growled.

"Why make Izuku always feel so worthless? Why did you always torment him?"

"SHUT IT AND KEEP FIGHTING!" Bakugo let his anger overtake him as he ran towards Enso, keeping his palms to his sides.

Enso dissolved his dagger away and ran at Bakugo with just his hands.

Bakugo pointed a hand downward and blasted slightly upward, swinging his leg at Enso.

Enso ducked under Bakugo's kick and did a roll to avoid an immediate explosion that came after.

Bakugo exploded right back at Enso, aggressively trying to land an attack of some sort.

Enso got back to his feet and, without even looking back, he twirled to the side to avoid Bakugo's hand reaching out to him.

Bakugo was just about to turn his head when he felt two arms wrap around him from behind him and grab his wrists, holding them in place pointed downward.

"Let go, bastard!" Bakugo shouted, struggling to get out of the boy's hold.

"Why do you _hate_ him?" Enso sternly said, his grip getting harder. "What has he done to _you_ for you to believe that he deserved all that pain? What made you feel that you had the right to bully him?"

Bakugo tensed up as a memory started to flash through his mind, but he shook his head furiously to focus on the fight.

"GET OFF!" He sent two explosions downward from his palms, sending Enso and himself flying backwards in the air.

Enso pulled Bakugo over him and flung the boy away with a mighty swing, sending him flying farther.

Bakugo spiraled from the throw but used another explosion from his palms to flip himself, yet stumbling back as he landed.

He didn't even get a chance to readjust before Enso emerged in front of him with glaring red eyes.

**"Why?" **His fist slammed into Bakugo's stomach.

"oNNGHPH!" Bakugo's head jerked forward wand he could almost feel himself puking.

"Are you proud now!?" Enso uppercut Bakugo with a fist, he grabbed his head and slammed it down into his knee, then roundhouse kicked him on the side of his head. "What did he do to deserve that?!"

Bakugo tried not about it; he struggled in his thoughts, which reflected on his sudden trouble in his current fight. He released an explosion from his right hand in a desperate attempt to make space, but Enso had just gotten closer and moved his arm to the side.

"What. Happened?" Enso whispered, before one final punch connected into Bakugo's chest.

Bakugo felt launched back, to which the world mysteriously started to slow down around him. He saw his arms reaching in the air and his vision darkening. Sweat flew off of him in all directions, and he felt all the pain momentarily stop.

More images flashed through his mind, images he had thought about for nearly every day of his life whenever he saw Izuku. His memories, his childhood, _their_ childhood.

He didn't even notice as he felt a hand grab his forehead.

_"Memory Breach." _Was all he heard left before his thoughts turned dark.

* * *

~{Ten Years Ago}~

"Wow, Kacchan!"An innocent child's voice praised.

"This is easy!" Another one shouted.

The four-year-old nicknamed Kacchan effortlessly juggled an orange ball with his knees, maintaining a big grin on his face. Beside him, a four-year-old Izuku stood there watching in awe with his own green ball.

"Let's see what you can do, Izuku!" Kacchan challenged as he caught his orange ball.

"Okay!"Izuku squeaked excitingly, holding his own ball tightly in his hands.

At the first attempt to do the same thing, the green ball immediately hit the small boy's head, making him fall on his behind.

"O-Ow…" he uttered out as he rubbed his head.

Kacchan grinned at him with a chuckle, "Izuku, you really can't do anything, can you?"

The memory faded away, and a new one emerged. Izuku and Kacchan both stood at the same park again, only there were three other kids with them, the three people who used to be part of his squad.

Kacchan pointed at a yellow pale with Izuku's name on it.

"You can read the characters for 'Izuku' as 'Deku,' you know?"

"Kacchan, you can read?!" one of the kids asked, impressed that he could already perform such a feat.

"You can't?"Kacchan smugly responded.

He then looked towards Izuku.

"And 'Deku' means someone who can't do anything!"

"Really?" the other kids asked as they turned to Izuku.

The newly nicknamed Deku held his head down with a sad expression.

"Stop it, Kacchan…"

That memory vanished too, where another one manifested in place.

Deku and Kacchan stood at the edge of a lake, where the same three other kids from the previous memory were there too. Kacchan threw a stone and skipped it across the river for an impressive length.

"Kacchan, how many times did yours skip!?"One of the kids asked him in awe.

"Seven!"Kacchan declared proudly.

"Wow, that's Kacchan for you!"another one praised.

Kacchan turned his head and looked at Deku with a smirk.

"How about you, Deku?"he asked in a proud, arrogant tone.

Deku looked down in shame, "Z-Zero times…"

Kacchan and the other kids laughed at him.

Once again, everything turned black before gaining the color of a new setting. Kacchan and Deku were in preschool, everyone was gathered around Kacchan as he had manifested his quirk, staring in awe at the small explosions that came out of his hands.

"Wow!" One said.

"Lucky!" Another added.

"That's so cool!" Even Deku said with a happy expression.

Even the adults praised him, "Wow, that's an amazing quirk!"

"It really is! It's a flashy quirk just for the right hero, right Katsuki?"One of the adults praised with a smile.

Kacchan stared at his quirk with the biggest of grins on his face. He partially wondered why everyone had always praised him, he wondered why he always seemed good at everything, but it was at this moment where he had realized the reason.

_"Oh, I see. I know why they couldn't read, I know why they couldn't skip stones like me, I know why I have this quirk."_

His eyes lit up.

_"It's because I'm amazing!"_

He formed an ear to ear grin.

Then the image disintegrated, being replaced with the same classroom but with a different person for everyone to surround. Izuku was sitting in the middle of everyone with a dead look of trauma and a smile of disbelief on his face.

His classmates whispered as Kacchan stared from afar.

"Hey, did you hear? Deku doesn't have a quirk." One giggled.

"What? Really?" A girl asked in genuine surprise.

"Yeah, it's called being quirkless." A smart boy pointed out.

The whispering just kept going.

"That's so lame."

"Too bad for him."

"He's so weird!"

Kacchan simply grinned along with his classmates, staring at the Deku shaking on the ground with tears nearly forming in his eyes.

_"You're the least amazing, Deku."_ He concluded in his thoughts.

That last line echoed as everything turned dark.

The present Bakugo felt himself falling through the black abyss, shadows over his eyes as the previous questions from Enso replayed in his mind.

_"Why make Izuku always feel so worthless? Why did you always torment him?"_

His hands clenched into tight fists.

_"Why do you hate him?"_

He gritted his teeth.

_"What has he done to you for you to believe that he deserved all that pain? What made you feel that you had the right to bully him?"_

From replaying these questions, one final memory emerged in his head, one that he had always recalled with every detail.

Kacchan led Deku and the other three of his squad on a march, having them all follow him through the forest they usually played in with the leader holding a stick and grinning proudly.

"Forward march, members of the Bakugo Hero Agency!"he sang as they started marching across a fallen tree trunk over a creek.

Deku looked unsure as he stared down at the water bellow, feeling slightly worried about what would happen.

His worries came true when Kacchan missed his footing and slipped off the tree trunk.

"Ah!" He fell all the way down into the creek, splashing into the water.

"Kacchan!"One of his squad yelled.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Another shouted after.

"He's fine. Kacchan's real strong. See?"The third reassured them.

Sure enough, Kacchan had emerged from the low-level water and shook his head side to side to fling away most of the water.

"Phew..." He secretly breathed in relief.

Present Bakugo could feel his anger growing as his current thoughts recollected that time.

_"I was fine…"_

"Hurry up and get back up here!" His squad called to down to him.

"Kay, no problem!" Kacchan shouted to them, giving them a thumbs up and a big, close-eyed grin.

Present Bakugo's felt himself shaking in anger.

_"Nothing was wrong!"_

The next thing Kacchan knew, Deku had appeared next to him in the water. He had gone down from the slope of the hill and reached his hand out to his friend, offering it for him to take.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?" Deku asked with a genuinely concerned face.

The grin on Kacchan's face turned to shock to see his friend right there, offering him his help. He stared at him with a blank look as Deku just waited for him to take his hand.

"It would've been bad if you hit your head." Deku added in a small squeaking of words.

The look of surprise on Kacchan's face slowly started to change. His pupils began to shrink, and his smile turned into a frown. Soon, he only had a look of pure anger and disgust, staring at the boy that was only wishing to help.

A spark that wasn't his quirk ignited. A spark that reflected in his red eyes of rage.

"Don't look at me like that…" _"Don't look at me like that..."_ Kacchan said and present Bakugo thought at the same time.

"Huh?"Deku uttered out, slowly lowering his hand and getting confused by his friend's sudden angry tone.

"Stop it…" _"Stop it!"_ Both voices said/thought in unison.

Kacchan slowly started getting back up to his feet, his hands balling to fists as he furiously glared at Izuku with pressed together teeth.

"I don't need your help..." _"I didn't need his help..."_

Deku visibly started to shake as he took a step back with nervous eyes.

"Ka...cchan?"

Kacchan took a step towards Izuku, eyes piercing into him.

"What makes you think I need _your_ help?"

Kacchan's arms shook as he opened his right palm.

"You're quirkless, and yet... Yet..." He lowered his head, letting shadows obscure his eyes.

_"Yet he was looking down at me!"_ Bakugo boomed in his thoughts.

"Kacchan, are you sure you're alright?" Deku innocently, if not nervously, got close to help.

But hearing that voice was the last straw.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR USELESS HELP!" His right palm started igniting.

Deku froze in fear, his eyes shrinking as he saw sparks suddenly get close.

"I'M BETTER THAN YOU!"

The light of his friend's quirk reflected off the poor boy's eyes, right as Kacchan released an explosion from his hand, an explosion right in front of Deku's face.

Deku was sent backward, and a cloud of smoke covered the area. It was the first time Kacchan had released a more enormous blast like that since getting his quirk recently. He panted heavily as he glanced down at his palm, staring at the faint smoke coming up.

Kacchan's lackeys gasped at the spectacle, but they didn't dare to challenge the power of their leader.

They watched as the smoke covering the creek slowly dispersed.

What was revealed was a crying Deku, the boy clutching his bleeding forehead on the ground while slowly turning to Kacchan with a traumatized look of betrayal.

Kacchan stared in shock at his former friend's state but was also stunned at the bigger explosion he had suddenly made.

He glanced down at his smoking hand again, then glanced back to Deku.

His look of shock disappeared.

To which he formed the first evil grin he had ever made.

* * *

Bakugo snapped his eyes open and found nearly his entire shirt soaked in sweat. His vision was blurry, but he saw a shadow and blue colors looming above him, added with the feeling of someone grabbing his head.

It took only a moment for him to realize that he was laying down on the arena floor. Enso was above him, holding his forehead with his right hand, his body and eyes glowing blue in his Punk Style. His other hand was open and sticking outward, clearly pointing to somewhere in the crowd.

Enso's eyes were staring down at him in disappointment, the blue colors around him slowly starting fading away. It was nearly silent, most of the cries of the crowd had been deafened ever since hearing the dispute between the two of them while fighting.

"I see…" Enso blinked and his eyes turned back to red, indicating his use of powers going away. "So, that's why..."

Bakugo's pupils shrunk when he heard those words, "What. The hell. Did you. Do?"

Enso lowered the hand he was pointing to the crowd with and sighed.

"I'm sorry. I had to know why... I had to _see_ why. By having you go into your thoughts and making you vulnerable, I was able to see and hear everything. Including what you were thinking back then..."

Bakugo seemed to tense up in shock to hear that he did that.

Enso turned his head left to the crowd, staring over at his student sitting near the front of his class.

Izuku's eyes were wide open with a traumatized expression. His eyes had somehow turned momentarily blue as he started sweating all over his body.

"And... I passed them along to your childhood friend..." Enso finished.

"Nani?!" Bakugo turned his head right and caught sight of Izuku, the boy shaking in his seat between Mina and Toru.

"Midori!? What happened!?" Mina frantically asked Izuku, who just remained still with emotionless opened eyes.

Enso looked slightly down in some shame.

_"I'm sorry, Izuku... But you had to know why... You deserved to know why..."_

Izuku had seen all those memories flashing through his mind again, all in the point of view of his childhood bully.

_"So… The reason Kacchan hates me so much… is because I hurt his pride by trying to help him?"_

His gaze went down to his broken arms.

_"Someone as worthless as me… Tried to help him? That's why? He thought... that I was looking down at him? I... I didn't think that would be it... I'm... I'm..."_

"You... You..."

Bakugo's strained voice spoke under Enso, to which the boy turned his head back down to the blonde teen.

Bakugo's eyes were shadowed as he turned his head back.

Enso detected a hint of hostility.

"BASTARD!"

Enso's eyes widened as Bakugo moved both of his open palms up, to which he saw them inflame right in front of his face.

Two massive explosions came out point-blank at Enso, creating a giant cloud of smoke that obscured them.

Many people gasped in shock and had their eyes enlarged.

"Enso-kun!?" Lunch Rush shouted with a worried stance.

Out of the smoke, Enso came out flying and tumbled along the ground before slowly rolling to a stop. His face had black smudges from smoke on it and many parts of his gym clothes were burnt black. A portion of his hair has been visibly burnt off, only to ignite in blue flames and suddenly restore back. He shakingly got up as he noticed his head bleeding and placed a hand on it.

"Tsk... Really...?" Enso muttered as he used an arm to slightly push himself up.

The smoke slowly cleared ahead of Enso to reveal Bakugo up on his feet, his palms out and sparking with a menacing aura of the determination to win around him.

"I'm not gonna let you get in my fucking head! I'm gonna win this!" Bakugo declared to him.

Enso fully stood up and used his arm to wipe away the blood that was about to get in his eyes.

"_That's_ what you're thinking about? You think _I'm_ still focused on winning? I'm trying to help you!"

That just seemed to piss Bakugo even more. "What the fuck do you mean!?"

Enso glared at him, "You had always thought of yourself as amazing, you had always thought you were the best at everything! Juggling a ball, skipping a stone so many times, being able to read. By having things that you were able to do but others weren't, your ego and arrogance grew!"

Bakugo blasted over at him with murderous intent. "Stop talking and fight!"

As he got close, he swiped his palm and let out three consecutive explosions in one swing, explosions that Enso had avoided by jumping upward.

"That arrogance was only made worse the moment you got lucky with your explosive quirk! You formed a mindset that you were the best out of everyone!"

He formed and energy ball in his hand and let it explode to send himself backward as Bakugo blasted upward to try and blow him up.

"At the same time, Izuku wasn't as blessed as you! You made him feel like he was the worst while you were better than he'll ever be!"

"Shut it!" Bakugo exploded both palms behind him to hone down on Enso in blazing speeds.

Enso landed and performed a backward cartwheel to avoid Bakugo's shooting down to the ground with enough force to violently cracked it.

Bakugo proceeded to swing more explosions at him, but Enso kept backing up farther and farther away.

"So when Izuku tried to help you on that creek, you took it as an insult! You thought that out of everyone, your weakest childhood friend was the one looking down at you! Looking down on someone that viewed himself as the best in the world!"

"SHINE!" Bakugo released consecutive explosions and spun into a small fiery tornado that rapidly spun at Enso.

Enso crossed his arms as the tornado slammed into him, feeling all the heat and force of each small blast in it while clenching his teeth and still trying to speak.

"Nngh! Because of that moment, you hated Izuku! All you started to think about was how he looked down at you! So you bullied him all those years of his life _just_ to show him that you were stronger than him! You blasted his face so young and made him bleed _just_ so you could prove that you wouldn't need his help!"

With the boys yelling all of this, Izuku's class had a mixture of looks, from confused, to horrified.

"What the hell is Ureshi saying?" Kirishima uttered out.

"I-I'm not too sure if I'm hearing this right," Sero added.

Izuku wasn't even listening to any of them, he didn't notice how anyone was acting around him, he didn't even notice Mina and Toru trying to shake him. His eyes were just forced open as he recalled those childhood days from his tormentor's point of view, mixed with listening to what his mentor was saying right now.

_"Wh-Why...? Why are you doing this, Enso? Wh-What are you trying to do?!"_

Bakugo stopped spinning and let out two fast explosions that allowed him to suddenly swerve behind Enso.

Enso turned around just in time to knock Bakugo's hand up, making him release an explosion upward rather than at him again. He then jumped back as Bakugo used another explosion to move his arm in a lightning-fast backhand swing, managing to avoid it before surging forward and slamming his foot into the boy's face.

"NGGH!" Bakugo was sent tumbling back but didn't hesitate to blast the ground to flip himself back.

Seeing this chance, Enso kept on talking while getting in another fighting stance.

"Was all that bullying really worth it! Was hurting him, _burning_ him day after day worth it!? All because Izuku was only trying to _help_ you? He never viewed you as weak, Bakugo! He never looked down at you! He-!"

"SHUT UUUUUUUP!"

Bakugo launched himself upward and then continuously released explosions to propel himself in a circular motion, forming a horizontal tornado of smoke spiraling faster and faster as he did.

"HOWITZER-!"

Enso watched as the barrage of smoke got close, gritting his teeth and crouching down with his dagger in hand while forming his black aura.

"Reaper Of Worlds Style-"

As Bakugo got close, he swung his palm at Enso while igniting it.

"-IMPACT!"

The biggest explosion of all occurred and sent powerful winds to the audience, shaking the arena.

But _just _as the explosions had ignited, Enso's eyes flashed red and he tightly gripped his dagger.

"-Utter End!"

A bright white flash of a slice occurred, which was Enso swinging his dagger at the air in front of him with a powerful slice.

Yet the giant explosions of expanding flames still seemed to engulf him.

Izuku snapped out of his dazed state when he saw his mentor disappear in flames, resulting in him standing up in his seat, much to Mina and Toru's surprise.

"Enso!"

A large cloud of smoke obscured the arena, and everyone started murmuring as they wondered what happened.

The smoke slowly started to disperse. What was first revealed was Bakugo laying on the ground with a slightly satisfied, yet tired expression. Sweat dripped everywhere from his head as he used an arm to force himself up on one knee.

As more on the smoke dispersed, the blonde boy was shocked to see Enso still on his feet up ahead, panting hard with his dagger in his shaking hand and the sleeves of his U.A gym shirt burned off.

_"He sliced through my attack to split it passed him!?" _Bakugo realized with bold, red veins of anger forming in his eyes.

Despite Enso having sliced through Bakugo's attack with a powerful enough force to split it, he had still felt the heat and the skin of his arms even showed signs of being burnt from the flames.

Enso panted as smoke came from him, but lowered his arms and made his black aura and dagger disappear when he saw Bakugo's crouching down with his arms shaking from that last explosion.

"Bakugo..." Enso sighed. "Izuku never looked down at you, he admired you ever since you were little. From being able to juggle, to your goal to become a hero, he always looked up to you. Not once has ever looked down upon you. Even though you put him through so much, even though you tormented for nearly every day... he still considers you his friend."

Bakugo hung his head down, his hands balling tightly as his body shook.

"He wants things to go back like before. He wants to be able to talk to you normally... He just wants to be friends again."

Bakugo visibly tensed up as he slowly got back to his feet, still keeping his head down with his expression obscured.

"There's nothing wrong with going back. You won't be judged, no one will look down on you. No one _should_ look down on you if all you do is become his friend again... He deserves that from you, at least..."

Izuku was stunned, realizing what Enso trying to do.

_"He's... He's trying to fix our friendship?"_

Izuku could feel the anticipation growing in him. He was still standing and near the edge with his hand tightly holding onto the rail. Mina and Toru looked confused, yet also rather intrigued by what Enso was doing.

Momo and Ochako were both stunned, they didn't know that was his intention.

Jiro and Tsu looked curious at the unfolding events.

Enso stuck his hand out, almost as if offering it. "You could become great heroes together. So why not-?"

"ENOUGH!"

Enso's eyes widened as he leaned his head to the side to narrowly avoid a sharp stone blasted at him, cutting his cheek as he leaned away.

He raised a hand to his cheek and dabbed it in the blood, then glancing at it to see that he indeed had been cut.

No one expected it, not even Enso did. He turned back to Bakugo, the boy's pupils shaking at this point.

He slammed his foot to the ground, he pointed a shaking finger at Enso, and he looked like he could cry at any moment, yet...

"I'M ONLY GOING TO SAY THIS ONE TIME! THAT NERD IS USELESS TO ME! HE'S A PEBBLE FOR ME TO KICK ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, AN INSECT FOR ME TO CRUSH! HE'S DEKU! AND HE'LL ALWAYS _BE_ DEKU! HE'LL ALWAYS BE UNDERNEATH ME WHILE I KEEP RISING UP UNTIL I FINALLY BECOME THE NUMBER ONE HERO!"

Those words echoed throughout the entire arena.

You could swear that Izuku's eyes lost color as he fell back into his seat, mouth open as he processed what he heard.

_"Wh-What?... Wh-Why? H-He still sees me as-as..."_

His vision suddenly started turning black, and when he blinked, he found himself in the same dark abyss that he had stood in during his battle with Enso.

He didn't even seem to comprehend that he was in his sub-conscious once again, he just stood on his feet with his dead gaze still remaining on the ground, tears starting to drip down from his eyes.

_"Why? I know that I didn't take his feelings into consideration when I tried to help, but... but... Even now? He still hates me? Why... Why does he keep doing this? I keep having so much hope, so much a-and yet..."_

**_"And yet, why do you keep putting up with him?"_**

Izuku's head slowly moved up to gaze ahead, not caring about the water dripping down from his eyes. The voice sounded somewhat similar to his, although echoey and with hints of anger.

**_"After so many years of not being able to fight... After getting hurt for so long... Now WE can be the ones fighting back._**

_"B-But… But..."_

**_"You heard him yourself, he's not your friend, he thought we couldn't do anything... He thinks he's so powerful because he got lucky with a good quirk. You suffered every day and had to work harder than anyone else to be here! What we did to him back then... He deserved it! He deserved to know just how much stronger we've become!"_**

Izuku's feet were getting surrounded by a black aura. This aura was dense and obscured his feet from his view, which was the same as what started happening to his body during his battle against Enso.

**_"He bullied you every day. You KNOW he would've continued to do it if we weren't going to U.A! We must show him that we're not to be messed with!"_**

The dense black aura traveled up to Izuku's torso now, but there wasn't any sign of pain like before. Izuku didn't struggle, he didn't move, he just kept his dead gaze down as this aura started to continue enveloping him.

**_"We don't need him, we never needed him! We can do fine just, without, him!"_**

Izuku's pupils started to fill in red. His scleras began turning black.

_"I…I..."_

**_"We'll show him that we're the strongest. Even if we have to beat it into him."_**

As the aura went up to Izuku's neck, a black silhouette formed in front of the boy, the silhouette of himself.

It's slanted eyes and wide, jagged smile all shined brightly red, it reached a hand out once more to Izuku, waiting for him to accept it.

Izuku's thoughts just became static, he couldn't think clearly. His vision was turning black as his aura was starting to go around his head. What was right, what was wrong, what _he_ wanted, there was no answer he could think of. The black aura covered around his head, then near his mouth and eyes.

He reached out a hand once more, reaching for the figure of Ikari to take it.

Both hands neared each other, about to hold each other as the black aura was finally reaching Izuku's eyes, about to cover every inch and just let out everything.

But.

_"Midori!"_

A female's voice suddenly echoed in the dark abyss, causing a natural reaction from Izuku to recoil his hand away from Ikari. The black aura going up around his eyes suddenly stopped.

_"Huh...?" _Izuku blinked, and his eyes started to turn back to green.

_"Midori... If you can hear me, just calm down... Please."_ He heard her gentle voice.

Izuku felt a gentle warmth grow in him, a warmth that somehow seemed to develop as green lightning sparking around him.

He remembered.

_"Promise me... Promise us that you won't do th-that again."_ Ochako had begged.

_"Don't just say you're sorry, Izuku... Actually don't do it again, please. Promise us that you won't break your arms like that again, we can't bear to seeing you like that..."_ Momo had pleaded.

_"You'd better not... Idiot..."_ Jiro had mumbled.

_"I'd rather see the cute, nervous Izu-chan than the angry, scary one..."_ Tsu's voice echoed.

_"Making everyone worry is another quirk of yours, isn't it?"_ Toru had sighed.

_"You... You scared me so much..."_ Mina had whimpered.

Izuku finally realized the situation he was and knew what could happen if he took Ikari's hand. He determinedly forced his hands back, where his green electricity seemed to zap the black aura and make chunks of it disappear off of him.

_"No... I promised... I can't let it happen... Not again!"_

Ikari almost seemed to let out a sigh. It closed its jagged mouth and narrowed its red eyes, then closing those too before suddenly disintegrating away.

**_"Maybe soon..."_** He faintly spoke before disappearing.

Izuku tried to yell after him, but found himself momentarily choke, feeling dizzy despite being in his consciousness. He himself disintegrated too, disappearing from the black abyss.

* * *

"H-Hey! Midori, what's wrong!?" Mina panicked.

The girl was holding Izuku in her arms, the boy ultimately passed out yet with a dangerous black aura surrounding him.

"Th-That c-color... You don't think-!?" Toru whimpered, worried that the boy would unleash his quirk once more in an uncontrolled manner.

Holding Izuku, Mina could feel an unnatural heat coming from him.

"Midori!" She called out again.

Momo stood up in her seat, shocked at the color surrounding Izuku.

"Is Midoriya gonna go crazy!? Get away from him, Ashido!" Sero called to her from his seat.

Instead, Mina just hugged the boy closer, nearly in tears as she gently caressed his hair.

"Midori... If you can hear me, just calm down... Please." She whispered gently to him.

Her words seemed to have a visual effect on the boy, as his hand twitched. The black aura around him slowly started to fade away. Class A watched as the color disappeared and all that was left was an unconscious green boy.

"I'll take him to Recovery Girl!" Sato rushed over.

As her class made a commotion about Izuku as Sato carried him off, Momo turned her head back down to the battlefield at Enso, her anger growing when she remembered seeing him turn to obviously gaze at Izuku, a hand having been raised aimed at him too.

She knew he did something, she absolutely knew.

_"Ureshi... What did you do?" _Momo tightly gripped the handles of her seat.

At the same time, Enso and Bakugo stared across from one another. Bakugo panted angrily after giving that last response about his thoughts of Izuku, while Enso glared at him with a menacing look of hatred.

"I see… So that's how it is then?" Enso's dagger formed into his hand as he tightly gripped onto it harder than ever before. "So even after all that... You're choosing the path of ignorance?"

His black aura forming visibly started to violently vibrate as he looked down, creating shadows over his eyes.

"Throwing away your friendship of the person who understood you the most... Choosing to go at things alone just to prove that you're 'the best'..."

He facepalmed with a disappointing sigh.

"You're pathetic… You think you could be the number one hero with an attitude like that? Treating another person like they have no meaning to you? Treating them as worthless?"

"What was that bastard?" Bakugo growled, getting into a dangerous position of attack.

"I said..." Enso took a step forward,

He slightly rose his red, one red eye glaring over at him.

**"-you're pathetic."**

His aura exploded as a pillar of black all the way up into the sky. He became completely engulfed in that black and shocked everyone by the scale of it.

Bakugo felt an overwhelming force from Enso, and his feet were even forcibly sliding back against the ground.

The arena had darkened from the black colors shading the surroundings, Bakugo's eyes were enlarged as he watched the large amount of energy shooting up.

_"This bastard... Is this all the energy he's got stored up in him?!"_

The boy's red eyes appeared in the dark pillar of towering energy, slit eyes that focused entirely on Bakugo.

Bakugo could feel his life in danger, he could feel a murderous intent, and the threat of one more attack.

But the red eyes in the pillar of energy seemed to turn, catching a glimpse of a mouse-like principal and the number one hero.

"..."

The red eyes closed in the pillar, to which the scaling of power started to get visibly weaker.

_"What's he doing?"_ Bakugo suspiciously wondered.

The black pillar of energy kept getting smaller and smaller until it was only Enso standing there with no sign of any energy, holding his dagger with a cold, emotionless expression.

He stared down at the dagger in his hand, his eyelids then dropping.

"This..." He sighed.

"This is pointless... I'm getting too worked up..."

He tossed his dagger to the ground. It clanked before immediately dissolving out of sight.

Bakugo squinted his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Enso glanced up at him with an uncaring blank stare.

"I only wanted to fight so that I could restore your friendship with Izuku... But obviously... You don't care about that. I have no other reason to keep fighting you... I tried to help, but I failed. So I'm done..."

"Nani?" Bakugo's red pupils shrunk.

"You win... You don't want to have friends? Fine..."

Bakugo took a step forward, his right hand shaking and unable to believe this claim.

"Hey, HEY! We're not done!" He started running forward towards Enso. "You're not going anywhere!"

Enso narrowed his eyes.

_"In the end, only his pride and arrogance fuel his desires..."_

He took a deep breath as Bakugo got closer, then clearing his throat.

"I give up."

The sound of a cracking whip echoed, making Bakugo freeze in place.

"Enso Ureshi has given up! Katsuki Bakugo wins!" Midnight's voice boomed, despite the woman herself having an unsure expression on giving the win.

No one said a word.

Everything seemed to freeze until Aizawa nudged Mic in the commentary room, hinting the loud hero to speak.

Present Mic just as shocked as everyone else, and for once, he didn't know how to end off the festival.

"Um... So the winner of the sports festival is... Katsuki Bakugo?" 

Rather than cheer and shout, many people seemed to be outraged.

"What the hell was that!? Keep fighting!?"

"You wanna be a hero when you aren't even giving in the effort!?"

"What are you, afraid!? You're a coward running from a fight!"

Other's were concerned about the contents of what they heard.

"Bakugo bullied a student when he was younger? What if it was just boys playing which each other?"

"He made a kid bleed? I always had a bad feeling about that kid, but I didn't think he would be so... violent."

Other's were just confused.

"Why did Ureshi just give up? Is he that reluctant to give Bakugo a fight?"

"What if his quirk was just reaching a limit, and he thought he was gonna lose?"

Nezu looked down and sighed, _"Oh, Enso-kun..."_

Toshinori couldn't believe what Enso had done, just exposing another student like that and then just giving up.

_"Young Enso... Why? You saw everyone giving their effort, you know that Young Midorirya would want you to give your best! So... why did you stop?"_

Enso had his head down with his eyes only half-open in an emotionless stare, listening to all the criticizing comments going towards him and Bakugo.

"Goodbye, Bakugo..." The boy mumbled as he turned his back to the frozen boy and started walking.

The speed of the world slowed to nearly a stop around Bakugo.

His eyes felt forced open with a gaze of disbelief at what just happened. It was the final battle, the battle to prove who was the best out of anyone, and yet his opponent gave up. Bakugo was now the winner of the sports festival, he had crushed every one of his opponents below him all the way until this point.

But even though he won this battle, he hadn't won at all.

Enso heard the sound of running behind him, turning around to see Bakugo bolting at him with his right palm open and his head down.

He remained still as Bakugo came and swung his right hand right at the side of his head, making people gasp.

Only for him to stop mid-swing, palm inches away from Enso's head and sparking.

Both remained in silence for a moment.

"Keep fighting..." Bakugo said in a demanding tone.

"..." Enso starred at him in pity.

Bakugo pressed his teeth together.

"Fight!"

"No."

That triggered Bakugo to use his left hand and tightly grip onto Enso's collar, pulling him in close. He raised his head to reveal the blood-red veins in his eyes as he threateningly released consecutive small explosions from his palm besides Enso head.

"STOP SCREWING AROUND!"

He shook the boy back and forth.

"TO GET FIRST PLACE LIKE THIS!? THERE'S NO POINT!" His voice was cracking and was practically begging.

Enso shook his head side to side.

"To fight you right here... There's no _point_ for me."

Bakugo's hand gripped tighter on his collar, and he balled his sparking hand into a fist, stopping his quirk and punching Enso right on his cheek.

"WHY THE HELL DO YOU CARE ABOUT THAT NERD SO MUCH!?"

Bakugo kept holding Enso as he kept punching him on his face.

"YOU ONLY FOUGHT ME TO HELP HIM!? WHY!? WHY FIGHT JUST FOR HIM!?"

Midnight started rushing over, tearing her sleeve.

Enso turned his head straight to Bakugo with a serious expression, the corner of his mouth bleeding and prompting Bakugo to stop.

He narrowed his eyes at him.

"Because... we're friends."

"Wha-?!" Bakugo's mouth became agape.

"Izuku and I are friends. Of course, I wanted to help him... I wanted to help him gain some of his confidence back by getting him a precious friend back... I even wanted to help you. I thought that by fixing this, you would be a valuable person, and maybe friend, to work with and would actually learn something. But it seems that I've only made it worse..."

"I-I-!" Bakugo fists shook, unable to believe this. The corner of his eyes formed water as he pulled his fist back again, ready to swing.

A pink aroma gently filled the air, both Bakugo and Enso breathed it in.

Bakugo's looked drowsy, his grip on Enso loosened and he started falling forward.

"Fight... me..." Were his last words.

Enso caught him in his arms and backed up with surprise, realizing that the pink aroma around the boy had knocked him out.

He glanced around and saw that Midnight had ripped a part of her sleeve to allow her quirk to spread.

But something was confusing about the situation.

_"Why isn't it affecting me?" _Enso placed Bakugo to the ground and looked around, noticing that he was indeed breathing in the aroma.

_"And why does it smell... So familiar..."_

Enso felt a fiery pain going through his brain, to which he instinctively fell to his knees. He closed his eyes and clutched his head in pain and grunted in a loud manner, shaking as he suddenly saw an image flash through his mind.

_"What's this!?"_

What he saw wasn't much, it was only three silhouettes. There was a tall girl, a short boy, and a shorter girl.

This image lasted for a second before the burning pain vanished as quickly as it came.

His eyes snapped open and he started panting harder, regaining his composure as the pink aroma started to disappear.

He shakingly got back to his feet, still clutching his head in one hand as he heard footsteps approach him.

He glanced up and saw Midnight, who was looking down at him rather shocked.

"Huh!? You're still awake!?"

Enso stood up straight. "I... I don't know how... But your quirk seems to sting to me for some reason..." Enso groaned as he tried to process what he saw. "It was such an odd feeling. A feeling of... 'familiarity?'"

He turned away from her and clumsily stepped forward.

_"What... was that?"_

Midnight was in awe as she watched Enso walking away. She suddenly felt a bigger excitement than she had ever felt before, eyes of desire forming in her pupils.

_"A man who won't fall asleep after taking in my quirk..."_

Her cheeks formed a shade of red and her breathing quickened.

_"To think that I've finally found someone like that..."_

Her eyes menacingly shined as she licked her lips.

_"I really shouldn't..."_

Her thoughts were silent for a moment.

_"BUT!"_

She tightened her grip on her whip with a sadistic smile.


	35. The Festival's End

The human-disguised figure stared at the computer screen with a satisfied grin, entwining his fingers and let out an echoing chuckle too.

**_"Oh Reapy, Reapy, Reapy... You sure said some 'very' interesting things..."_**

He started to let out a ghostly laugh as he moved the mouse to another tab.

**_"Now... who is this 'Izuku' you're 'friends' with?"_**

He typed up the name 'Izuku' in the search bar.

There were several results involving videos of the sports festival. But the top link was titled, "**Izuku Midoriya V.S Enso Ureshi.**"

**_"They fought each other?"_**

He clicked on the video, watching it from the very beginning.

He watched as Izuku and Enso fought each other. He saw them using identical martial arts, he saw Izuku exploding his fingers and arms with power, and he saw his black aura forming and unleashing barrages of energy in different forms. His excitement grew and grew with each passing second, his twisted grin was nearly pressed up against the screen by the time the battle had ended.

**_"Amazing... Amazing! You have a friend like this Reapy!?"_** His breathing quickened. **_"How strong his willpower and determination must be to BREAK his own bones and still keep on fighting! I wonder how much he can take from me? Oh, I wanna know, I wanna know just how strong his mind is! I wanna know how long he can last..."_**

He heard a knocking on the side of the booth he was in.

"Oi! Keep it down in here!"

The figure flinched and turned to the door, looking visibly pissed as he stood up and slid it open to reveal a middle-aged man who appeared to be the manager.

**_"I'm sorry, what was that?"_** He asked in an annoyed tone.

The manager looked unimpressed at the booming sound of his voice.

"Your shouting is annoying the other customer! Either shut up, or get out."

His hand cracked into fists, **_"Oh? Telling me what to do? That won't do at all..."_**

The manager seemed to notice his tone and narrowed his eyes, "Don't do anything stupid. Heroes can come here anytime."

That just seemed to make him even more pissed.

**_"Heroes?... Is that all of you always go back to? You always let all of THEM fight for you? You think that they'll come to protect you guys every single time with their little superpowers?"_**

He gazed his head down, shadows over his eyes.

**_"Tsk! It's the same... It always seems the same no matter where I go..."_**

He took a step forward to the man, to which the man stepped back cautiously.

**_"It seems like you need a little lesson of fighting for yourselves. Let's see if your mind's still intact afterword."_**

"Security!" The man shouted, prompting a guard to started rushing over.

**_"So in the end, you're still going to bring someone else to fight for you... Fine."_**

He visibly started to deform and make grotesque sounds in the process. His figure started molding and growing to a new height, his skin turned pale and showed signs of rotting, he looked down as a hood suddenly grew on his head and his fingers turned into claws. His pants ripped into shorts once again and his upper clothing had disintegrated, only revealing the bandages around his torso and biceps.

The security guard that had been marching over suddenly stopped and took a step back in horror at the sight. The manager backed up next to him too with wide-open eyes and sweat coming from all over his head.

"Wh-What is that!?" He hid behind the guard, who pulled out a gun from the side and aimed it.

"Get out everyone!" The guard shouted.

**_"I don't think so." _**Before anyone could check out what was happening, he stuck both of his palms out, to which multiple horrid tendrils came out and stuck all over the room. They suddenly started turning the walls and floor to metal, spreading and spreading until it covered the entire room, especially the doors and windows, in steel.

Seeing him do this, the guard fired. "Die you monster!"

His bullets visibly punctured the figure and caused many people to scream and burst out of their booths, all of them frantically rushing to exits. Only to find that everything was turned to metal.

**_"You're annoying."_** One of his tendrils pulled itself out from the wall and wrapped around the guard's hands, pulling him up and forcing his gun to be aimed upward.

"Hey! Hey!" The guard struggled.

"We can't get out!" Someone yelled, trying to get out through the mental encased area.

"The doors are sealed in metal!?" Another shouted.

"Call a hero, it's a villain!"

**_"STOP RELYING ON OTHERS!"_** He pulled his tendrils back into his hand and slammed his palm to the ground, to which a sudden wave of an emp-sort blast spread through the entire area, causing many electronics to fry and making people drop their phones in shock that they suddenly malfunctioned.

**_"The next one that says ANYTHING, you'll gonna find something missing from the top of your neck!"_** He threatened, raising his head to reveal the blazing red eyeholes and jagged mouth of his now formed mask.

Everyone either froze in fear or fell to the ground shaking.

**_"Finally..."_** He took a heavy step forward before using his tendrils to forcefully pull the gun from the guard's hand, then flinging him to the wall with a loud slam.

"NGH!" The guard bounced off the wall and fell to the floor in pain.

He retracted his tendrils back and put the gun in his hand.

**_"I'm honestly disappointed... To think, when getting faced with a threat, ALL you guys kept thinking about was a way to get a hero here... The common people here are just as frail as everywhere else..."_**

He waved the gun around. **_"Well guess what? These walls are sound-proof, any method of electrical communication won't work, and I don't think anyone is gonna be looking in here anytime soon."_**

"Wh-What do you want from us?" The manager demanded to know.

The figure glanced around at the audience of people consisting of several men and a few women.

**_"I just wanna see how many of you REALLY want to live..."_** He stomped around the room tightly holding the gun between his large hand. **_"Everywhere I've been, it's all the same. People always feel like they have to rely on 'stronger' individuals rather than learning to overcome anything themselves, they're too weak-minded to fight. They don't ever bother making themselves stronger even though they have the ability to do so... And that's why when their life or death situation comes, they always end up dying, because of being so ignorant believing that others will always come to save them. And in turn, they never strengthen themselves. So..."_**

He walked up to the shaking manager and used a tendril to raise the gun over to him.

**_"I want to play a game. A game that'll test just how many of you actually want to live."_**

His eyes flared in red as he let out a chilling laugh.

**_"And only the winner will live to hear the name..."_**

He handed the man the pistol.

**_"Lynch."_**

* * *

~{Meanwhile}~

Shigaraki had been scratching his neck furiously ever since his Sensei had requested him to capture Izuku Midoriya while leaving Enso Ureshi alive. He didn't understand what he was thinking. His Sensei had never asked something so specific of him before and he didn't understand the logic behind it.

But his scratching stopped in the middle of Enso and Bakugo's battle when he ended up hearing many interesting things between the yelling of the two and the silence of the crowd.

_"Hmm… He's got quite the temper."_His Sensei chuckled as he stared at Bakugo being hauled off.

"I...I get it..." Shigaraki mumbled.

_"Hm? What is it Tomura?"_

Shigaraki's pupils had shrunken behind the hand on his face as he came to a realization.

"That boy... That brat Ureshi... He only joined the fight to help his other brat friend? Was that the whole reason he joined the festival? Just to help him?"

Sensei grinned as he listened on.

"He didn't show that much interest during the festival with anyone but Midoriya..."

Shigaraki heard his Sensei laugh.

_"Wonderful Tomura! You're learning already! Indeed, Ureshi decided to throw away his final fight simply because of personal matters involving a friend. This shows his lack of ambition of actually becoming a hero... Not bothering to finish to prove the world that he's the strongest, he didn't care for it. He only finished through his battles to get to the point of fighting the person he's shown the most interest to."_

"Midoriya..." Shigaraki muttered, hands clenching into fists.

_"There's no doubt that he only wishes for the boy to grow, I can see the look in his eyes. An experienced boy who only wants to follow his friend on his growth... Although, it does leave me confused as to why that is... Is he also attending U.A just for the sake of one person? What kind of ambitions does he actually have?"_

Shigaraki narrowed his eyes as he saw Enso's eyes on the monitor.

_"Perhaps we can ask him. If we can get Midoriya to willingly join us, if we can get him to understand and accept our goals... Then Ureshi will follow... Killing two birds, with one stone."_

Shigaraki looked down, still looking unsure and even showing signs of annoyance.

"But... I hate both of them..."

_"Now, now Tomura... You'll get along with them one day."_

His Sensei grinned.

_"I guarantee it."_

Shigaraki grumbled and started scratching his neck again.

There was silence between the two as Shigaraki's Sensei watched a specific green-haired boy in the crowd during the final fight.

_"Soon… We'll have a lot to talk about... Izuku..."_

* * *

"What happened to him?" Enso asked as he came into Recovery Girl's makeshift office. After finishing fighting Bakugo, his body was in clear need of some healing. But what he didn't know was that Izuku had ended up back in the nurses' bed as well.

"Hell if I know at this point!" Recovery Girl fumed. "One of his classmates suddenly came in here saying that he passed out!"

Enso looked shocked.

_"Were the memories I showed to him too much to handle? It might've been the trauma of recalling those memories. Unless..."_ He looked down. _"Did he actually relive through those them in Bakugo's head too? Experience the full pain he felt at those moments?"_

"Sit down sonny. I'll heal you right up." Recovery Girl ushered him to a seat.

Enso was silent as he sat in a chair next to Izuku's unconscious body, the boy looking rather uncomfortable in his sleep.

_"Was what I did the right choice?"_

Enso shook his head, _"He had to realize how Bakugo truly viewed him... If they couldn't be friends again, then Izuku had to understand that. Perhaps it might've been too much to bring into light all of his violent actions in front of a watching audience, but it seemed to be the most effective way of pressuring him to think about it..."_

*CHU*

Enso blinked as he felt Recovery Girl's lips somehow stretch to his forehead. He felt his headache slowly start to fade, but bringing exhaustion to replace it.

When he was fully healed, she removed her lips.

"There we go sonny. You better get going now."

Enso stood up and rubbed his forehead. "Get going for what? Isn't the festival over now?"

Recovery Girl hopped back to her chair. "Exactly, so we're having the award ceremony. All of the participated first-year students have to attend it. _Especially _those who made it near the top."

"How pointless..." Enso muttered.

He turned to Izuku and stared down at the boy.

"But what about Izuku?"

"He's unconscious right now, so there's no helping it... How is it that even though he wasn't fighting, he still ended up in here?" Recovery Girl sighed.

Enso turned away.

* * *

~{Festival Conclusion}~

Cheers rang out through the stadium as all of the first-year students gathered together in the middle of the arena. However, there were notably two important people missing from the event; Iida, who had suddenly left on a family emergency, and Izuku, who was still passed out in the nurse's office after the last battle.

Fireworks blew up in the sky as Midnight proudly spoke.

"All of the first-year events for this year's U.A sports festival have been completed! And now, it's finally time to begin the award ceremony!" She cracked her whip in the air and pointed over in the very middle of the stadium.

More fireworks seemed to explode on cue. Thick fog and confetti filled the area for a few moments where three silhouettes on podiums appeared.

"Wow…" Mineta said in some shock.

"What the heck?" Kirishima muttered.

"He's been struggling ever since waking up…" Kaminari said with an awkward smile.

At the top of the first-place podium, Bakugo struggled to break free with every inch of his life. He had a metal mask covering his mouth, several chains that tied him to a small pillar, and letting out inhuman grunts with his completely white eyes abnormally slit in rage. His chains clanked as he struggled to pull his body in all directions.

In the second place podium, Enso stood with his eyes closed and arms crossed. He could still hear some people shouting to him over his 'loss' against Bakugo, but he just sighed and waited for everything to be over.

In the third-place podium stood Tokoyami, who also had his arms crossed and was staring at Bakugo with a rather stunned expression.

"He is like a man-eating fiend…" He muttered with sweat awkwardly trailing down the side of his head.

"Nnnngggh!" Bakugo let out a muffled scream through his mask as his eyes of pure rage looked as if they were trying to kill Enso right there.

Enso opened one eye to see Bakugo glaring at him.

"...Baka."

"NNNGGGHHHH!" Bakugo's muffles got even louder.

Enso turned his head away.

The cameras of the paparazzi flashed at the winners as Midnight proudly spoke.

"In addition to Tokoyami, there is also Izuku Midoriya in third place! However, he is currently recovering from something so he couldn't show up! Thank you for your understanding!" She then let out a wink as she blew a kiss to the cameras.

Enso rolled his eyes.

At the mention of Izuku's name, each of the girls in Class A looked down with mixtures of sad and concern expressions. They all remembered everything Bakugo and Enso said to one another in their fight, from Enso confronting Bakugo on his bullying, to Bakugo's response to what he thought of Izuku.

But what had most of them scared was the change of Izuku's state after hearing everything. The visible disturbance and trauma he had on his face, the hard panting and sweat that came from him, and most concerning of all, the black colors of his aura forming again before he finally passed out.

Ochako focused her gaze to Momo, who had a visible look of anger directed at Enso. This was unusual for one of the most composed of the class to show a visible dislike towards someone.

"Um... Yaoyorozu? Why do you look so... Angry?"

Momo turned to Ochako and realized that she must've been making such a face. She wondered what to do for a moment, remembering what she had seen during the final battle between Enso and Bakugo. But she decided it might be better that she did know.

"Uraraka... We need to talk."

An uneasy feeling grew in the gravity girl as Momo explained what she had seen while Midnight spoke again.

"Now we will award the medals!" She raised her whip into the air. "The presentation of the medals will, of course, be by this man-!"

A powerful and cheerful laugh echoed as a figure emerged from the top of the stadium.

All Might leaped from the top of the stadium and started falling to the field.

**"I have brought the medals-!" **All Might shouted as he landed.

"-our very own All Might!" Midnight yelled over him.

The two remained in silence for an awkward moment. All Might then slowly turned his head to Midnight in an embarrassed way.

"Sorry, I talked over you." she whispered to him with an apologetic smile. But she moved on and handed the medals to All Might. "Now then All Might, please present the medals to our students starting from third place!"

All Might walked up to Tokoyami with the third-place bronze medal.

**"Young Tokoyami, congratulations! You sure are strong!" **He praised as he placed the metal on Tokoyami's neck.

"You are too kind." Tokoyami responded with a boy.

All Might reached down and gave Tokoyami a hug, surprising him by the contact and the scent of hopes and dreams.

**"However, in order to fight well against different types of people, you must not rely only on your quirk. If you train your own strength more, then you'll have more than enough options to use for fighting."**

All Might released the boy and Tokoyami glanced down at his third-place medal.

"Yes sir."

All Might gave him one last pat on his shoulder and proceeded to the second-place podium where Enso stood. Enso's eyes opened when All Might came by will the silver second-place medal.

**"Young Enso, congratulations on your second-place victory." **He lifted the medal to put it around Enso's neck, but the boy reached his hand out to simply grab it.

All Might stopped and raised the medal back from the boy's reach. **"Hold on now, I'm going to put this on you."**

"..." Enso stared at the medal, then back to All Might.

"But... It looks tacky."

_"This guy!"_ All the students thought in unison.

**"Please?"** All Might asked politely like a schoolgirl.

"..." Enso sighed and bowed his head.

**"Good boy!" **All Might laughed as he slipped the medal on.

_"I'm not a dog..." _Enso's eye twitched.

All Might put his hands on his hips and spoke in a somewhat more serious tone than before.

**"Anyway, Young Ureshi... I assume you had your reasons for suddenly giving the win away to Young Bakugo like that..."** All Might started, knowing fully well what the boy had only fought to bring into light Bakugo's past actions towards Izuku and had tried to get them back on good terms.

**"But you shouldn't let personal matters get in the way of your battles. It's the same for Young Todoroki who showed visible reluctance to using his left side."**

Todoroki looked down and stared at his left hand as All Might continued.

**"If you let these things interfere with your battles as a hero, other innocents may end up being affected by it."**

Enso looked away from him.

"But with the way Bakugo is acting now, so many innocents may suffer damage because of his hot-headed ego and lack of care for anyone but himself... I tried to have him realize what his actions could do, what his actions have _already _done..." He turned his head to Bakugo's direction. "But in the end, I guess he really is a lost cause..."

"NGH!" Bakugo wailed as his chains violently clanked around.

All Might let out a small sigh.

**"Young Ureshi... You have to expect change to take time... You can't suddenly force someone to change how they view themself or others. I won't say your actions during that battle were wrong, but I'll say that you may have overdone it..."**

"..." Enso turned his head around at all the eyes set upon him. He could detect several different looks of anger, curiosity, and discomfort towards him.

He looked down and narrowed his eyes.

"I thought it was the only way..."

All Might kept his big grin as he patted his shoulder.

**"We all know you had good intentions... But you may have made Young Bakugo's hero career get a little... complicated."** The pro-hero implied since he had exposed so much.

Enso slowly turned his head to Bakugo once more, who had stopped struggling and just stared menacingly at him.

"Whoops."

"NNNNNNNNNNNGH!" Bakugo's struggling came back with comedic fires blazing around him.

**"I know even you feel bad about it... But don't worry, everything will be fine."**

All Might opened his arms to hug Enso, but both of the boy's hands grabbed the hero's wrists and started pushing him back.

"What are you doing?"

**"Come on now Young Ureshi, don't be that way." **All Might laughed.

"Stop that."

**"A simple hug won't kill you."**

"I don't want it."

**"Just a little...There we go!"** All Might laughed as he overpowered Enso with his sheer brawn and wrapped his arms around him.

Enso had a blank expression on his face as he was lifted off the ground by All Might's hug.

The moment All Might placed him back down, he backed up and crouched down with his hair suddenly stiffening upward.

"HISS!"

_"Like a cat!?"_ The classes mentally shouted.

All Might thought nothing of it and went up to Bakugo on the first place podium.

**"Now then, Young Bakugo!"**

He examined the chained state of the boy.

**"This is too much…"**

All Might reached forward and gently pulled the mask off as he spoke. **"Good job getting first place! I understand that your last battle may have been not what you expected, but you worked hard to be where you are now!"**

Bakugo had his head down.

"All Might…"

All Might tilted his head, **"Hm?"**

"First place like this-" Bakugo raised his head to show his completely white and red vein-filled eyes along with an abnormally large frown of a pissed off man.

"-IS NOT WORTH ANYTHING!"

**_"Oh boy..."_**

"Even if the world recognizes it, if I don't recognize it myself, then it's trash!"

All Might sighed.

**"Young Bakugo, do you know why Young Ureshi gave you that last win?"**

"Because he couldn't help damn Deku!" Bakugo immediately snapped.

**"That's partially right. But he also stopped because he knew he wouldn't be able to help _you_."**

Bakugo's movements stopped for a moment.

**"Young Ureshi knows that you're strong, but he also knows that Young Midoriya is strong too. He knows as well as I do that if you both learned to put aside your differences and become close friends, then you would both be some of the strongest heroes the world will ever know... But since he couldn't have you realize that, then he chose not to continue fighting in the hope that you would reflect on that _very_ moment of 'victory' in order to come to a new realization about yourself and the importance of others. You can be the best, but that doesn't mean you have to be the best by yourself."**

"Tsk!" Bakugo turned his head and glared at Enso, who avoided a direct gaze at him.

All Might raised the gold medal forward to Bakugo, **"Take this medal okay? Think of it as a 'wound' so you never forget! Use it to learn more about yourself and others!"**

"I said I didn't want it!" Bakugo shouted back.

**"Now, now," **All Might said as he tried to get the medal on Bakugo's head.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT IT!" Bakugo retaliated as he moved his head up and to the side to avoid the medal.

**"Ngh-Here!" **All Might said as he managed to pull the medal between Bakugo's teeth, much to the boy's blazing anger.

He then turned his head to the crowd with his hands on his hips.

**"Well, they were the winners this time, but listen here! Anyone here could have ended up on these podiums!**

"I don't think that's possible due to the difference of abilities among us, the lack of reaction time, determination, actual skill-"

**"_ANYWAY_-!"** All Might interrupted Enso's sudden analysis. **"It's just as you saw! Competing, improving each other, and climbing even further! The next generation of heroes is definitely sprouting!"**

All Might pointed his finger straight up in the air.

**"So I have just one more thing to say! Everyone say it with me! Ready, go!"**

"-Plus Ultra!" The audience shouted.

**"-Thanks for your hard work!" **All Might yelled differently.

"..."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before the crowd started boing.

"What!? It should have been 'Plus Ultra!' there All Might!" Many of them yelled.

**"W-Well, I thought everyone worked hard…" **All Might said as he felt embarrassed.

"Good job number one." Enso facepalmed.

**"Quiet you."**

Aizawa clicked on the intercom. "All students immediately head back to your homerooms. No detours."

The girls of Class-A all flinched, while Kendo looked disappointed.

* * *

~{Afterschool}~

The atmosphere in the room was completely frozen solid.

All the students of class 1-A were in their seats visibly tense as they waited for the school day to finally end. The main reason for the environment was due to two notable boys in their class.

Many students took glances at Bakugo, the boy looking furious in his seat as he clenched his hands into fists with the 1st place medal still hanging from his mouth for some reason. They had all heard the accusations that the boy had committed during his final fight against Enso, which cause most of the class to view him in a new, dark light, even Kirishima looked unsure about him now.

Then there was the other one.

Enso spun a pencil in his hand as he down in a small, black notebook he had with him, uncaring of the glances that his class had on him. Their gazes were just out of curiosity at the thought that he had exposed something so sensitive to everyone, possibly putting a cork in Bakugo's career if any of the teachers decided to do anything about it. After all, they wouldn't just let what they heard slide.

Aizawa got to the front of the class and scratched his head.

"Good work today… There will be no school tomorrow or the day after. I'm sure the pro heroes who watched the sports festival will want to recruit all of you, but we'll go over that when you all come back. So rest well and look forward to that."

"..." The class remained still silent.

Aizawa knew that he had to bring up another matter and sighed.

"It has also come to my attention that there have been some personal secrets we weren't supposed to know about..."

Bakugo's anger surprisingly seemed to dim down as he heard this, his previous anger of 'winning' the festival turning into a serious demeanor as he heard Aizawa speak.

"Thus, I need everyone to leave _except_ those involved or have knowledge about the situation. You should know who you are, don't make me have to hold everyone."

Nearly all of Class 1-A didn't seem to know what to do. They didn't know if they were involved or not and curiously stared at one another to see who wasn't moving and who was leaving.

Aizawa's eyes shined red and his hair waved upward when he didn't see anyone get up.

"Now."

Many people got up from their seats and started packing their stuff, rushing to get out of the classroom.

"And don't think about visiting Midoriya right now. I don't know what happened to him that cause him to faint, but let him get his rest."

Many people flinched.

Aizawa watched as everyone left the room one by one, but the teacher was surprised to see more students than he expected to remain.

After everyone else had left, there were still six people remaining.

Enso, Bakugo, Jiro, Momo, Ochako, and even Mina had remained.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "Just what has been going on?"

Momo stared curiously at Jiro in confusion as to what she knew about the whole thing, while Mina awkwardly sat in her desk with a depressed look.

"Well?" Aizawa sternly asked.

Enso sighed as he placed his pen down.

"To put it simply, Bakugo has been bullying Izuku ever since they were four."

"What?" Aizawa had a glare on his face now.

"It's been going on all the way from the age of four to the start of _this_ very school semester." Enso clarified.

Mina and Jiro could feel their hearts sink. Mina had only known what she had heard from Izuku during their first hero lesson together. And as for Jiro, she had known that Bakugo had 'picked' on Izuku, but she didn't know it was ever since he was four. Ochako didn't look shocked like them due to hearing about this from Momo during the festival, but it still hurt to hear.

"Who here knows the most about it besides Bakugo?" Aizawa demanded with a small growl.

"Me. But let the others speak first." Enso didn't hesitate to answer.

Aizawa looked very suspicious at that request but decided to go along with it for now.

"Fine. The girls speak first. And Bakugo..." He turned to the explosive teen, "Not a word."

Bakugo nodded in all seriousness, eyes still hidden in shadows.

"Ashido, you go first." Aizawa instructed.

Mina rubbed her arm nervously.

"I actually don't know _too_ much... But during our first hero lesson, Midoriya said something that just felt off to me... He seemed so scared to fight against Bakugo and even told me that he was hated by him because of being weak and... quirkless..."

"Quirkless?" Aizawa repeated.

Enso piped up. "A late bloomer. Izuku developed his quirk much later than everyone else. But since not having a quirk at 4 like the norm, people all assumed he was quirkless. This seemed to be a contributor as to why Bakugo started to bully him."

Aizawa turned to Mina. "Anything else?"

"Not really..." Mina mustered.

Aizawa focused his gaze on Ochako. "Uraraka, what do you know?"

"I actually didn't know too much until recently... But I also had a feeling that something was wrong ever since I met him. On the entrance exam, I saw Bakugo and Deku heading to the auditorium. But I heard Bakugo growl at him and call him 'Deku...' From there I've always seen him seem so scared around Bakugo the most."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, "Don't you call him that nickname too?"

Ochako lightly blushed and flailed her arms.

"N-Not with that bad intention in mind! I-I called him it because i-it reminded me of Dekiru, 'you can do it!' H-He lets me call him that!"

"Alright. Anything else?" Aizawa sternly asked.

Ochako flinched, "N-No sir..."

Aizawa sighed, "I need much more than that..."

"I encountered Deku in the hall once and talked to him." Jiro brought his attention to her.

Aizawa stared suspiciously at her. "You call him that too?"

"He lets me, same good intentions only." Jiro quickly explained.

"Alright... Well, go on." Aizawa encouraged.

"I wanted to know why he was always so nervous around anyone and he told me that it was because he was 'teased' a lot when he was little. But I knew there it was something more, so I asked him if he was teased, or bullied. His flinching gave me my response..."

"Did Midoriya say that Bakugo was one of the ones who bullied him the most?" Aizawa asked her.

"I asked him about it. And he said... Yeah." Jiro said as her gaze hit the ground.

"Why didn't you report this?" Aizawa looked pissed.

"B-Because Deku still wanted to be his friend!" Jiro instinctively responded.

Bakugo's head showed visible movement when she said that.

"What?" Aizawa asked her to clarify.

Jiro nervously rubbed her arm.

"He told me that despite everything, he still wanted to be his friend... So I thought that I was being considerate not to report it, because it might've hurt his chances for him to even talk to Bakugo..."

"There's no point to this..." Bakugo grumbled.

"What?" Aizawa hissed at him with glowing red eyes.

"I did it. I tormented the fucking nerd, alright? That's it... There's no point to this shit..." Bakugo said with his head down.

Enso and Aizawa both raised an eyebrow at how he seemed to just admit his actions.

"Quiet Bakugo, we'll hear what you have to say later."

"If I may..." Momo spoke out as she rose from her seat with a hand over her chest, "I believe I have more to say on this."

Aizawa nodded, "Go on."

Momo looked down as she recalled the horrible things she heard.

"Izuku said that in the beginning, he was only quirkless and that caused him to get bullied by not just Bakugo, but all of his class. But then suddenly, Bakugo was using his _quirk_ on Izuku... Burning him, bruising him over and over again. H-He had been doing this for so long, yet Izuku never got help, and no one helped him even though they knew what he was going through..." Momo's voice started cracking.

"Just how bad were these burns?" Aizawa asked her.

"Knowing Bakugo, he was probably always careful to make sure that many of these burns didn't leave any permanent marks." Enso remarked.

Bakugo turned his head away.

Aizawa turned to Bakugo in what almost seemed like a disappointing look of betrayal.

"Bakugo... Did you really?"

Bakugo's hands just tightened into fists.

"..." Aizawa rubbed his eyes with a sigh. He couldn't believe that it was actually true. He had always known that Bakugo was quite the angry student, but to know that he had done all these things to Izuku when younger, it was shattering as a teacher.

There was one more thing he had to go over, one that he wished he didn't have to but needed to confirm.

"Bakugo, during your fight against Ureshi, I heard an implication where you encouraged Midoriya to..."

He paused for a moment, almost afraid to ask.

"That you encouraged Midoriya to commit suicide."

Enso watched as the girls got in visible pain from hearing that.

"Is. This. True?" Aizawa asked with slow and threatening words.

Bakugo grit his teeth, reluctant to answer this.

"Bakugo, answer now."

"I... I..."

"Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof." Enso quoted with a glare.

There were chills in their spines.

Bakugo slammed his desk and looked back, almost prompting Aizawa to use his quirk and pull out his scarves.

"You shut the fuck up you edgelord! He never would've done it! He doesn't have the balls!"

A sudden _whoosh_ echoed and Enso was gone from his seat, suddenly appearing inches away from Bakugo with glowing red eyes.

"Don't _ever_ assume that someone wouldn't be able to do something like that."

Bakugo's eyes widened and he leaned back at the sudden appearance of Enso.

"Ureshi!" Aizawa yelled.

Enso just seemed to ignore him as he got closer to Bakugo.

"You don't know just how _close_ he was to finally ending it."

This comment made everyone feel frozen at what it implied, even Bakugo looked shocked.

"Did you... look into that nerd's head too?" He actually sounded anxious.

"I don't even have to look in his head to tell." Enso declared as he backed up and maintained his glare.

"Enough! Ureshi, sit back down or you're out of here!" Aizawa's hair floated upward as his eyes flashed red.

"Hmph." Enso put his hands into his pockets and walked back to his seat, while Momo, Mina, Ochako, and even Jiro trembled at the thought of the precious green-haired boy gone. Their worry turned into anger as they glanced at Bakugo with piercing glares.

Once Enso sat back down, Aizawa turned back to Bakugo.

"Bakugo... If you really said what you said, then you've instigated a suicide... If Midoriya would've gone through with it, then you could've been arrested. You put Midoriya through so much unnecessary pain... Didn't you ever think about your actions on the boy?"

Bakugo had shadows over his eyes. "It doesn't matter now..."

"Like hell it doesn't!" Jiro shouted with a slam to her desk.

"Do you know how much you put him through!?" Momo added in rage.

"Jiro! Yaoyorozu! Quiet! Next one who speaks without permission is out of this school!" Aizawa threatened, prompting everyone to remain shut.

He turned back to the bully again, "Bakugo... Are you going to say anything? Anything at all?"

Bakugo just remained silent. He didn't really have anything else he could say.

Aizawa sighed. This was something he really didn't want to do, but he felt that he had to.

"Bakugo... I'm sorry, but I can't just overlook any of this, no matter how strong of a student you are. Your actions aren't befitting of a hero and there's no doubt the public eye will have a lot to say about this..."

Bakugo's hands tightened into fists as Aizawa was going to say one last thing.

"As of now, you are hereby expe-"

**"I Am Here, Just in time!"**

The door slid open to reveal All Might holding Nezu in his arm.

"Let's not be too hasty now." Nezu chuckled as All Might placed him down.

"Principal Nezu?" Aizawa muttered.

Bakugo's head rose up in shock to see the principal and All Might there.

Nezu dusted himself off and turned his head to the back where Enso sat.

"Enso-kun, why didn't you tell him that I had already permitted Bakugo to stay?"

Everyone else but All Might and Enso were shocked.

"Nani?" Bakugo turned his head back and narrowed his eyes at Enso. "You already talk to the rodent about this?"

An Oni-mask glared down at Bakugo from behind Nezu's innocent smile, a menacing purple aura around him.

"Now, now BakugoI was _just_ feeling nice, you know?"

"Urk!" Bakugo sweatdropped and visibly shivered at the large Oni-mask.

Nezu let out a sigh and walked over to Enso, who got out of his seat and crouched down to be on the same level as him.

"Why didn't you tell them about my permission to let him stay in the beginning?"

Enso just narrowed his eyes.

"Because it wouldn't be right _not_ to go over it. Especially since there are those who wouldn't be satisfied with just letting this go without even going over everything that happened."

Nezu turned to who Enso referred to and saw the four girls in the room.

"Ah yes, the boy's harem."

Comedic lightning struck as nearly everyone turned black and white.

All Might nearly spurred blood from his mouth, Aizawa had his eyes completely open, while Bakugo just looked unimpressed.

"Good for you to be so blunt." Enso remarked.

Nezu let out a small laugh as Momo put her hands to her cheeks with a blush, Jiro covered her red face with her hands, Ochako flailed her arms around with swirling eyes on her red face, and Mina awkwardly smiled while fiddling with her fingers with a lilac blush.

Nezu ignored the reactions and raised his arms up.

"Carry me."

Enso's eye twitched.

"How about no?"

"That wasn't a question." Nezu smiled.

Enso was still for a moment until he realized that Nezu wouldn't proceed unless he listened. He grumbled as he reluctantly reached his arms for him.

"Like a teddy bear." Nezu grinned.

Three different cross-veins emerged on Enso's head.

"How about a sleeper hold instead?"

_"He threatened him so casually!?"_ Everyone thought with blue auras.

"Nah, teddy bear is better." Nezu chuckled as he turned around.

Enso wrapped his arms around Nezu's waist and raised him up, to which Nezu took in the feeling of being held.

"Could use some work on the grip, but not terrible."

Two more cross-veins emerged on Enso's head.

_"The serious atmosphere moments ago is just gone now..." _Aizawa thought as his head fell to his podium with a sigh.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand." Nezu got everyone's attention again. "I have discussed the events regarding Bakugo with Enso-kun and All Might even before their final battle. I was originally going to send him out of here in an ironic explosive glory, but Midoriya had requested for the boy to actually stay here."

"?!" Bakugo's eyes widened.

"He did!?" Ochako couldn't believe it, she was too shocked to even be angry.

"Why!?" Jiro added with her, still keeping her anger.

"You should all know the answer to that... It's the same reason why Izuku never told anyone about what Bakugo has done in the first place." Enso didn't hesitate to answer.

They all stopped and looked down with sad expressions as they remembered Izuku wishing to be friends with Bakugo.

"But despite that conversation we had, Enso-kun created some 'drama' with Bakugo in their battle anyway, bringing the matter back up..." Nezu looked up at Enso. "Even I have to say that you did too much."

"..." Enso stared down at him. "I had to figure out the _real_ reason why Bakugo really hated Izuku..."

Bakugo glared at him and tightly gripped on his desk.

"And I found out." Enso turned to him and narrowed his eyes.

Momo blinked as she heard 'real' reason.

_"So it wasn't just because he was quirkless? Or was it that Izuku went to U.A despite Bakugo demanding him not to?"_

Nezu sighed. "Enso-kun, you've realized the mass outburst of the media you caused, right?"

"Hm?" Enso didn't know.

**"It got all over the headline right as your battle finished... 'U.A student a secretly villainous childhood tormentor? Not fit to be a hero?' the usual media dramatization..."** All Might sighed.

"Whoops."

_"THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY!?"_ Everyone collectively screamed in their heads.

"But hopefully this will have him realize the severity of his actions... And how to fix them." Enso retorted.

"Oh, Enso-kun, sometimes what you think is right really isn't..." Nezu sighed.

"Ureshi... You said that you found out the reason why Bakugo rejected Izuku so much, right?" Momo interrupted.

Enso turned to her and nodded.

Momo decided to find out something. "Did you-?"

"He shared it with him too... He connected the nerd's damn head with mine using those psychic powers to show him." Bakugo cut her off, knowing exactly what she was going to ask.

"Th-Then, the reason Midori freaked out during their battle was-!?" Mina could feel her blood go cold as she remembered holding such a fragile Izuku in her arms.

"So that _was_ you." Nezu said without a smile this time. "I know that you wanted Midoriya to realize the problems Bakugo had, but that was too much for the young boy to handle..."

"I didn't expect him to hyperventilate and pass out... I thought that by only _sharing _the memory with him, he wouldn't feel the pain and trauma he had felt during the time. But I guess because he was the direct cause of anger from Bakugo, he ended up feeling what his younger self in those memories did when Bakugo harmed him..." Enso truthfully answered.

"S-So... Deku experienced every single bad memory with Bakugo?" Ochako asked, hoping that wasn't the case.

Enso nodded in confirmation.

"You... You made him go through such traumatic experiences again!?" Momo snapped at him.

"Quiet Yaoyorozu." Nezu told her.

The girl looked angry but backed up in her chair while looking down, slightly trembling at the thought of her precious friend feeling so much pain.

Everyone got quiet as they took in everything they heard, waiting for Nezu to take the next course of action.

Nezu sighed. "Well... What's done is done. Izuku wants Bakugo to stay, so out of consideration from me, he'll stay here."

"Can you really just say _'what's done is done?'_" Enso asked in a rather annoyed manner.

"Well f course, there will be conditions. Much needed ones." Nezu said in all seriousness.

"Which are?" Bakugo growled.

"Every day after school you'll have to have a one-hour counseling session with Aizawa. You are never to harm any other students unless the circumstances allow it, such as combat training or defending yourself. And keep in mind I'll _know_ if you're the one who starts a fight or if you're purposely trying to inflict as much pain to someone in training. And with matters involving the press, you are to avoid them as to not cause the school more drama. And lastly, if Midoriya deems that you shouldn't stay in the academy, then you'll leave."

"Nngh!" Bakugo looked pissed, "That nerd!? How do you know he won't just hold that over my head!?"

"Now, now, are you saying that you don't know your childhood friend enough?" Nezu asked with a smile.

Bakugo grit his teeth as he realized what Nezu implied. They all knew that Izuku wouldn't do something as far as to blackmail anyone, especially Bakugo.

"And last but not least... I need you to apologize to the boy."

To that, Bakugo flinched.

"But knowing the type of person you are, it'll take a lot of time for you to do so. I'll give you until the end of the year."

_"That's such a long time. Isn't he being too generous?" _Enso wondered.

"Even after all of this, I'm sure that Midoriya would still be fine with your company. I'm sure you'll both end up the best of friends again!" Nezu laughed.

Bakugo didn't look angry anymore, he just looked serious. He turned his head away without retaliating anything to the principal.

"Do you agree on these terms Bakugo?"

Bakugo was reluctant to answer, but did.

"Yes..."

Nezu clapped his paws together.

"Good! Now let us start getting back home, shall we? I think we've been here about long enough." Nezu said to them all.

"U-Um..." Ochako stepped forward. "Can we see Deku?"

"Nope!" Nezu immediately answered with a smile.

The girls fell to the floor.

"He needs his beauty sleep. Go home, all of you!" Nezu laughed.

Bakugo was already getting up with his school bag over his shoulder. He looked rather emotionless as he walked past everyone and headed for the door.

All Might placed a hand on his shoulder before he could pass.

**"Young Bakugo, I hope you decide to take camaraderie into consideration... It's more important than you think for a hero."**

"..." Bakugo paused for a moment before continuing to walk in silence, getting All Might's hand off him and getting out the classroom.

Momo didn't look satisfied at all, shadows were over her eyes as her hands balled up into fists.

_"That easily? Even after hearing all of that? They just let him stay... Why... Why!?"_

Her gaze focused on Enso now.

_"And Ureshi even talked to them about it... He tried to help Bakugo become 'friends' with Izuku again, why!?"_

She felt a hand gently hold hers, snapping her out of her anger and turning to Jiro, who looked up to her with a sympathetic expression.

"I know what you're thinking... I am too. But-"She got closer to her, "Let's talk to Deku about it instead." She whispered.

Momo thought about it, then let out a small sigh. "We'll text him if he's okay... But when we get back to school, we'll discuss it with him..."

Aizawa zipped himself up his sleeping bag.

_"These students are way more troublesome these days..."_

As everyone picked up their things, Enso looked down at the Nezu he was holding.

"While we're here, could I talk to you and Aizawa about something else?"

"Of course! Eraserhead, follow me and Enso-kun to my office please!"

"God damn it, I wanted to be free." Aizawa grumbled.

"Oh? Is that complaining I hear?" Nezu asked with a menacing grin.

"Nope." Aizawa's eyes avoided a direct gaze.

"Good. Now Enso-kun! To the office!" He pointed, still getting carried by Enso.

* * *

~{Meanwhile}~

Izuku slowly opened his eyes to find himself staring at a familiar ceiling. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, as his vision was still blurry from just waking up.

He then stretched both of his arms upward and released a loud yawn of satisfaction from having such a great nap.

_"Wait... Both my arms?"_

Izuku blinked and moved his arms down, staring into the to see that there were no bandages around them.

_"Huh? Did Recovery Girl finish healing me?"_ Izuku blinked as he confusingly admired his fully healed limbs.

But then he realized that he wasn't lying on the hospital bed.

"Eh?" He looked down, then looked all around the room to find the unique room layout of All Might posters, figures, and books on shelves.

_"I'm... I'm in my room?!"_ Izuku shifted in his bed and confusingly stared at his room, then glancing down at himself to find that he was wearing a casual white T-shirt with the words **"Plus Ultra"** on it in bold black words along with green shorts and even wearing his signature red boots on his bed.

"Wh-What's going on?"

He carefully scooted off his bed and stepped onto the floor, exploring his bedroom despite sleeping there every single day of his life.

His attention shifted from his room to the window, catching sight of the black outside.

_"Is it night time?"_

He walked to the window and gazed outside, only to have his eyes widen in a mixture of fear and confusion at the pitch-black color outside. It wasn't like normal nighttime, there were no stars, no moon, nor any landscape whatsoever. There was only the dark abyss stretching wherever Izuku's eyes can see. Fear was caused by recognizing this darkness, the darkness that he had seen twice now.

_"I-I'm in my sub-conscious again!?"_ He felt his blood grow cold as he frantically started searching around the room, worried about seeing a specific entity that had been causing problems for him.

_"I can move around this time..." _Seeing no sign of any dark figures, he slowly turned his head and faced the door, gulping nervously as he carefully reached over for the handle.

He slowly turned the handle and cracked the door open, peeking through to see his usual small hall of his house. Sensing nothing murderous, he cracked the door open more and tip-toed through the living room, not even caring that he was wearing his red shoes in his house rather than slippers. He peeked his head around the corner and saw the living room and kitchen, everything looking somewhat normal to him.

_"It looks exactly like my house... Other than the black mist sitting on the couch, everything looks fine..."_

He slowly turned around.

Wait.

He did a double-take.

He nearly snapped his head as he turned back with bulging eyes at the black aroma of mist on the couch of the living room. The T.V was on and showing a battle of himself and Enso from their previous battle.

Izuku froze as he swore he heard the black mist sigh and visibly start changing in shape.

It took the form of a familiar person, the same person Izuku had seen multiple times in his sub-conscious.

Himself.

Well, the shape of it overall was a black silhouette of Izuku, even matching the shape of the current clothing he wore. Yet many other details were somewhat obscured as he still had a somewhat wavy aura around him. The only facial-details you could see on the person were the slit and completely filled in blood-red eyes he formed, as the jagged smile that Izuku had seen previously wasn't currently on his face.

The clone-like Izuku turned its head behind him, only to see the actually Izuku with a completely dumbfounded look on his face.

**"Hm?"**

"Eh?"

"..." **"..."**

**"Um... I didn't expect this."** He had no mouth as he spoke. His voice sounded nearly identical to Izuku's, only a hint deeper and more menacing to fit his look of black and red.

"Full Cowling!"

**"Eh!?"**

Izuku had sent himself forward in a dropkick manner.

**"WAH!"** He ducked and turned into a complete puddle on the ground, letting Izuku soar over him.

_"He can shapeshift!"_ Izuku thought as his feet landed on the wall.

The puddle quickly traveled on the ground and hid into the kitchen.

Izuku landed on the ground and turned in a defensive stance.

_"I can't let him take me over again!"_

The clone-like Izuku peeked from the kitchen counter with a pot as a helmet and using the lid as a shield.

**"Wait! Can't we talk about this!?"**

Izuku zigzagged across the room, swinging his leg as he neared the figure.

**"KYAH!" **Its odd body stretched to the side and Izuku's kick missed him, to which he used the chance to slither away down into the living room.

_"He's hard to hit!"_ Izuku thought as he landed on top of the kitchen counter.

He appeared from the couch this time, somehow having a lens frame on his face.

**"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?"**

A pot thrown by Izuku smashed into his face, leaving it comedically flat like a cartoon character with the lenses even sinking into his face.

**_"Ow."_ **He squeaked, then falling back to the floor.

_"I got him!"_ Izuku leaped from the counter and landed on the couch, aiming his fingers down at the figure on the floor.

**"Wait! Hold on! Mercy! I surrender!" **He had a small black flag form into his hand, waving it up.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked in confusion.

**"We could talk to each other now, can't we!?"**

Izuku realized that indeed he had the freedom to speak and move in his own consciousness this time, but that didn't mean he trusted the figure already. He kept his fingers aimed at him with a serious look as he thought about the situation at hand. He knew who this was, he had known the moment he saw it, but at the same time, he still had to ask just to be sure.

"I-Ikari?"


	36. Izuku and Ikari

Any feedback would be appreciated, whether it's for complimenting the story, pointing out something wrong, asking a question, or to give out a suggestion.

Join my Discord Server to show your appreciation! /NjxWgY6

* * *

Bakugo trudged home as the sunset barely lit up the path he usually took. He walked with his head down with his hands shoved in his pockets as shadows covered his eyes. Even as soon as getting out of U.A, there were still people that immediately recognized him as he passed by.

"That's the guy, isn't it?"

"That's the one who was said to have been bullying another student..."

"Is he still wearing that school uniform? Not for long."

Bakugo grit his teeth as comment after comment shot at him as he passed.

"They really let someone like that into U.A?"

"He seems more like a villain than a hero."

Even as Bakugo got near his quiet neighborhood, there were still people making remarks. So he took a detour through a few alleyways to get out of the public eye. He soon came upon an area with trash bags, bins, and dumpsters.

Bakugo's head was boiling from all the insults he received as he dragged himself through the alleyway. His hands were shaking as they tightened into fists, his eyes were dilated with bold red veins in clear view, and his bare teeth showed in the largest of scowls he had.

He recalled everything in the day. His fight with Enso, the confrontation about Izuku, and that meeting with Aizawa.

He had won the festival _and_ was able to remain in U.A despite everything about him and Izuku that had been dragged into the light. To think that the higher-ups would just let him stay in the hero school despite all of his previous actions, it was an absolute miracle.

So why...

Why was he so angry?

"DAMN IT!"

The boy threw his bag and his palms unleashed explosions of pure rage, sending several trash bins flying and igniting the darkness of the night.

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" Bakugo's blasted everything in sight. Trash bags and their components were sent flying, debris was burned and turned to ash, and the smell of smoke filled the air.

Nothing had actually caught on fire, but by the time Bakugo finished, everything was smoking as he stood in the middle of all of it. His palms were shaking, sweat dripped all around his head, and his breathing pace quickened.

He fell to his knees and balled his hands into fists, then slamming them down onto the ground.

"DAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Bakugo's whole body trembled as he gazed at his sweaty fists. His screaming disappeared, leaving only a frustrated and angry muttering of the boy.

"He let me fucking win... That fucking edgelord! He...! He-!" Bakugo's closed his eyes and hunched over, letting his forehead hit the ground.

He remembered when he literally heard Enso appear behind him during their fight. Yet, Bakugo hadn't been immediately struck then and there.

_"He was faster than me... He could've hit me there!"_

The explosive boy remembered when Enso had fought against the Nomu as USJ, he remembered even getting saved by the boy in a split second.

_"I didn't even see anything there... And he took that THING'S punch! So why...? Why was OUR fight the way that it was?!"_

He remembered the final moment of their battle where Enso had unleashed an overwhelming pillar of energy and gave a terrifying aura of murderous intent.

Bakugo even recalled seeing a vision of his own severed head flying through the air.

_"He could've killed me right there... HE FUCKING THOUGHT ABOUT IT TOO!"_

Bakugo put a hand over his rapidly beating heart as he recalled the chills he had felt.

_"He... He-!"_

His eyes shot open, and he froze entirely from a realization.

_"He went easy on me..."_

His eyes lost some color in them.

_"That entire fucking fight... He went easy on me. He could've moved faster, hit harder. He could've sliced me apart. Yet..."_

The world darkened around him.

_"He just wanted to rile me up..."_

Bakugo punched the ground.

_"He just kept letting the battle go on. He just kept pissing me off so he could get into my head... Just... Just-!"_

His gaze shot up into the sky.

"JUST TO LEARN WHY I HATED THAT FUCKING NERD!?"

When the thought of Izuku came to mind, Bakugo stopped to think.

"Deku..." His fists violently shook. "Even after everything... After learning everything... You told them to let me fucking stay? You're STILL TRYING TO HELP ME!?" He screamed in the night sky.

He panted heavily.

"Even after... Even after all of that..." Bakugo arched over, his forehead touching the ground as his eyes watering as he remembered what Enso said.

_"Izuku never looked down at you, he admired you ever since you were little. From being able to juggle, to your goal to become a hero, he always looked up to you. Not once has ever looked down upon you. Even though you put him through so much, even though you tormented for nearly every day... he still considers you his friend."_

Tears dripped to the ground.

"You're an idiot... You're a fucking idiot..." He whimpered. "You could've just crushed my career in your hands, you could've finally gotten me out of your life... So why...?"

Bakugo's hands grabbed his own head.

"I wanted an indisputable first place. Yet... I didn't win. I lost to that edgelord... I wasn't even _close_ to beating him. He let me win, he humiliated me, he showed everyone everything and dented my career..."

His hands tightly grabbed his hair.

"So why...?"

He trembled.

"Why is it that out of everything that's happened...?" His voice cracked.

He punched the floor.

"Why does that nerd helping... hurt the most?" He whimpered.

* * *

~{The Principal's Office}~

"Well, here we are!" Nezu cheerfully answered as Enso carried him into the room.

Aizawa followed right behind them in his sleeping bag, rolling along the ground before standing up in the office.

All Might peeked in the doorway as well but shook with some visible steam coming from him.

**"I-I thought about joining your meeting, but I just remembered that I have something to do! So... Good day!"**

He then blasted down the hall while leaving behind an explosion of dust.

_"He was reaching his limit..." _Enso thought as he watched the number one hero disappear.

"Enso-kun. My desk, please." Nezu instructed.

Enso sighed as he walked over to the principal's desk and set him down in his chair.

"Thank you." Nezu chuckled.

Aizawa merely had a bored expression.

"So Ureshi, care to tell me why you're holding me captive here?"

"That's a bit of a stretch... You were the one rolling behind me." Enso remarked.

"But the fact that you requested Aizawa to come as well gives me an idea that the issue you wish to bring up involves Class 1A?" Nezu theorized.

"Something like that. I wish to have someone join the class."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow and Nezu looked rather curious, folding his hands together on his desk.

"Well, now. This is quite a surprise." The animal hybrid smiled. "Which student do you have in mind?"

Enso crossed his arms as he declared, "Hitoshi Shinso."

Nezu grinned as Aizawa got visibly shocked to hear this. _"That kid?"_

Enso noticed his reaction.

"It seems that you already have an opinion on him?"

Aizawa glanced away.

"Not particularly-"

"Aizawa has already shown an interest in Shinso before." Nezu cut him off with a laugh.

Aizawa flinched and turned to Nezu with a shocked look of betrayal.

"Interesting. I didn't think that you'd favorite any particular students." Enso said a hand on his chin.

"Th-That's-!"

"Shinso reminds Aizawa of himself! Like a secret love child!" Nezu started laughing.

"Nngh!" Aizawa was visibly irritated, but couldn't exactly snap at the principal.

"Then, will it be easy to bring him into our class?" Enso asked him.

"Now, now, Aizawa has brought up the matter to me before." Nezu said with a now serious face. "But I'm afraid that the boy just isn't suited for the hero course. Quirk aside, he doesn't have the necessary components that a student in the hero course should have, such as mobility, quick thinking, or strengths."

Enso's eye twitched in visible irritation.

"So everyone in Class A has that? Even Mineta?"

"You'd be _very_ surprised by what even Mineta can do, Enso-kun." Nezu stated. "His movements and reactions are actually quite impressive."

_"Most likely due to just running from danger caused by his own actions..."_ Enso immediately theorized.

"As for Shinso, he hasn't shown any kind of athletic ability whatsoever to support himself. He only relies on his quirk." Nezu continued on.

"I've already told you that I can teach him." Aizawa sternly said as he zipped himself out of the sleeping bag.

"You cannot Aizawa, not right now at least. The sports festival just ended and there's only a short amount of time before the students go to their internships. He'd be too behind to join them and would struggle to catch up. You can't balance teaching him along with your teacher's work. Ever since USJ, you've been busier than ever."

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Aizawa muttered.

"I'm sorry about increasing your workload, but it's necessary." Nezu explained.

"Nezu." Enso got his attention.

"Hm? What is Enso-kun?"

Enso put a palm on his chest to offer himself.

"What if I taught Shins-"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Nezu suddenly cut him off while letting out a loud laugh.

_"He waited for me to suggest teaching him!?"_

Nezu clapped his hands together, "Enso-kun, I'll let Shinso into the hero course if you teach him alongside Midoriya!"

Aizawa curiously turned to Enso. "So, you really were the one that taught Midoriya to fight?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Was it really that obvious?" Enso sighed.

"In a professional's eyes, it's easy to notice how similar one's fighting style is to another."

_"I guess they aren't pros for nothing..."_ Enso thought.

"Aizawa, I assume that this will satisfy you as well?" Nezu asked the teacher.

Aizawa had a slightly suspicious gaze at Enso, eyeing the boy up and down.

Enso tilted his head curiously. "Is something wrong?"

Aizawa had a hand on his chin in thought.

"Well... You taught Midoriya. Look how he ended up..."

"A strong, fast, quick thinking student near the top of the class-?"

"-who breaks his limbs and performs absurd stunts _several_ times." Aizawa cut him off with a glare.

"..."

Enso raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, hold on. I didn't teach him any of that. I only taught him the skills necessary for fighting."

The teacher's uncaring look came back. "Oh, then you'll do fine."

_"That easily?"_

* * *

**~{Izuku's subconsious}~**

"I-Ikari?" Izuku uttered for confirmation.

The black figure shyly moved behind the couch to hide from Izuku's aiming fingers.

**"Well... That's what I've been called."**

Izuku gulped nervously.

"S-So, it really _is_ you?"

Ikari slithered out from the couch.

**"Yeah... Could you stop pointing your finger gun at me now?"**

Izuku just kept his fingers aimed at him.

"I-I don't think so... The last time I let you do something, I ended up shattering both of my arms..."

Ikari frantically waved his arms in a similar fashion of a flustered Izuku.

**"I-It wasn't my fault! Oh, wait, actually I guess it is... But I didn't mean to go that far! Or I think I actually did... But I'm not bad, I swear!"**

Izuku watched in a dumbfounded confusion as Ikari's thoughts went rampant and the being started sweating an astounding amount of black.

_"Is he really as corruptive that we've made him out to be?"_

"Y-You talked to me, though... You wanted me to hurt Kacchan..."

**"I know... But, Um... It's hard to explain!"** Ikari looked to be on the brink of literally melting.

"U-Um..." Izuku slightly lowered his arm. "C-Can you still try?"

Hearing that Izuku was at least willing to listen, Ikari visibly seemed to be calming himself down.

**"Now look!"** He suddenly boomed, even surprising Izuku. **"I'm a part of you that was created within your consciousness! This is where _I_ live to be exact! I can alter this place into familiar places you've been to before!"**

Ikari pointed his finger at Izuku. **"And you're my host!"**

Izuku confusingly tilted his head. "O-Okay? But why did you make me nearly blow myself up?"

**"That's your fault!"** Ikari ranted at him.

"Eh!? My fault!?"

**"I suddenly wake up in this completely dark place, then watching you on a beach with a big muscle guy and a long-haired guy around, wondering what the hell is going on and being unable to do anything!"**

Izuku blinked in shock, _"So he really WAS created when I received One For All?"_

**"I was watching you so much from here! Watching you go to school, touch a girl's boobs on the train-!"**

"WHAT!?" Izuku turned completely red with his mouth and eyes agape.

**"-watching you practice with your friend Ureshi and getting all friendly with everyone while I was stuck in here!"** Ikari continued venting.

**"Then all of a sudden, when you're fighting against the angry blonde boy, you nearly died! _That's_ when something happens!"**

Izuku's moment of embarrassment faded as he heard Ikari bring up his first fight against Bakugo.

"What?"

**"I heard what you were thinking, it echoed in here! You wanted to live and beat him! You wanted to show him that you were stronger than ever before! Then my head starts hurting, like ALOT! It was as if I felt something fueling me and forcing me to burn that fuel quicker than I was receiving it! Then... Then... I just popped!"**

"Popped?" Izuku had a blank face as he listened.

**"Then the next thing I know, I'm holding your bully's head in my hand! I'm breathing, burning, angry, and just thinking about crushing his skull right there! But... I didn't mean to even do anything... I didn't know what caused it..." ** He looked down depressingly.

_"Huh? Was he not in control as well? Then what happened?"_

Ikari suddenly appeared in front of Izuku with black cross veins of irritation on his head.

**"UNTIL EARLIER!"**

"WAH!?" Izuku was caught off guard and fell back as Ikari jabbed a finger on his head and pushed him down.

**"YOU were the one that didn't want to die and wanted to beat Bakugo, YOU were the one that got pissed off when Todoorki didn't use his left side, and YOU were the one that was so desperate to win against your teacher!"**

"E-Eh!?"

**"Because you got _so_ angry and lost yourself in what you wanted _so _badly, _I _ended up getting affected by getting forcefully pulled out from here for YOU! You guys thought that I controlled you to purposely hurt others, but even _I_ wasn't in control! I was literally blinded by rage that's fueled by you! But I only acted based on what _you_ desperately wanted to achieve but couldn't do yourself! When YOU get so angry, then I'M the one who is unable to think! Your mental state affects _my_ mental state! If you can even call it my mental state since it just keeps getting affected by _you_!"**

Izuku was nearly lying on the ground now, as Ikari had continuously pushed him down with a finger.

"A-Are you saying that because I got angry, you came out angry too? So we both couldn't think and just acted violently?"

Ikari furiously nodded his head up and down.

**"It's not like I wanted to hurt anyone! I actually like All Might and all your friends!"**

He repeatedly hit smacked Izuku on the head.

**"So stop getting so angry! I thought you were supposed to be the nice guy!?"**

"Ow, ow, ow!" Izuku winced with each hit.

Ikari suddenly backed up.

**"The angrier you get, the more dangerous I become... Your mentality was already suffering enough as it is..."**

Ikari glanced down at his claw-like hands.

**"I only act based on what you want... And I end up doing _anything _to make sure you got what you wanted to do..."**

Izuku stared in guilty, stunned silence.

_"So, In the end... this is all my fault?"_

He looked down in shame.

**"I don't actually give you any energy unless you desperately wanted the power. I never gave any to you on my own accord. I literally feel parts of myself pulled out for you since my energy is basically just what I'm made of. And every time I come out, I'm always just thinking about destroying the problem you have... literally."**

Izuku got back up to his feet, looking unsure of himself.

"Um..." Izuku slightly bowed. "I'm sorry... I had no idea that I put you through that. But... There are a few things that still confuse me..."

**"Well, ask away before you wake up then..."**

"Why is it that you're so calm right now?" Izuku trustingly walked over to him at the couch, sitting down beside him.

**"Shouldn't that be obvious? You're not angry anymore... Remember, your mentality affects mine. I may be an entity literally created from rage, but it doesn't really mean that I'll be angry and want to pew pew everything all the time."**

_"It sounds like that's how that should work..."_ Izuku honestly thought.

**"So since your sleeping right now, you're not really angry. So we're fine."** Ikari started slithering around the floor as a puddle while Izuku curiously stared at him.

"Er, right... So how much energy _do_ you actually have?"

Ikari stopped and glanced at him. **"Hm? Meh, I don't really know for sure, but I do know that if I run out, then I'll die. And if I die, I _think_ you will too."**

"EH!?" Izuku cried out.

**"I didn't realize it either until our battle with Ureshi... I blasted my own energy at him, and then your body started feeling cold, right?"**

Izuku shivered and rubbed his arms as he recalled feeling drained.

"Y-Yeah..."

**"Well, that energy is basically my blood, because you know, that's literally what I'm made of. And like a normal person, if you lose too much blood... Then you're dead."**

His hands changed shape to formed skulls. **"And if I'm thinking of this right, then you should die if I die since we both share each other's pain. We share each other's bodies you could say. While I remain in your subconscious, I don't feel the pain you go through because I'm not out in the real world, but the moment I do go out there or a part of me goes out there for you to use, then we'll both be vulnerable to each other."**

Izuku was stunned. "So th-then... I-If you're out there with me, and I use One For All to break my arms... th-then-?"

**"My arm would 'break' too... Or at least I'd feel the pain of it." **Ikari showed him his arm, and it comedically exploded. **"Boom."**

"AH!" Izuku frantically grabbed his own arms desperately.

**"They aren't going to explode if I just change shape like that."**

"Eh? But you said we sh-share bodies!"

**"Sorry, I should clarify."** He pointed as his arm forming back again. "**I think your body only actually gets hurt if _my_ body get attacked. Changing my body shape willingly doesn't seem to count in changing _your_ body."**

Izuku still shivered.

"Th-This is confusing... S-So if your aura is like blood... Then does that mean it also heals back over time? Er, I mean, does your aura regenerate like how red blood cells are created?"

Ikari nodded. **"Yeah. When I use a lot of energy, I think it takes a few days for me to get it back. But I have a lot of it! About eight people's worth... So like nine bodies worth of blood or energy?"**

"Eight people?" Izuku questioned.

**"You know, the seven previous holders of that other quirk and yourself?"**

Izuku's eyes widened. "Ah, that's right! S-Speaking of that!" He jumped up and pointed at him. "Wh-What do you know about the situation between All Might, Enso, and... e-everything else?"

**"I mean... I woke up on that beach. And since I had literally nothing to do, I just listened and watched everything you did."**

Izuku started sweating nervously.

"A-At least th-that explains h-how you know what happened between M-Momo and I on the train..."

**"I'm sure she'd let you touch them if you asked."**

Izuku had a blank face of all seriousness.

"Momo would not be the type of person to let someone do that by asking, and I respect her way too much to ever lay a finger on her!"

**"That... was not the reaction I had expected."** Ikari confessed. **"But, you _did_ touch her, despite what you claimed just now."**

Izuku had his blank stare only for a few more seconds before remembering the soft feeling in his hands, causing him to turn red and cover his face.

"I-I didn't mean to..." He whimpered.

**"Ah, there's the reaction."**

Suddenly, Izuku was able to see through his hands.

"Eh?" He removed his hands from his face and looked down at his own body, watching as it started to get transparent. "Wh-What's happening to me!?" he shouted as he shot up to his feet.

Ikari changed shape and stretched over Izuku, **"Um, I don't know? Maybe that means you're waking up?"**

"B-But I have more things to talk to you about! Like what's gonna happen in the future!?" Izuku shouted as his body's lower half faded away.

**"I don't know what's gonna happen..."** He knocked Izuku on his head. **"But make sure it's nothing bad!"**

"What!? But I-MMPH!?" Izuku's face was fading now.

**"Try harder, dude! If you do, well... Things have a way of working out!"**

Then Izuku was gone.

Ikari remained in place for a few seconds after Izuku was gone, thinking about the events that just happened.

**"I wonder if I should've talked to him about his harem?"**

* * *

Darkness.

That was all he saw. Izuku only saw darkness in his vision, yet he could clearly hear some sort of movements around him. He didn't know why he couldn't see, why everything was dark. He didn't know.

Until he realized it was because his eyes were closed.

"Nngh..." He forced his eyes open to the ceiling lights above him.

_"Where... Am I?"_ He felt completely exhausted.

He turned his head and blinked multiple times, noticing the white nursing bed he was lying on.

"So we meet again, old friend..." He mumbled to his bed.

He glanced down at his arms, finding that they didn't hurt and he could move both of them freely, although with both wrapped in bandages still.

"Young Midoriya!"

Izuku turned to the other side and saw Toshinori standing next to his bedside in worry.

"All Might?" Izuku sat up and glanced around the room, only to find both the nurse and his teacher nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Recovery Girl and Enso?"

"Recovery Girl went home and left me to take care of you. And young Enso was with Aizawa and Nezu to speak with them." Toshinori told him.

"Oh..." Izuku rubbed his head. "Um... How did I end up here?"

"You don't remember?" A voice asked from the other side of Izuku's gaze.

Izuku turned and his eyes bulged, "WHY ARE YOU COMING IN THROUGH THE WINDOW!?... AGAIN!?"

Enso had his feet placed on the window frame, jumping in and closing it shut.

"I calculated it to be the fastest way to get here." Enso answered as he dusted his hands.

"Just take the stairs..." Izuku sighed. He stared past Enso and out the open window, taking note of the mixture of orange and red colors on the horizon.

_"It's turning nighttime already?"_

"So... How are you feeling?" Toshinori asked him.

"Hm? Oh, um... Just tired." Izuku confessed as he stretched his arms.

But then his face lit up when he remembered the critical interaction with Ikari.

"Ah! That's right! Enso, All Might! I talked to Ikari!"

"You spoke to your quirk?!" Toshinori exclaimed in surprise.

"I spoke to him in my subconscious while I was passed out! He's better than you think!"

"'Better' how?" Enso asked him.

"He didn't mean to hurt anyone when he came out! Including me!"

"..." Toshinori and Enso eyed him suspiciously.

"Really!"

Enso didn't seem to believe it.

"Could you explain in detail exactly what you've discussed with him?"

And so, Izuku explained the conversation he had with Ikari within his own subconscious. Explaining how Izuku's anger is what forces his to come out and take over, although not even wanting to, he learned just how connected his life was to Ikari's and discovered that Ikari was indeed created when Izuku had received One For All and knew everything that Izuku had heard and seen.

By the time he was finished, Enso was sitting on the edge of Izuku's bed with his legs crossed and Toshinori was sitting in a chair with a hand on his chin.

"Interesting... But can we really be sure to trust Ikari?" Enso asked.

"Think of what he'd gain from lying." Toshinori suggested.

"Well, it depends on what kind of... 'person' he really is. If he's some insane monster that wants to destroy everything, then lying to Izuku could give him an opening to take him over."

"H-He's not like that!" Izuku put a hand to his chest. "He's like me! If you could just talk to him, then you would know that!"

"Why can't we talk to him?" Enso asked him. "You went into contact with him, so can't you do it again?"

Izuku flinched.

"W-Well... I-I don't really know. Talking to him was unexpected. I just woke up, so I don't even know how I could even talk to him again."

"Hm... Well, you said that you were able to talk to him while you were unconscious, so..." Enso slid off the bed and stood up with a hand in a karate-chopping position. "Let's try that again."

"PLEASE DON'T!" Izuku and Toshinori both cried out.

"Well... Alright, then." Enso disappointingly shoved his hands into his pockets.

Izuku and Toshinori let out breaths of relief.

"So, how do _you_ plan on communicating with him again?" Enso asked him.

Izuku went through his thoughts. "U-Um... I don't think we should force something to happen just to talk to him. I-I think I should wait until I learn how to bring out more of his power to see if anything happens."

"By 'bring out' don't you mean force more of his power out?"

Izuku flinched, "I-I didn't know it worked like that, alright?!"

Enso sighed. "Well… For now, based on how Izuku described Ikari and seeing how we can't even go into contact with him, I think we should just proceed with our life as usual until Izuku gets into contact with him again. I don't think we have to worry _too_ much about him doing anything since he only does something when Izuku gets angry anyway..."

"But when I _do_ get angry and Ikari comes out... Won't it mean that we'll both just lose control again?" Izuku whimpered.

Enso rubbed his own chin, "There's not much we can do about that... I've mentioned this before, but I'm trying to find a way to make it so that you could bring out Ikari willingly... I'm still figuring that out."

"I see..." Izuku sighed.

Toshinori reassuringly patted him. "Don't worry, Young Midoriya. You'll find a way to control your power. But for now, just go home and relax."

Izuku nodded. "Will do All Might."

"But first, change your clothes." Enso pointed out.

Izuku glanced down at himself and realized that he was still in his U.A gym uniform.

"Oh..."

* * *

~{A few minutes later}~

Stars were visibly in the black sky by the time the trio of men walked out of the U.A academy.

Izuku checked through his phone and sweatdropped.

"What is it?" Enso asked as they walked out of the gate.

"I got a lot of messages..."

_"I wonder from who...?"_ Enso thought sarcastically as he thought about Izuku's circle of females.

"Just from most of the class... Ochako, Momo, wha-Mom!?"

The trio stopped.

"Dear lord Young Midoriya... If your mother watched the festival..."

"Then there was no point in healing you back up... She'll kill you instead." Enso finished.

"Quiet you!" Izuku frantically texted back his mom a lightning-fast message saying that he was alright and that she didn't need to call the police on U.A of all schools.

Literally five-seconds later, Izuku got back nearly an essay's worth of text about how worried Inko was about him.

_"What the hell is that writing ability? At least I know where Izuku gets it from..."_ Enso sweatdropped.

"Oh, boy..." Izuku shivered as he read through his mom's message.

A curious thought suddenly went through Enso's head, something that he had wondered about Izuku for a while.

"Izuku... You've only ever mentioned your mother before, what about your father?"

Izuku froze, his eyes partly shadowed as he remained in a brief moment of silence.

Toshinori grew worried, "Um, perhaps asking isn't a good idea?"

Enso narrowed his eyes, "Another source of trauma?"

Hearing that, Izuku snapped out of his frozen stand and turned to Enso while flailing his arms.

"N-No! Nothing like that! I just never knew my father!"

"Then what was with that reaction?" Enso asked him.

Izuku rubbed the back of his head with a sad expression.

"I... I don't really know. Whenever I found myself thinking about my dad, I can't remember anything, but I would always end up feeling... cold."

Enso thought something was off.

"Have you ever asked your mother about him?"

"I mean..." Izuku scratched his head, "I did... but she never seemed to want to tell me... She would either change the subject or just tell me that it might be better if I didn't know."

_"What kind of answer is that?"_ Toshinori wondered.

"..." Enso stared curiously at the boy as he wondered about his family troubles, yet he decided to end the subject. "We should be getting back. You don't want to keep your mom waiting..."

"Y-Yeah, I'll be going ahead! Good night both of you!" Izuku started running down the empty street in the direction of the train station, leaving behind Toshinori and Enso to watch as he left.

Toshinori turned to Enso with a curious expression. "Are you sure we should've just left it just like that? We didn't even tell him what happened when he passed out..."

Enso turned to him. "You mean the situation with Bakugo after Izuku passed out? If Izuku didn't bring it up, then none of his friends brought it up over texts... Perhaps they wish to speak to him directly about that."

"Still... Don't you think we should've let him know the thin ice Bakugo is on right now? Young Midoriya doesn't even know about the meeting you had with Aizawa, Bakugo, and the other four in the room." Toshinori stated.

"As I've said before, I'm sure his friends are planning to speak to him about that. They didn't look that angry at Bakugo, but I'm sure they had to everything they could to keep from assaulting the boy right there... I'll trust his female companions to deal with this. Besides..."

He started walking away. "I've gotten involved with his personal problems long enough... I haven't helped, if anything, I made things worse."

Toshinori was surprised by his answer. _"He feels some guilt for putting Young Midoriya through that..."_

"I'm going back... Stay safe, Toshinori." Enso called out one last time.

Toshinori watched him and smiled. _"I suppose even he's learning too."_

Enso suddenly leaped onto a rooftop.

"USE THE STREETS LIKE A NORMAL CITIZEN!" Toshinori found himself yelling with his arms up.

* * *

~{Train Station}~

Izuku sat down by himself on the train as the doors closed. He put his bag to the side and immediately pulled out his phone to look through the rest of the messages he had.

He sweatdropped when he saw multiple messages from every girl in his class.

_"Even Itsuka, Er-Kendo, messaged me... I guess I'd better start answering..."_

He had to text back each of the girls with the same message. That he was awake and healthy, apologized that he worried them, and even included that he may have learned how to get a better handle on Ikari. Although for Kendo, he had to explain what Ikari was to her since she wasn't there when he explained it to his class.

_"I should invite her to spar with Enso and I sometime."_ Izuku thought.

Each of the girls messaged him back their relief, and Izuku had trouble responding to each of them in a short time. But when he got a message back to Mina, he felt his anxiety building.

Mina: _Midori, I can't wait to see you this Saturday! I already know the first place we can go to! Meet me in front of the _**_Peace Cream_**_ ice cream parlor in the downtown Musutafu district at around 1:00. Be sure to wear comfortable clothing that's easy to move around in, we're going to have lots of fun!"_

Izuku couldn't help but shiver.

_"Why am I so nervous about her saying 'fun'?"_

He nervously texted her back.

Izuku: _Can I ask what we'll be doing?_

A few seconds later.

Mina: _Nope, it's a secret. But look forward to it! ;)_

_"I thought so..."_ He sighed despite having a smile on his face.

Izuku put down his phone and gazed outside as the beautiful night sky, watching as the stars sparkled brightly. He thought about the entire day. Winning the festival race, winning the cavalry battle, and even making it to his battle against Enso.

But then he lost.

It frustrated him, it really did. He had promised to beat his teacher, but then he still lost.

Izuku sighed as he remembered the battle.

_"But I guess it does make sense... Me, who's only been training for a year, fighting against someone with a few years of experience. Compared to Enso, I'm still an amateur..."_

Izuku leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

_"I still have to get stronger... The only advantage I have against Enso so far is that my raw strength and maybe faster analysis on people... If I manage to bring out Ikari myself and learn to use a larger percentage of One For All, then... Can I beat Enso?"_

He used the train ride home as a chance to meditate, even crossing his legs onto the seat. He tried to recall every single attack he saw in the festival, every single movement, and every single quirk. His mind went through event after event that he had gone through during the festival. From the obstacle course race, all the way to speaking to Ikari.

But one thing started to bother him.

_"Izuku... You've only ever mentioned your mother before, what about your father?"_

He suddenly felt a stinging go through his head as if it was triggered by the thought.

"Nngh?!" He put a palm on his forehead and hunched over in pain.

Surprisingly, this only lasted for about two seconds.

He panted as he rubbed his head, wondering what just happened.

He glanced outside at the sky.

_"Dad..."_

* * *

~{A Few Minutes Later}~

Izuku walked up the stairs to his apartment with his eyelids nearly dropping.

_"I'm exhausted..."_

He pulled out his key and unlocked the door, pulling it open to his brightly lit home.

"I'm home..." He mumbled as he took off his shoes.

"IZUKU!"

A force stronger than anything Izuku had ever faced rampaged down the hall right at him.

A worried mother.

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" Izuku's eyes bulged out right before Inko came and wrapped her arms around him, holding her boy as tight as she could.

"Are your arms okay!? You broke them again!? What happened to you?! What was that black stuff around you!? Do you know how much I worried about you!?" She spoke in speeds that would make a rapper ashamed.

"Mmph! M-Mom... C-Can't... Breathe!" Izuku forced out as his ribs were starting to get crushed by Inko's arms.

"Oh!" Inko let go of her son, and Izuku fell to the floor, gasping for air.

_"I swear she can kill me anytime she wants..." _Izuku thought with a shiver.

Inko brought Izuku but to his feet with crying eyes. "Izuku, what happened to you?" She whimpered.

Izuku seemed to stop breathing for a second as he stared at his mother's desperate face.

"Mom..." He gave her a small smile, "Let's sit down..."

And so they did.

They were in the living room/kitchen table, sitting across from each other. Izuku reassured his mom that he was okay and calmed her down to the extent that she was no longer waterfalling tears but instead had an angry pout on her face.

"I know you said that you were going to get hurt, but that was too much!" She scolded him.

"I-I'm sorry! I unlocked a new part of my quirk that I didn't even know I had! So I couldn't control it at the time!" Izuku apologized.

"New part?" Inko looked serious. "Was it that black stuff that appeared around you?"

Izuku nodded up and down. "Y-Yeah... I'm really sorry, mom! I promise that this won't be a common thing. I just didn't know how to control it at the time."

"So, you're saying that you can control it now?" She interrogated.

Izuku flinched, "N-Not exactly... I'm coming to terms with it! But I know how it works so I can be more careful in training with it!"

Inko narrowed her eyes at him. "Speaking of 'training,' remember what I said about those two trainers of yours?"

"Eh?" Izuku blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you forgot what would happen if something 'crazy' happened to you again?"

Izuku had to rewind his mind until he got back to the day he got his acceptance letter and met Enso and All Might on the beach, then returning home to an angry mother.

He replayed certain words.

_"I don't have to meet them now. You could introduce me to them once you're ready, but the instant you do something crazy again, I'm gonna find them myself."_

A few traces a sweat dripped down from his head.

"U-Um..."

Inko raised a hand to shush him.

"You said one of them was named 'Enso.' And if I recall, the one you fought against that _caused_ you to break your arms was Enso Ureshi, correct?"

Izuku started raining sweat from his head.

"So... When do I meet him and your other trainer? Or do I have to drag them here?"

Izuku's sweat was waterfalling in the room now as he looked down in defeat.

"I-I'll tell them to meet you as soon as possible..."

"Good, I'll hold you to that." Inko took a sip of tea.

"But it wasn't their fault that I broke my arms, mom, honest." Izuku explained.

Inko put her cup down and stared at the new, large scars on her precious child's arm, giving her a chill in her spine.

"I know that it wasn't necessarily their fault... You told me just now that a new part of your quirk came out and made you... like 'that.' What caused that to happen in the first place, Izuku?" Inko desperately wanted to know.

Her son gulped nervously. "W-Well... Turns out that part of my quirk is caused by anger. I-If I get too angry then... 'that' happens."

"Anger? My little boy getting angry? But..." Inko looked down as she thought of the reason why he got angry enough to become the way he did.

"Izuku... Was it because of Katsuki?"

"Huh?" Izuku glanced at her shock. "Wha-What-?"

"I heard everything... It was loud and clear on the T.V..."

The cup started shaking in her hands.

"Did you get angry thinking about him? Was that why you lost control? W-Was everything I heard... really true?" Her voice started cracking.

Izuku didn't respond, he just lowered his head while his hands tightly held each other.

Inko put her hands on her face. "My poor boy... Did Katsuki really do that? F-For all those years y-you went through that? D-Did... that boy really tell you to..." Tears went down her eyes as she whimpered.

"Mom, w-we were still young, I-"

"Why are you protecting him!?" His mother cried out, "I know you're nice Izuku b-but... When will something be enough for you to actually stand up for yourself... Why didn't you tell me? You let him do so much to you..."

Izuku avoided her gaze, "M-Mom..."

"But... I guess I'm at fault too..." Inko lowered her head with a hand over her eyes. "I-I knew something was wrong... I-It should've been obvious to me what was going on..."

She trembled as more tears flowed out.

"I should've investigated... I should've done something... I knew something was wrong ever since you came back from visiting Bakugo with blood on your forehead... You told me that you fell and just rushed home... B-But... But..."

There was a small puddle of tears on the table now.

"Your face... My little boy had a face he never should've had... So sad... S-So scared... I-I should've marched right over to Mitsuki's... B-But... I chose to believe you... I didn't want to believe that your best friend hurt you that bad... B-But I let it keep happening..."

Izuku stared in horror at his crying mom, feeling his own tears forming.

"I'm terrible... I'm sorry, Izuku... I'm sorry... I-I haven't done anything right..."

Izuku's pupils shrunk.

_"I'm sorry..."_ Those words echoed.

His eyes lost color in them.

_"I'm sorry..."_

His pupils started shaking as his mind flashed back.

Four years old, sitting in front of his computer, eyes waterfalling eyes.

_"Mom..."_

He was staring at All Might saving over a dozen people in a major fire incident.

_"He's such a cool hero..."_

He slowly turned his chair to her with a broken smile.

_"Can I... be a hero too?"_

He remembered the look of pain his mother had as she rushed over and hugged him.

_"I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

Shadows formed over his eyes. He had been alone his entire life, with no figures to actually help him confidentially get through his dream.

"Nngh!" At that thought, he felt a sharp burning in his head and slammed a hand on his face while crouching over on the table.

"Izuku!?" Inko ignored her tears as she saw her son in pain.

Izuku found himself remembering Enso's words once again.

_"Izuku... You've only ever mentioned your mother before, what about your father?"_

He tightly grabbed his hair.

"Mom..."

Inko noticed a sudden deeper change in his voice.

"I-Izuku?"

He removed his hand from his head, still keeping his head down.

"Can... Can you tell me about dad?"

Inko gasped.

"What? Wh-Where is this coming from?"

Izuku just seemed to ignore her.

"Where is he?... Why was he never around...?"

Inko didn't know what was going through her child's head. Of all times to bring up his father, why now? He didn't seem like he'd accept not getting an answer from her.

"Izuku..." Her hands grabbed each other under the table. "Your father... He loved you, he really did. But... There are things that I can't tell you about him. It would be better if you didn't know anything about him…"

She looked down at the ground with a mixture of shame and sadness.

Izuku's hands tightly gripped into fists as he visibly shook. He thought of the struggles he went through without a father figure.

"Why...?"

He thought of the bullying, the constant shots at his dream, and how lonely he'd been.

"Wh-Why...?" He muttered again.

Inko sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Izuku... I-"

"Is that all you can say?" **"Is that all you can say?"**

Inko felt fear go through her as she heard two combined voices speak.

"Wh-What?"

**"I'm sorry... All you've ever said was 'sorry'... Sorry about not doing anything about Kacchan, sorry about never telling me about dad..."** The two combined voices said.

**"Sorry about _never_ believing that I could be a hero..."**

The voices weren't shouting, they only had a serious tone. But this somehow seemed to make hearing them all the more terrifying for Inko.

She trembled in her seat.

"I...zuku...?"

**"You never once said it... 'You _can_ be a hero.' I never once heard it from you, just empty apologies... You told me before the sports festival to make you proud...**

He raised his head up and Inko gasped, the woman shooting from her seat and backing up.

**"So for once, are you finally 'proud' of me? "**

Inko backed up until she hit the wall, tears going down her eyes as she watched something other than her child sitting there.

But despite being scared and hurt, her worries for her child still kicked in.

She rushed over to his side, much to the boy's surprise, and gripped his shoulders.

"Izuku! Stop this! Don't let it happen again!"

Hearing her saying that made Izuku blink several times, to which the burning started in his head again.

"NNGH!" He stumbled out of his seat and Inko let go of him while backing up.

Izuku panted as he felt his anger fade away, then staring into his own hands with a look of fear.

_"Even with that small bit of anger, Ikari came out!? Why... Why!?"_ Izuku tightly balled his hands as his eyes widened. _"Or... Could it be that ever since interacting with Ikari, I'm more sensitive to bringing him out?"_

His pupils shrunk in some fear.

_"This is bad... This is really bad..."_

"Izuku?" Inko whimpered as she inched closer to him.

Izuku took a step away, making his mother flinch.

"S-Sorry… Mom…" He held his head with his hand, hiding his face from her. "I…I shouldn't have- I didn't mean too..." He sighed. "I know you mean well... I know you only worried about me..."

He turned his back to her.

"I-I'm sorry..." He took a stumbling step forward. "Good night, mom..."

Inko could only watch as Izuku stumbled back to his room using one hand to hold onto his head and the other to support himself against the wall. He went into his room and closed the door behind him, leaving Inko alone in the living room.

The moment he left, Inko fell to her knees, still shaking in shock from what she had seen. She wasn't prepared for that. She felt ashamed, heartbroken, and had levels upon levels of grief on top of her.

She knew that ever since Izuku claimed that he had gotten a quirk, he was changing. But as much as he was changing for the better, she saw much more of the worse changes coming from him.

Her little cinnamon roll was becoming different. She's seen the destructive power that her son had unleashed while shattering his own body in the process, the black colors that constantly circled around him, but what made her the most terrified...

Were the red eyes that weren't of her child. The eyes that had glared at her with what felt to be murderous intent.

She sobbed in her hands.

"What... What's happening to my little boy?"


	37. A Date With Mina

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**I'm really happy with all the comments I've gotten on the fic so far. It really means a lot to me and sometimes I've wanted to answer them, but this site is kind of annoying in the fact that you can only answer comments through direct messaging. I think I may try to answer comments, questions, and suggestions up here in the prenotes. Gonna try that out. Hope you guys keep reading and commenting! :D**

* * *

**~{Saturday-10:15 AM}~**

"WHAT DO I WEAR!?"

Izuku literally swam in the waves of clothing scattered in his closet.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! My d-d-date with Mina is today!" He started flinging clothes all over the room. "I got up so early because of how nervous I am but I didn't even plan what to wear!?"

He stopped searching through his clothes and put his hands on his head with swirling eyes.

"Th-This isn't a real date anyway, is it!? She said it was just a meet-up, so why am I so nervous!?"

He fell backwards into his piles of clothes.

"How do I act!? Should I bring a gift?!"

He furiously scratched his head.

"I don't know! Who can I talk to about this!?"

Izuku stopped as he thought of the first person that came to mind.

He dove out of the clothes and grabbed the phone from his nightstand, calling someone as he paced around the room.

After just one ring of the phone, the person picked up.

"What is-?"

"ENSO!" Izuku interrupted. "I need your help!"

Somehow, a virtual punch hit Izuku from his phone.

"Stop shouting, you idiot." Enso said with irritation. "What do you want?"

Izuku wiped his cheek as he nervously shivered. "D-Do you remember that d-date I agreed to go on with M-M-Mina?"

"Say no more, I can't help you."

"PLEASE!" Izuku begged.

Another virtual punch came from the phone and knocked Izuku to the floor.

"Shut it."

Izuku shakily got up as he heard his mentor sigh over the phone.

"What makes you think I can even help you? I thought you'd assume that I've never even gone on an actual date before."

"B-But you're good at keeping your cool and always seem to know what to say to someone!" Izuku said.

"Izuku, you realize that everything I've said to people was to purposely make them angry or criticize them, right?"

"Exactly! So I'll know what _not_ to say!"

Izuku could swear he heard Enso break something.

"I understand what you're saying... but I can't help but feel very irritated by it." Enso muttered over the phone.

"P-Please help me! I don't know what to wear or how I should act!" Izuku begged.

He heard a rather long sigh come from the other side of the call.

"Fine... Just get over here right now." He reluctantly answered.

"Thank you!" Izuku hung up the phone and dove into his wave of clothes, then coming out with a new set of casual clothes. He rushed out of his room and was planning to just leave right there.

But he stopped when he saw his mother cooking up breakfast with a rather depressing look.

Izuku stared at his mother with a worried look, yesterday's events still lingering in his mind.

He clenched his hands tightly.

_"I said... I said some terrible things..."_

Inko noticed his presence and turned her head to him, still maintaining her depressing look.

"Are... Are you heading out?" She asked him.

Izuku was silent for a moment before answering.

"Um... I could stay for breakfast."

Inko simply turned back to the pan rather uncaring. "It'll be done in a minute..."

"..." Izuku sat down at the table with his head down.

The two of them ate in a rather depressing atmosphere of silence. Izuku occasionally rose his head to glance at Inko, but he would always see her keep her head down as she ate.

After a few more minutes of this atmosphere, Izuku knew that he had to say something.

"Mom... I-"

"I know." Inko interrupted before he could even say anything. "That wasn't you talking... At least, not all of it..."

Izuku could feel himself freeze.

"Your quirk makes you unreasonably aggressive, doesn't it? That's why you spoke the way you did yesterday...?" Inko asked before eating some eggs.

_"At first I thought she figured out that I had another person in me... I don't want to worry her that some kind of person of anger is in me..."_

"W-Well... My quirk does cause me to get really angry, but I still talked to you in a way I never should... I know you've always worried about me, I know you always thought about me and just wanted me to be happy. Yet I took this for granted and started causing you to worry more than I should've let you... I-I'm sorry mom..." Izuku bowed.

Inko formed a small, but sad smile. "It's alright Izuku... But you were right. I never did support you to become a hero, I never encouraged you at all... And I've never once said that I was proud of you..."

Izuku got up from his seat.

"Th-That's not your fault mom! I didn't have a quirk then and still wanted to be a hero, so of course, you didn't want me to become one! You were only worried about me! It was reasonable, but I was just selfish!"

Inko shook her head in disagreement. "There's nothing selfish about wanting to become a hero just for the sake of helping others. I know that would be the only reason you wanted to be one. To be like All Might and save everyone with a smile. I was happy to hear that you finally manifested your quirk, but I was also scared... I've always seen heroes getting hurt on T.V, heroes getting killed, so even though you wanted to go to U.A, I was always scared. Even now I keep on worrying..."

She stared down at her plate.

"At first, I thought it'd be fine. I thought you'd be completely safe in U.A. Yet... villains came into the school, and knowing you, you'd just jump in to save anyone. But the one that seemed to cause the most pain to you... was just you. Breaking your arms so many times... I-I just kept getting scared. And now I have to worry about a new problem with your quirk... What's going to happen to you now?"

Izuku was momentary silent as he stared at his mother with a sympathetic expression. He knew that he had caused her so much distress by everything he's done. He's made everyone in his class worry multiple times and had promised them that he would make sure not to do those things again.

So he had to do the same for his mother.

He formed a small smile and walked around the table to her, then wrapping his arms behind her neck and holding her close.

"Mom... I know just how worried I made everyone, _especially_ you... I promise that I'll learn to control my quirk and get stronger to become the best hero. You're the most important person to me mom, and I don't want to make you worry about me anymore..."

Feeling his warmth on her, Inko formed a pure smile.

"Oh Izuku, I'm always going to worry about you."

Izuku chuckled, "Well I'm going to make you worry _less_ about me."

"Not gonna happen."

They both laughed.

* * *

**~{11:43 AM- Enso's Headquarters}~**

"U-Um... Enso? Wh-Why am I tied to a chair?" Izuku nervously asked as his mentor wiped his dagger.

The boy was tied down to a chair right in the middle of the dojo arena, a large white cloth wrapped around his body to only leave his head poking out.

"You wanted me to help you out, didn't you? So I'm helping you out."

"B-B-But wh-why do you have your d-dagger out?"

"I'm gonna cut your hair." Enso said as he flipped his dagger.

Izuku turned blue.

"Wh-What?"

"Not too much, don't worry. I'm just gonna sharpen the edges a bit."

"SHARPEN MY HAIR OR YOUR DAGGER!?" Izuku cried out as Enso's knife sparkled.

"Hold still."

**_*Slice!* *Slash!* *Slice!*_**

The area flashed in white with each slice before Enso appeared right behind Izuku with traces of green hair on the floor.

Izuku was white with his soul visibly leaving him.

_"Maybe this was a bad idea..."_

Enso's dagger disintegrated in his hand as he pulled a handheld mirror out of nowhere.

"How does it look?"

Izuku shakily raised a hand up and took the mirror, taking a closer look at himself. His hair didn't look that different, yet it also had noticeable changes in the form the edges of his hair trimmed.

"I-It's fine... I-I have most of it still at least." The boy muttered, still recovering from the frightening experience.

"Good. Now..." Enso took off the white sheet around Izuku and tossed it to the ground, then pulling out a pair of blue latex gloves and putting them on.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked and lost the color in his eyes at the sight of Enso putting on the gloves. "Wh-Wh-What a-are-?"

"Time for a shower." Enso said as he pulled his glove down on his right hand and let go with a snap.

Izuku had comedic tears in his eyes as Enso's shadow started enveloping him.

"N-No... H-H-Have mercy!"

With the light over him, Enso was a black silhouette with red eyes.

"We're going to clean_ every_ spot of you."

Izuku's pupils shrunk.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

His screams rattled the neighborhood.

* * *

**~{12:23- Downtown Musutafu, Peace Cream Ice Cream Parlor}~**

Izuku trembled as he stood in front of the place that Mina had asked him to meet her for their date. He was hugging himself with all the color drained from his eyes as he remembered the traumatic experience worse than anything in the world so far. He did ask Enso for help in getting ready, but he had never expected anything like _how_ he had helped.

He had even dressed the boy in a certain style of clothing based on what Izuku had told him about wearing something 'comfortable.' Izuku had on knee-length, dark green shorts and a short sleeve completely black shirt. Included with this was a thin, dark blue sweater and his signature red boots. The outfit was easy to move around in and did feel satisfying for the warm weather of the outside. And knowing Mina, it also wasn't too over the top and would be what she'd expect.

People passing by gave odd looks to Izuku holding himself with a shiver, wondering what happened to him.

Izuku felt his phone go off, causing him to flinch.

He carefully pulled out his phone and saw that Enso was calling, making him turn slightly pale as he answered.

"Y-Y-Yeah?" The boy whimpered.

"Would you stop being such a baby? Ashido is going to arrive soon?"

Izuku shook his head and regained the green of his eyes, then getting annoyed.

"Do you know how much you terrified me!?" Izuku snapped at him through the phone.

"Yes, you were squealing like a schoolgirl in any anime where the protagonist walks in the room."

"What's with that example? You actually watch anime?" Izuku deadpanned.

"Nevermind that. I've called to give you advice on your date. I've only cleaned you up."

Izuku blinked as he realized that they didn't even talk about how he should act on the date.

"You couldn't talk to me sooner!?"

"Not really, what you should do isn't hard to know or hard for you to do."

He blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? What should I do?"

He heard Enso sigh over the call.

"Just be yourself."

"Eh?" Izuku was somewhat shocked, he thought that being himself should be the _last_ thing he should do.

"If Ashido invited you out, then that means she knows exactly who she's asking to be with her. She knows you, and all she expects _is _you. Don't go changing how you act, that would only creep her out."

Hearing this insight brought new light to Izuku about himself.

"She only... expects me? W-Will b-being 'me' really be okay?"

"Idiot... It's because _you're _you that she asked you on this date."

Izuku looked down at the ground while forming a small smile.

"Thanks, Enso... That actually makes me feel better going into this."

"Save your thanks for when it goes well. Now, look into your pocket."

"Hm?" Izuku raised an eyebrow and glanced around at his short's pockets, feeling his wallet, keys, a pack of cash wrapped in a rubber band-

"WHAT!?" Izuku gawked at the stack of bills.

"Don't show it, you idiot."

Izuku fumbled as he stuffed the cash back in his pocket, then tightly gripping his phone.

"Is this all from you!?"

"Yes, it's just some I saved up from gambling. Use it well."

"I don't need all of this!" Izuku declared.

"You never know. Even if you're being yourself, you can still show her a more gentleman side to you. Offer to pay for what she wants, start off by buying her ice cream at that parlor."

Izuku had another comedically emotionless look on his face.

"Wait, how do you know that I'm near an ice cream parlor?"

Izuku was met with silence on the other side of the line, with the added sound of a small cough.

"Are you watching me!?"

Izuku frantically searched in all directions of his surroundings.

"What kind of mentor would I be if I didn't examine your progress in what I've taught you?"

"But you didn't teach me anything! All you did was slice my hair and give me a shower!"

Izuku realized he said that a little too loud and blushed as some more people gave him odd looks.

"Oh, would you look at that, your pink girlfriend is coming now. See ya."

"What?! Hey-!?"

Enso hung the phone hung up.

"That little-!"

"Hey, Midori!"

Izuku flinched as he heard a cheerful voice coming from the direction behind him. He awkwardly turned around with a nervous smile.

"H-Hey Mina-!"

Izuku froze when he saw her coming down the sidewalk. Along with dark pink shoes she was wearing, the girl also wore a dark purple tank top along with some rather short jeans of the sort. She was clearly showing more skin than usual and her tank top pressed up against her curvaceous figure.

_"Doesn't that seem a little TOO casual!?" _Izuku thought with a maddening blush.

Mina ran towards the boy with the brightest smile he had ever seen from her. She was waving her hand ecstatically to him and Izuku remembered what Enso had said.

_"If Ashido invited you out, then that means she knows exactly who she's asking to be with her. She knows you, and all she expects is you."_

Izuku smiled as he waved back at Mina, indicating that he had indeed seen her. However, he noticed that Mina wasn't slowing down as she was getting closer to him.

In fact, it looked like she was speeding up.

Izuku's smile faded. _"Uh oh."_

Sure enough, when Mina got close she dived forward grinning with eyes closed and her arms reaching out.

"Midoriiiiiiiiiiii!"

Izuku's eyes widened as he opened his arms up in worry to catch the girl. Mina slammed herself against Izuku and the boy slightly stumbled back but managed to spin the girl in the hug to keep his balance. He planted her to the ground, yet Mina snuggled her head on his shoulder and kept a hold on him with a giggle.

"Nice catch!"

"M-Mina! We could've fallen over!" Izuku uttered with a large blush as he felt Mina's assets pressed up against him.

Mina removed her head from his shoulder let him go while backing up with a grin.

"I knew you wouldn't fall over! You're built like a god!"

_"I don't think that's the right scaling..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

"With these guys, there was no way you'd fall over!" Mina said as she used her hands to feel upon Izuku's chest.

Izuku flinched and grabbed Mina by the wrists, holding them away from himself. "M-Mina! That's embarrassing!"

Mina just giggled and leaned her body closer to him with a flirty smile. "Your reactions are so cute Midori."

Steam erupted from Izuku's head.

"Th-Th-That's... L-Lets just go!" He let go of her and turned his body around to hide his embarrassment.

Mina jumped excitedly. "Gladly! This here ice cream parlor has some pretty great flavors! Let's go get some! My treat!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

A little bell rung as they went through the door.

"Y-You don't have to pay for both of us Mina! I have more money than I thought I had, so I could pay for both of us. I would feel bad if I let you spend money on me like that."

They got in line and Mina pat the boy on the back. "Awww, you're so sweet Midori. There aren't many guys that would offer to pay for a girl unless he had some sort of goal in mind."

Izuku turned his head curiously. "What kind of goal?"

Mina frantically waved a hand in front of him with an awkward laugh. "Don't worry about it! It's something that someone like you shouldn't know."

She then turned away from Izuku and sighed, _"He really is innocent for his own good."_

Izuku had question marks over his head.

The menu of the ice cream parlor not only had the basic cones and scoops for ice cream but also some combinations of ice cream and ice cream desserts. Mina ordered a fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream sundae while Izuku ordered a sorbet style of ice cream with strawberries on top. The tables they sat at were placed along the walls. And although there were two sides of long seats on the table, Mina had decided to sit right next to Izuku, getting so close that her arm was touching his.

Izuku shivered as he held his spoon and slowly turned his head to an innocently smiling Mina.

"M-Mina? A-Are you sure that you don't want to sit on the o-other side? Th-There's more space..."

Mina just seemed to purposely lean on his shoulder. "Nah, I like it right here next to you." She took a spoonful of her sundae and continued to snuggle against Izuku.

_"If this is how the rest of the day is gonna be, I might not make it!"_ Izuku shook.

Mina moved off of Izuku's shoulder and got another spoonful of her sundae, raising the spoon near Izuku.

"Try some of mine Midori, it's pretty good! Say 'ahhhhhh!'"

Izuku could barely take anymore so early on. "B-B-But! Y-You um, th-that was- You already-!"

"What?" Mina grinned.

"Y-Y-You... u-u-used it..."

"And?" Mina almost seemed to challenge him right there.

Izuku didn't know what to do. Was she really alright with that? Maybe he was just overthinking it?

But then he took a look at her sundae and realized something.

"Y-You have another spoon!?"

Mina giggled, "Seems like you figured it out!"

Izuku sighed, "D-Don't tease me like that, please..."

"Heh, sorry about that. But now say 'ahh!'" She moved the spoon to his mouth.

Izuku opened his mouth and took the spoon, then appreciating the cool taste of mint.

"Mm... Itsh gwood!"

"I know right?" Mina smiled. She turned back to her sundae put the spoon Izuku used onto a napkin and picked up hers.

But then she noticed that her spoon was completely clean, no signs of being used at all.

_"Wait a second..."_ She turned to the spoon Izuku just used, then back to the unused spoon._ "I fed him the one I used!"_ She formed a lilac blush and nervously faced her sundae.

_"I-Isn't this what they call... an indirect kiss!?"_

Izuku didn't notice her blush and continued to happily eat his ice cream.

Mina pouted, _"Why am I the one feeling embarrassed!? That should be him!"_ She turned to the boy and noticed some ice cream on his cheek.

She stared at it for a few seconds before getting an idea to switch the roles of embarrassment. She grinned mischievously as she moved her face closer.

"Hey Mi~do~ri."

Izuku flinched at how she said each syllable.

"Wh-What?" He turned to her.

"Hold still." Mina reached her face up to his and licked the ice cream off Izuku's cheek.

Izuku dropped his spoon, then scooting as close to the wall away far away from Mina as he could get with his face steamed in red.

"Y-Y-You just-!? Wha-what-!?" He couldn't find his speech as his eyes bulged.

Mina giggled at Izuku's reaction, "Sorry Midori. You had some ice cream on your face."

Izuku didn't move back, he just reached out, took his ice cream, and remained by the wall with nervously staring down at it. "P-Please d-d-don't t-tease me like that… J-Just tell me next t-time..."

Mina just scooted closer with a smug grin, "But where would be the fun in that?"

Teasing Izuku was one of Mina's favorite things to do, whether in school or not. She genuinely loved to see the nervous boy's reactions and panicked expressions, she loved seeing him fumble with his words, and she loved how adorable he acted around girls. His innocence overall was something that she really loved about him. Everything the boy did or said was always out of pure, honest intentions.

After finishing their desserts, Mina suddenly grabbed Izuku's hand.

"Come on Midori! This was only the first place I had in mind!" She yelled as she started dragging the boy down several streets, ignoring the looks people gave them as they ran past.

"Y-You don't have to hold my hand!" Izuku stuttered in an embarrassed tone as Mina pulled him.

"What's wrong with it? You shy Midori?" Mina laughed as she neared her destination.

The two of them stopped in front of a place of several colors.

"An arcade?" Izuku muttered as he gazed at the many machines inside.

"There's a game that I really want to play against you in!" Mina pulled Izuku through rows and rows of games.

"Mina, we shouldn't run in here!"

His warning went ignored as Mina brought him to a rather large machine finally releasing the boy's hand.

"Here we are!" She presented proudly with a wave of her hand.

Izuku turned to the large machine that contained two dance pads on the platforms connected to it, indicating that it was a multiplayer dancing game.

There was a big lit-up sign on top of the machine that read, **"Dance Dance Revolution A"** Izuku realized instantly what they were going to be doing and started sweating buckets.

"U-Um, M-Mina? I-I don't think-"

"Come on Midori, play against me! I wanna see how good you are!" Mina said as she jumped onto one of the dance pads.

"B-But… I've never played one of these before…" Izuku embarrassingly admitted as he fiddled with his fingers.

"Don't worry about it! You can dance already, can't you? So this should be easy for you!" Mina reached over and pulled him up with her.

"O-Okay…" Izuku got onto the second dance pad.

Mina put some tokens she already had on her into the machine, starting it up.

"Now… Let's start off with something to warm up." she said as she began to press a few buttons.

Izuku glanced at the screen and saw Mina pick a song, but she set it on the highest difficulty.

"U-Um… Mina? You put it on the hardest mode."

Mina smirked, "Yeah, I did! Now get ready!"

"EH!? But I thought you said that we were gonna warm up!?"

Mina grinned, "We are! This is the easiest song to play on the highest difficulty!"

She then basically slammed the button, "Now let's go!"

Izuku didn't have time to argue with her as arrows came flying up the screen.

"Wah!?" He barely reacted on time as he started stepping on the buttons on his dance pad to match the arrows. He was clumsily doing so at first and didn't even look like he was dancing, but as the song progressed, Izuku managed to keep a continuous streak of perfect matches with flowing moves and fast footwork.

When the song was over, the results showed that Mina a higher score than Izuku.

"Wow, Midori! For your first time playing on one of these, you were great!"

Izuku panted before accusingly pointing a finger at the girl. "No fair Mina! You started it when I clearly wasn't ready!"

Mina laughed and playfully smacked his back. "Hey, heroes always have to be ready, since villains won't give them a chance to prepare!"

"Sure…" Izuku agreed rather sarcastically. "Although, I think I may have already gotten the hang of this game."

Mina's face lit up as she went back to the machine. "Well in that case…" She rapidly started pressing several buttons. "Then let's do the hardest song in the game!"

"Already!?" Izuku's eyes widened.

"Yeah! I think you can handle it, but..." She put a finger on Izuku's chin and leaned a little too close to the boy. Her beautiful black eyes staring into his glimmering emerald eyes. "How about we add some stakes to it?"

From how calm she sounded, Izuku shivered. "Wh-What do you h-have in mind exactly?"

Mina's finger trailed up from the boy's chin to his cheek, then to his forehead mischievously.

Her eyes showed a dangerous look in them. "How about this? If I win, then your gonna have to do one thing I say, no matter what it is?"

Surprisingly, Izuku didn't panic and just had a blank face, "Those stakes are too high and you know it."

_"Aw, pooey... He didn't freak out."_ Mina pouted.

Her smile returned as she thought of something else, "Fine, fine. If I win, then buy me a bowl of Natto after we leave!"

"I guess that sounds reasonable enough... And what about if I win?"

Mina leaned her head closer so that her mouth was near his ear. "Then... I'll kiss you." she whispered.

Izuku turned beet red with his mouth agape as Mina moved back with a smug grin. "Wh-Wh-What!? I-Isn't that a l-l-little-!?"

"No time to think, let's go!" Mina cut him off as she slammed the button to start.

"W-Wait-!"

The song immediately started at a very fast pace, but luckily, Izuku reacted quick enough to set a good pace on the arrows as they blazed up the screen. Izuku forgot all about the 'bet' with Mina and instinctively focused himself to keep up with the song. Starting from the very beginning, Izuku managed to react to each arrow that appeared on the screen with a step on the same arrows below him. Even though the song was only about _five_ minutes long, the fast pace he went at just made it feel like not even a full minute had gone by.

By the time the song was finished, Izuku had sweat trickling down the side of his head and panted as he held himself up with the bars of the machine. Although the dance was nowhere as intense as Enso's training exercises, it sure lasted long enough to give him a great workout. He then heard cheers and a few claps all around him, which caused him to slightly jump and turn around to see a crowd of people that had been watching them.

"Wow, those two were great!" One spectator shouted.

"Hey, that's Izuku Midoriya! The kid who blew his arms up in the sports festival!" Another added.

Izuku flinched. _"Is that what I'm going to be known for?"_

"Oo! Mina Ashido is right next to him!" A female squealed.

"They got some moves!"

Izuku heard Mina giggle next to him, prompting him to turn to her. The girl was smiling and looked pretty impressed. "Congrats on a perfect score Midori."

Izuku blinked and turned to the screen, seeing that he had taken the number one spot for the game.

_"I got a perfect score!?"_ Izuku was black in white in shock by this news.

Everyone else started clapping and cheering.

Izuku turned red and covered his face in embarrassment with one hand while the other shyly waved at the crowd.

"Th-Thank you…"

_"Kawaii..."_ The crowd and Mina all thought with flowery aromas.

After a few more compliments from people, everyone that had gathered around went back to whatever it was they were doing before, leaving Izuku and Mina alone together.

As the two started making their way through more rows of games, Mina playfully hit Izuku's back, "Wow Midori, are you sure that was your first time playing a game like that? I've played it so many times in my life yet you totally smoked me!"

"S-Sorry…" Izuku uttered out to her nervously.

Mina rustled Izuku's soft hair, appreciating every moment of the feeling. "Hey, you don't have to be sorry about it! It just means that I have someone to practice my skills against! Next time I won't lose!"

"I-I'm glad to have made you happy then…" Izuku said as he got her hand off him and fixed his hair.

"Yeah, so far I'm having a blast-!" Mina suddenly got quiet and stopped walking.

She then placed her hands and face on the glass of a crane game, staring at a particular item that had caught her eyes.

Izuku curiously went over to her and peeked at what she was staring at within this particular game. There were several stuffed bears inside, so Izuku wasn't exactly surprised that the girl would want one, but he was surprised by how each stuffed bear looked.

Each one was made to resemble someone in his class, even with several copies of all of them in the machine. Each one wore a small U.A gym uniform and the one Mina was attracted to were two bears. One was 8-inches tall, pink, and fluffy, even including horns like her and the other was a simple green bear with added green hair made to look like Izuku's

_"They're made to look like us so soon? Wait, can they even do that without letting us know?" _Izuku sweatdropped.

He decided not to think too much about it and went up next to Mina. "Looks like we really became popular after the festival. Do you want to get yours?"

Mina turned to him with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Er, not mine... Um, actually..."

Izuku blinked as he saw Mina glance from him, to the green teddy bear that resembled him.

He started sweating nervously and shakily raised a finger to point at the bear of himself, "U-U-Um... D-Do you want th-that one?"

Mina shyly blushed as she nodded, "I guess that you can say that I'm kind of a fan of you... You've done a lot of cool stuff after all."

_"I GOT A FAN!?"_ Izuku blushed hard as he couldn't really believe that Mina found him to be that impressive.

"Midori? I kind of suck at these games so, um... Can you get it for me?" Mina's eyes now resembled that of a puppy.

"I'll get it!" Izuku didn't waste time answering the adorably needy creature in front of him.

"Really!?" she asked enthusiastically with stars in her eyes.

"Y-Yes!" Izuku nervously went up to the machine and put in some change, but before he started it up, he put a hand on his chin and started to analyze multiple components of the crane game.

"Let's see… The best one to try to get is no doubt the bear in the middle where there aren't many other bears to get in the way. I have to take into consideration the volume of the claw itself and how it'll wrap around the bear when dropping at a certain pace and have to take into account how loose the grip of the claw really is and how much it'll shake as it comes up-mutter mutter mutter..."

Izuku continued to voice his thoughts aloud as Mina watched the words float up while maintaining a comically blank expression

_"Scary… But amazing…" _

Once confident in his calculations, Izuku started the game and immediately started to repeatedly tap away at the arrows to move the claw.

_"Why are his hands moving like he's playing a bullet hell!?"_ Mina's eyes bulged with an agape mouth.

Izuku looked surprisingly serious as he tapped the buttons to make the crane jerk in one direction and then stop, before then jerking again until being right above the green bear.

He then abruptly stopped and had a close-eyed smile.

"Boop." He said as he pressed the drop button.

The claw went down, picked up the bear in a perfect grip, and raised it over to the prize box before dropping it down.

Izuku picked up the stuffed animal from the opening and handed it over to Mina with a heartwarming smile.

"There you go."

Mina felt her heart skip a beat as she saw the gentle and loving smile that Izuku was displaying. She received the bear from the boy and hugged it tightly in her arms.

"It's soft..." She smiled.

Izuku started to feel somewhat nervous again as he curiously asked, "M-Mina? Wh-Why _did _you want that bear of m-m-me?"

Mina just gave him a sweet smile, "Because it reminds me of you. Isn't that a reason enough?"

Izuku turned around and covered his completely red face with both of his hands.

_"What kind of reason is that!?"_

Noticing how flustered he was, Mina's mischievous side kicked back in.

"Awwww, are you blushing Midori? How cute~"

Steam erupted from the boy's head.

_"Whoops, I might end up making him pass out."_ Mina giggled. She walked forward and grabbed his hand, then yanking him to a run. "Let's go Midori!"

"Eh!? Where now!?" Izuku cried out as he struggled to gain his footing.

They ran out of the arcade and kept going deeper into town. Izuku saw orange and yellow colors starting to go down on the horizon.

"There's one more place that I want to go!" Mina responded as she tightly held the stuffed bear in her arm.

Mina pulled him into an alleyway and then past another few streets of the city. After a while of running, they finally arrived at their destination.

She let go of Izuku's hand and waved an arm to present the area in front of them. "Here we are Midori! This is what I like to call my home away from home!"

Izuku turned and saw a two-story building with smooth black walls and many different colored lights shining around the top. The entrance consisted of two big, red doors with gold-colored handles, along with a red carpet that was rolled along the side of the wall of the place. On the red carpet was a bunch of different people waiting in line, some dressed in fashionable clothing, others with casual, and even some with rugged clothing.

At the doors of the place was a bouncer who had his arm crossed, he was looking over and letting people in. At the top front of the building read a neon sign that said, "**Club Stardust." **lit up in blue colors, and underneath it read a slogan,** "Dance within the galaxy." **all lit up in green colors.

Once reading the sign, Izuku knew exactly what the club was. "E-Eh!? Th-This is a nightclub isn't it M-Mina!? C-Can we even go inside?!" he stuttered.

To answer his question, Mina walked up to the bouncer, who was nearly as tall as All Might and had visible muscles. He wore a tuxedo with a red tie and had dark brownish hair, looking mighty threatening with his arms crossed.

"Hey Gado! How've ya been?" Mina asked him casually with a grin.

As the bouncer spoke, he had a deep voice, "I've been fine Mina, although it's been a while since your last visit."

Mina rubbed the back of her head embarrassingly. "Sorry! I've been caught up with a lot of school work recently." She then pulled Izuku right next to her. "This here is my friend Izuku Midoriya, Midori, this is Baunsa Gado, he's the bouncer here!"

"N-N-Nice to meet you!" Izuku uttered out with a bow, very nervous and intimidated by the bouncer's appearance.

The bouncer curiously stared down at Izuku, "Hm, this wasn't really what I expected from a kid that broke both of his arms... I honestly thought he'd be scarier."

Izuku flinched and sweatdropped, _"So this is what I'm known for now?"_

"Well, a friend of Mina is a friend of mine. You kids can go in."

"Eh?" Izuku didn't get to say anything before Mina grabbed his hand while tossing the bear to the bouncer.

"Thanks, Gado! Hold this for me while I'm in there!" The girl smiled as the bouncer fumbled to catch the bear.

"What!? Hold on now-!" But before the bouncer could continue, Mina ran in while dragging Izuku behind her.

The bouncer sighed and could feel his cheeks warming, what kind of bouncer holds a teddy bear in the front of a professional establishment?

The rest of the night was going to be embarrassing.

Mina pulled Izuku down the hall as he asked:

"Mina? How do you know that guy? And is it really okay to cut in front of all those people?!"

Mina glanced back at Izuku with a grin, "Oh, don't worry, my dad is a personal friend of the owner of this club so I can come in here anytime I want!"

She stopped running for a moment and looked more serious than before, "As for Gado... I met him when he was getting picked on by some thugs. He was kind of depressed so he wasn't even trying to fight back... Then I got involved because I really don't like bullying, so they tried to go for me."

Izuku looked shocked.

"One of them pulled out a knife, but then Gado snapped out of his depression and fought them all. That's when I learned that he lost his job and his home was blown up from a villain attack. So I got the owner here to hire him, he's really grateful to me."

Izuku looked down as he thought about that. Mina stood up for someone in need, which could've resulted in those thugs hurting her. He thought of when _he _stood up to Bakugo when he and his lackey were bullying one kid at a playground, resulting in them only picking on Izuku.

_"I wonder... What would've happened if someone stood up for me?"_

Izuku recalled the burns he got and the verbal abuse he always went through.

Despite such terrible memories, he formed a small, sad smile. _"It's probably better that no one did, otherwise, they probably would've gone through something similar that I went through..."_

Mina saw the look in his eyes and realized that she might've made him remember something bad. She grabbed his hand and quickly forced a smile, "L-Let's keep going! It's just up ahead!"

Izuku detected that slight stutter but wasn't able to ask about it as he got pulled to two black doors.

"This is it! One of my most favorite places in the world!" Mina proudly yelled as she pushed open the doors.

Izuku was blinked by many moving colors, blinking multiple times as his eyes adjusted to the sight in front of him.

He saw people, so many people. Some of them were sitting down at round tables by the walls while others were dancing in the middle of the room. There was a large dance floor with many colors lighting up with the addition of purple dimmed spotlights pointing down at everyone while. moving. There was a stand where someone, who appeared to be a DJ, was working his magic with the music, stairs on both sides of the room that led to the second floor where a bar was located, and everyone was just moving anyway they can to dance.

_"That's… A lot of people…" _Izuku nervously shivered.

"You may have beat me in that game Midori, but this place is another home for me! See if you can keep up!" She yelled over the music and pulled him to the center of the dance floor.

When Mina let go of Izuku, the boy just froze there more nervous than ever.

"M-Mina! B-But... I-"

Mina didn't want him to chicken out, so she put her hands on his shoulders and got close to his ear. "Come on Midori, you were fine dancing at the arcade! What's so different about here!?"

"Um, the larger amounts of people, I have to think of my own moves, and the fact that I didn't even know people were watching last time." Izuku didn't hesitate with a deadpanned expression.

Mina pouted adorably, "Midoriiiiii! It's not hard to start!" She let go of the boy and backed up to an open space, staring at him with a smile.

She then moved her feet in a pattern of one step forward and then back, then doing the same for the other. Then she suddenly jumped with a spin, flipping her body upside down and landing on one hand.

She then proceeded to spin her legs in the air.

"Break-dance! Break-dance!" She yelled as if cheering for Izuku to join.

People around her saw her breakdancing and cheered.

Mina finished pulling off many spins and turns before using her hand to push herself off the ground and flip back to her feet. She landed perfectly and even struck a pose as she stared at Izuku with a grin.

"Come on Midori! Your turn!"

Izuku then remembered the training that he did with Enso, remembering all the different movements he had learned for breakdancing. He had only learned how to implement it with his fighting but had never actually once used his dancing to simply perform in front of others.

But he guessed it was time.

"A-Alright!" Instead of letting his brain think, Izuku did a big brain move and turned it off, only letting his body do the thinking of movements. He jumped with a spin and got on a hand like Mina had done, then letting his back fall to the floor where he proceeded to perform a bunch of windmills.

"Go Midori!" Mina cheered right before getting on the floor and mimicking Izuku's movements.

People cheered as the two took a chunk of the dance floor.

After spinning himself for a few more seconds, Izuku ended it off by spinning his body straight while balancing himself off the ground with both hands, then pushing himself off to land on his feet. As for Mina, she simply spun back to her feet and finished with a cool pose.

"You're not bad Midori, but can you really keep up?" Mina taunted.

"Mina, you're saying that to a guy that broke all of his arms but _still_ kept going!" Izuku laughed over the beats of the music.

"...Don't break them here!" Mina warned him.

Both then proceeded to move in every way they possibly could in their arsenal of movements.

Who knows how much time passed as Mina and Izuku frantically moved. Neither of them paid attention to the gazes directed at them, both ignored the sweat that had started to fly off of them, and both just felt any previous worries disappear from their heads.

It wasn't until Izuku felt some stress in his arm when he snapped out of it and realized that many different were clapping for him. Izuku turned red and frantically glanced around until he caught sight of Mina sitting at a round table by herself with a drink.

The boy bowed in thanks to the people cheering for him and he quickly made his way over to his date while slightly panting. "Why, *pant* did you stop dancing?"

Mina saw him and giggled, "Midori, you didn't even notice me when I stopped. You were dancing for so long that I thought your bones would melt any second!"

Izuku blushed in embarrassment. "S-Sorry…"

Mina nudged him with her arm, "You need to stop apologizing Midori, I'm glad you were having such a great time! Sit down next to me and have a drink!" She waved to catch the attention of a waiter that wandered around the club.

"U-Um Mina?" Izuku noticed the pink drink in her hand, and the drink the waiter dropped off. "A-Aren't we too young to be drinking!?"

Mina laughed and playfully slapped him on his back. "Calm down Midori! It doesn't have any of that stuff! One reason this place is popular is because of the variety of drinks! They don't _just_ have alcohol! Try it!" She passed him a drink.

Izuku eyed it suspiciously before taking a sip, then raising an eyebrow. "Pink lemonade? They really have something basic like this in a nightclub?"

"Yup! But enough about that, tell me how it felt Midori? To let loose and dance like there was no tomorrow?" Mina scooted closer to him.

Izuku's cheeks turned red when he felt Mina's shoulder press against him. He rubbed his hands together nervously with an awkward smile. "U-Um... I-It felt like… All the pressure of the world disappeared... I felt happy just to, um… 'let loose' I guess. Dancing like that helped me forget all of my worries..."

Mina let out a cheer. "I know right!? That's why I love dancing so much! And it's even better dancing with friends!" Mina said as she clapped her hands together repeatedly.

Izuku stared downward with a smaller, more emotional smile.

"Thank you, Mina... I've never had a day like this before…"

Mina's smile instantly faded.

Her head face down and her eyes shadowed. "Because... Of Bakugo... Right?"

Izuku tensed up and turned back to Mina in shock.

Mina raised her head to stare at him. Izuku felt chills up his spine as he saw a look he never thought he'd see on the girl.

A look of hatred.

"The others and I were planning on talking to you about this when we got back to school, but I-I have to just say something now that you're already here with me... Will you listen?"

With the help of the music changing to a quieter volume for slow dancing, and from how close the two were each other, both could hear what the other said easily.

Izuku gulped air, "O-Of course I'll listen..."

Mina got closer to Izuku, her hands pressing up against his chest.

"A-After the festival, Aizawa had some of us stay to go over Bakugo... It was Enso, Yaomomo, Uraraka, Jiro, and me..."

Izuku's eyes widened, _"This happened? Why didn't Enso tell me?"_

"W-We all told him what we knew about you and Bakugo... And although some of us didn't know much, w-we learned more... from Yaomomo..."

Izuku could feel some of his fear grow at the topics that Momo could've brought up. He was so shocked that he didn't process that Mina had slightly lifted up his shirt and examined his body closely.

"I-I knew it... There had to be at least a few scars..."

Izuku felt her touch and quickly pulled his shirt down, "Sh-She told you guys everything!?"

Mina nodded, "W-We heard that he used his quirk on you... H-How he burned you..."

"I-It wasn't as bad as she made it! The stinging was usually gone the next morning!"

That just seemed to make Mina turn paler.

"It's not alright Midori! You went through that for years! You were alone! How could Bakugo hurt someone like you!?" Mina shouted right in his face.

Izuku was stunned to silence by this cry.

Mina's eyes started turning watery.

"Midori... I usually try to get along with people. But the one thing I hate more than anything in the world... are bullies."

She slightly lowered her head, creating shadows over her eyes.

"I hate them Izuku... I hate how they call other people names to make them look bad, I had how they harm others just to prove that they're better than everyone, and... I-I hate how they treat others as something they're not... Judging people from their looks, calling them some sort of monster, a-always pushing them away ande making them feel so scared... so alone..."

Izuku looked horrified as he tears go down Mina's eyes, coming to a realization about her.

"You... You were bullied too?" He asked in a scared voice.

Mina's gaze rose to stare at Izuku with a look of fear. Water came down her eyes when she suddenly saw so many vivid images flash through her mind.

Izuku instinctively wrapped his arms around her and held Mina as tight as he could, feeling his own tears forming as he realized that another had gone through the same pain he had.

Mina returned the hug just as tightly, letting out sobs of pain as so many memories flooded to her.

"Ugh... *Sniff* Mi... *Sob* Midori!" She wailed.

They stayed this way for several minutes, both not showing any signs of releasing the other. Izuku waited until he heard Mina's crying die down before he reached a hand behind her head and gently caressed her hair.

"Wh-When... W-Was it..." He was almost too afraid to ask.

Mina was quiet for a moment before responding with, "E-Elementary..."

They were quiet once more.

"C-Can I ask about it?"

He heard Mina take a deep breath and felt her body shift against him.

"Freak... Alien... M-Monster..." Her hug tightened. "V-Villain..." She whimpered. "Every day... Every day that was all I heard. That was all I was treated as..."

Izuku continued to stroke her hair, with his own tears nearly stopping.

"D-Did you ever get hurt?"

"No... I-I think everyone was just scared that I would do something back..."

Izuku let out a breath of relief. At least she didn't go through anything physical like him.

"I had no idea, Mina... I-"

"Shhhh..." Mina hushed him. He then felt fingers gently brush through his own hair. "Just... Just let me stay like this..."

So he did.

She felt so soft in his arms. Such a cheerful, outgoing girl was crying with him. He didn't think he'd ever see her the way she was now, in such a vulnerable state. He couldn't believe that such a sweet girl had gotten bullied before because of her looks.

On one hand, Izuku could understand how the youngest of children could be scared of a person's skin and eyes that they've never seen or had any knowledge about before, but on the other hand, a young girl going through such an experience of discrimination and anxiety could've traumatized her to be just as timid as Izuku was. No confidence, nervous all the time, a pushover, she could've turned into that.

So Izuku was so glad that the girl had still ended up somehow becoming the way she was now.

"Midori..." Mina whimpered.

"Yeah, Mina?"

Mina finally backed up from the hug, staring her watery black and yellow eyes into Izuku's emerald irises.

"Do you...*sniff* think I'm ugly?"

Izuku didn't miss a beat. "I think you're beautiful."

Mina felt her heart flutter.

"But..."

Then she felt it choke in worry.

But that worry disappeared when Izuku's fingers gently wiped away the tears in her eyes with the purest of smiles.

"You look the best when you're smiling."

Mina stared at him with a lilac blush, but couldn't keep herself from laughing right there.

"Wh-What's with that cheesy line?"

Surprisingly, Izuku didn't look embarrassed at all, he just looked glad.

"There we go... just like I said."

Mina let out a small sniffle before letting out one last giggle. "Oh, you..."

The girl then rested her forehead against Izuku's chest and rested there, calming herself down just a bit more as Izuku held her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her after some time.

"Way better... I'm sorry about that. This wasn't supposed to be about me..."

Izuku just patted her head. "It's okay Mina. I'm glad to make you feel better, you don't have to worry about me. Really I-"

"No!" Mina raised her head so that she was glaring at Izuku. Better than crying, he guessed. "You may be fine now that we're here, but why is Bakugo still being allowed in U.A!? Why are _you_ letting him stay!?"

Izuku became nervous now, "N-Nezu told you about that?"

"Yeah, he did! You're literally the only reason that kept them from kicking him out! Why... So why did you let him stay!? After everything he's done to you, and everything he's said, why help him!? You even heard him during his final fight against Enso, he doesn't view you as a friend anymore! So why!?"

Izuku just looked down with a sad smile and sighed.

"Yeah... I know that we'll probably never be friends again, I know that he's the reason I suffered so long, but... I guess you can say I still kind of need him here."

Mina's eyes widened in confusion. "Need... him? For what!?"

Izuku gazed back up to her with the same smile, "Kacchan was one of my biggest inspirations to becoming a hero. Not exactly in the case that I wanted to _be_ like him, I wanted to be more like All Might, but he was my inspiration of winning. Kacchan always won, he always did his best to win, he became _my_ definition of winning. I've never looked down on him, I always thought he was one of the best around, so... I wanted to overcome the 'best.'

Izuku's smile turned into a serious and determined look.

"I still have to prove to _myself_ that I'm better than him. You all may think that I'm already better than him, and that's probably right. You all say that I beat him during the first hero lesson we had, but I wasn't even in control. _I_ have to beat him with my own strength. I have to control my quirk and beat him when I'm at the peak of my abilities. I don't want him to get expelled, I have to prove to _him_ that he was wrong all those years. Whether we're friends or not, I have to be the one to beat him, my definition of winning, and become what it means to win _and_ save. I need him there to prove him wrong and become the number one hero."

"So you just want to rub it in his face?" Mina made out from all that.

Izuku flinched, "E-Er... That sounds really mean from the way you put it... B-But... I guess?"

Mina looked down, looking somewhat sad. "So... It wasn't _just_ because you wanted to be friends with him again..."

She then formed a small smirk. "I guess it would be nice to see the look on Bakugo's stupid face when you kick his ass... But can't you just fight him again right now and beat him? Then you could say you're better."

Izuku shook his head in disapproval. "Kacchan and I can both still grow stronger than now. And who knows? He could actually end up stronger than me at one point. But... that's why I need to beat him in the number one spot. That's what's important to me, that's what I think as the finish line."

"...Oh Midori. You really are an idiot, you know that?" Mina giggled.

"So I've been told..." Izuku sighed with a smile.

Mina leaned on his shoulder and both rested on the comfy seats.

"...I-I also don't wanna risk Kacchan becoming a villain by getting him expelled, even though I'm sure he wouldn't. That would _really_ make me feel bad." Izuku joked.

Mina giggled. "Yeah... I guess that would be bad now that I think about it.

Both felt their eyelids starting to drop from exhaustion. All their crying and talking had sure tired them out with the addition of all the dancing they had been doing moments ago.

Mina yawned, "Midori...?"

Izuku breathed slowly, "Yeah Mina?"

"Can I just... sleep right here?"

Izuku was too tired to realize the embarrassing position of a girl resting on him. "Yeah. I'm gonna take a small nap too."

Mina formed a large smile as she closed her eyes. "Thanks..."

Both then started slumbering away.

But it wasn't even a few minutes before Mina mumbled in her sleep.

"Midori..." She whispered.

"I..."

"Love..."

"You."


	38. Date Conclusion and Rushing A Visit

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Heyo! Another day, another chapter when people aren't really thinking about it. As I've said before, I'll answer different comments from some of the previous chapters right now and will keep doing so. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

_AbyssDragonslayer777:_ **No, I don't think I'll be doing either one of the movies for now, sorry.**

_Ash the Aura_ Guardian: **There are only 38 chapters here because here is where I'll be only be posting the final, fleshed out chapters along with the other sites on Archives and Wattpad.**

_Reemikz:_ **For this enemy of Enso, even though he can learn to use other powers, it will still take him a long to find actually good powers in the common public and will take even longer to find out how they work so that he could use them. So I would say there's still technically plenty of time, as he has current _other_ goals to start on besides Enso.**

_Inritus: _**I know what you mean about the whole 'killing is wrong thing' and 'just kill them right there' problem. I should've had Nezu say it better, but basically Nezu doesn't want Enso killing anyone because he's still a student of U.A. And as a student and person that still wondering right from wrong, Nezu is just trying to set him on a different path rather than just killing problems.**

* * *

"Nngh..." Izuku slowly came to and saw pink right in front of him. His vision was somewhat blurry from just waking up, but he could swear he also saw black and yellow swirls between the pink colors of the dance room. He blinked multiple times and rubbed his eyes to readjust his vision while also noticing that he felt an extra weight on top of him.

When he blinked and stared forward, he realized that the black and yellow colors were eyes, and the pink colors weren't the lights of the room, but instead was the skin of a girl.

A girl whose face was two inches from his.

"Wakey, wakey, Mi~do~ri." Mina cooed with a mischievous grin.

"Mina!?"

Izuku's first instinct was to scoot away to the side. However, he immediately discovered that Mina's hands were pinned on the back cushion on both sides of his head. At the same time, the girl also sat on his lap to pin him down.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" Izuku stammered at the intimacy.

As a response, Mina just moved her mouth closer to his ear and whispered, "Your sleeping face is adorable… did you know that?"

Izuku winced as he felt the girl breathe out in his ear and felt her bosom pressed up against him.

_"TOO CLOSE! SO SOFT! BUT WAY TOO CLOSE!"_

Izuku desperately tried to get the right words out.

"M-Mina! T-Too close! You're b-b-b-I mean-!"

"Shhhhhhhh..." Mina put a finger to the boy's lips, shushing him up. "I'm sure you like this position, don't you?"

She backed up a bit, only to then use that hand to press against Izuku's chest, getting a nervous whimper from the boy. Izuku closed his eyes and turned his head away rather tense as if bracing for impact while completely red.

_"He's so cute..." _Mina thought as her smile got even bigger.

Izuku felt completely helpless right there. Even though he knew that he's clearly stronger than Mina and could simply lift her off of him, his body was petrified by just how close the girl was.

Mina used her fingers to walk them up the boy's chest, "Hey Mi~do~ri? Do you remember that deal we made in the arcade?"

"E-Eh?" Izuku nervously turned his head back to face her.

He saw a somewhat dangerous look of desire in the girl's eyes. The smile Mina gave him was dangerous with the additional lilac blush and panting coming from her.

"Remember what I said? If you won…" She grinned. "Then, I would kiss you?"

Izuku started sweating gallons more than when he had been dancing. "Y-Y-You really meant that!? Y-Y-You, d-don't have t-to feel obliged to-!"

He was cut off by Mina wrapping both of her hands behind the back of his head, "What? You think I would've brought it up if I didn't want to do it?" Her eyes almost seemed to brighten as she said this.

_"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!? A-A girl wants to kiss me!?" _Izuku's eyes locked directly onto Mina's eyes in shock as he detected no lie in her voice.

Mina leaned close to his ear, "Just close your eyes." She whispered in a seductive tone.

Izuku just felt himself listening as he gulped down air and closed his eyes. He didn't think his body would allow him to do anything else, he only braced himself for what would happen next. It was going to be the first time that a girl will ever have kissed him. Him of all people. He didn't know how it would feel, he didn't know why Mina was so okay with kissing him, and he even felt somewhat curious about the experience.

But then he felt a peck on his cheek.

_"Eh?"_

He felt Mina's weight disappear off of him, prompting him to open his eyes and repeatedly blinked to process what just happened. His eyes came upon Mina, who was standing with both of her hands behind her and a teasing grin on her face.

"What? Wasn't what you expected?" She mischievously asked.

Izuku rubbed the spot on his cheek completely red, "U-U-Um… Well-"

"Or could it be that you were expecting… more?" She then asked with a lick of her lips.

"H-Has it gotten late?! W-We should probably be heading back now!"

Izuku shot back to his feet and avoided looking at Mina as he quickly passed her.

Mina pouted in disappointment that Izuku didn't even try to see if he could get more from her, but she guessed that she should've expected it. Even she realized that it had gotten somewhat late due to the nap they both had.

"Fine… I guess we should get back. How about you walk me home, Midori?" She grinned as she quickly walked over to Izuku and clung to his arm.

"Eh?!" Izuku flinched upon her contact.

"You're not gonna leave a cute girl to walk herself home in the dark, are you?" Mina asked as she stared at Izuku with puppy-dog eyes.

"O-Of course not!" Izuku immediately responded in red.

"Great, then let's go!" Mina snuggled her head against Izuku's shoulder and pressed her 'assets' against the boy's arm.

Izuku took a deep breath as he started walking with his unwavering gaze straight, _"Don't think about it. Don't think about it. You should be getting used to this by now..."_

He paused a moment.

_"Wait, is that a bad thing?"_

They came out the exact way they came in, getting grins and smirks from new people in the outside line that saw Mina clinging to Izuku.

"Thanks for holding onto it, Gado!" Mina thanked as she received her Deku Bear back from the bouncer.

"Don't make me hold something childish next time..." The bouncer sighed.

"G-Good night." Izuku stammered to him.

"Take care of her, kid." He gave him a thumbs up.

"He will~!" Mina happily declared as she held Izuku tightly.

"Y-Yeah." Izuku said, although rather nervously.

The two kids then walked together under the bright stars of the night sky. Many cars drove past them on the city streets while walking through the nearly empty sidewalks where an occasional person would gaze at the two sweetly as if they were a couple.

"Today was really fun, Midori." Mina said as they started nearing the end of the city.

Izuku, still trying to ignore the feeling of Mina's breasts on his arm, turned his head to her with a smile, "Yeah, I haven't had that much fun in forever… Thanks for inviting me out."

"Well, next time, y_ou_ can invite me out somewhere to return the favor." Mina replied with a grin.

"U-Um… Well…" Izuku scratched the back of his head rather embarrassed. "I've never really gone to many places… So I don't think I'd find a good place that you'd enjoy." He shamefully admitted.

"Oh don't worry, anywhere can be fun with you around Midori!"

Izuku turned red but felt rather happy about it, "A-Am I really that great to be around?"

"Yup! It's so easy to tease you!"

_"Oh." _Izuku deadpanned.

"But... You're also really considerate." Mina added.

Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"And nice..." She continued.

He lightly blushed.

"And you wouldn't even hesitate to help anyone..." She finished as she closed her eyes and kept smiling.

"I-I guess that's me." Izuku shyly said. "But you would be a much better person to be around for anyone else."

"That's not true!" Mina pouted. "Give yourself more credit Midori, anyone would love to hang out with you! You're such a great person to be around!"

"Y-You really think so?"

Mina snuggled close to him with a close-eyes smiled. "I _know_ so."

Izuku looked down with a small smile. "Thank you..."

"Anytime." The girl casually responded.

Mina continued to gently pull Izuku in the direction of her house as they entered a neighborhood. Izuku curiously took glances of the quiet, surrounding area and didn't even notice that Mina was taking deep breaths against his shirt.

_"So nice..." _The girl smiled in bliss.

"Mina, are we close?" Izuku glanced at her.

Mina snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head to glance ahead, then catching sight of a familiar house in the distance.

"Oh! There it is!" Mina shouted as she then let go of Izuku's arm and took a few steps ahead.

Izuku gazed ahead and saw the silhouette of a two-story house and had most of the lights on.

Mina turned back to Izuku with her hands behind her back.

"Thanks for walking me home, Midori. That was such a great date!" Mina told him.

Izuku turned bright red as he was reminded that he did indeed go on a date with a girl.

"N-No problem. I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself Mina, I know that I did. So... I'll see you at school then?"

Mina nodded, although her smile turned into an awkward look. A look that seemed to show that she wanted something. "Yeah... I'll see you at school."

Izuku noticed the look, but before he could ask about it, the girl turned around and started running towards her house.

_"Odd... It looked like she wanted to ask something."_ Izuku watched as the girl ran towards her house.

But then she stopped.

Izuku raised an eyebrow as Mina remained perfectly still for a few seconds.

Before turning around and running back.

"Eh?"

Izuku blinked as he saw the girl running back to him in a worrying sprinter's run with shadows over her eyes.

The boy backed up a bit as he recalled what had happened when he met Mina earlier.

_"She's gonna tackle me again!?"_

"Mina! Hold on-!" He didn't finish as, when the girl got close, she dropped the Deku bear from her hand and dove right at him.

_"I guess I have no choice. Don't let her fall!" _Izuku opened his arms and caught the girl right in them, keeping his feet planted so that they wouldn't fall back.

_"Phew, I managed to catch her agai-!"_

*Chu~!*

Izuku felt his body freeze as something soft pressed against his lips. He blinked as he saw Mina's closed eyes in front of his, he felt her arms tightly hugging him, and could smell her citron-scented shampoo.

He was caught so off that he couldn't focus on his balance, resulting in both teens falling over.

As his back hit the ground, Mina moved her hands on Izuku's cheeks to keep his head there. At the same time, Izuku's face turned beet red, and his eyes were wide open from the pure shock he was currently experiencing. He couldn't believe what was happening, he didn't know if it was real or not, but what his senses processed...

Was that Mina was kissing him.

His first kiss was something he had never thought about it before, yet here he was now getting kissed by a classmate of his. Her lips were so soft, he tasted a hint of fresh mint, and he could feel so much warmth from the girl.

This single kiss only lasted a few seconds between the two, but it felt like so much more to Izuku. He could even still feel the warmth of the kiss even after Mina had already gotten off him.

But it was also the moment of losing this contact where he realized that what just happened, had _actually_ happened.

He sat up with his mouth agape and backed up while one the ground, staring up at Mina with a hand to his lips as he remembered the feeling.

"Wha-Wha-!? M-M-M- You-You just- Wh-Why-!?"

Mina turned her back to him while twirling her hair, hiding any sign of her face at him.

"I thought that kiss on the cheek was unfair from me before... I mean, if you were the one who lost the game against me in the arcade, then I would've made you buy me something. So I thought that giving you a real kiss would be a more fair reward for that bet we made..."

_"F-For the bet we made on that dance game?!"_ Izuku was confused beyond belief, but he didn't even get to ask anything, he felt like he _couldn't_ ask anything.

"Goodnight Midori, see you at school!" Mina ran ahead and snatched her teddy bear from the ground and buried her face into it. She didn't pay attention in front of her but yet was somehow still able to instinctively swerve around lamp posts as she got back to her house.

_"I did it! I actually did it! I kissed him!" _She got to her house and, in just a few swift movements, unlocked the door, closed it, and dashed up the stairs before any of her family could even see her.

She went into her black and pink themed room and dove onto her bed, then proceeding to roll side to side while still holding the bear.

_"He was so cute! He was so cute!" _Mina's face was abnormally lilac and with a rare look of panic as she went over her actions. _"Was it wrong to do that right there? Wasn't it really bad to run away!? And I even told him it was just because of the bet!?"_

She buried her face in her pillow. _"How am I gonna face Midori at school!?"_

Meanwhile, Izuku was left under the light of the lamppost as he still processed what had just happened. His mouth mumbled the same words of disbelief as he robotically turned around with a blank face, then proceeding to slowly walk.

"A girl kissed me... A girl kissed me... Not even on the cheek, but on the mouth. Why did she kiss me? Was it really for the bet we made? Why didn't she look at me afterword? What do I even say to her next time? Should I call her and ask about it? It felt so warm, and it tasted like mint. Was that why Mina asked me here today? What do I even-?"

"Would you calm down? You're acting like you're going through a mid-life crisis."

"KYAH!" Izuku jumped in fear and turned around with his hands in karate-chopping position.

"Hi." Enso said with a two-finger salute to show Izuku that it was just him.

"E-E-Enso!? What are you doing-!?" Izuku stopped himself and turned black and white as he realized. "Wait... You were watching the whole time?"

"I believe we went over this." Enso responded.

Izuku shakily lifted a finger to point at him, "Th-Th-Then y-you e-even s-saw the k-k-ki-?"

"Both on the cheek and the one just now. Congratulations, by the way." He was blunt with his usual blank look.

Izuku's head burst with steam, and he covered his face in pure embarrassment.

"Y-You really saw everything... Everything... Wait." He removed his hands from his face, "H-How did you even get into the nightclub?"

He didn't miss a beat.

"Snuck in."

Izuku had a blank face now.

"Don't act surprised." Enso crossed his arms.

"I'm not, I'm just... disappointed."

"Noted." Enso turned his back to him. "But now since that's over, I guess I can go now."

"W-Wait! I need your advice!" Izuku suddenly begged with a bow.

Enos looked back and tilted his head, "Hm? What do you mean?"

Izuku gazed down at the ground with a steaming head. "I-I mean… I-I k-kissed M-Mina… on the lips…"

He then rushed forward and grabbed Enso by the shoulders with a look of panic.

"Wh-What am I gonna say to her when we get back to school?! How am I supposed to act now!?"

*BAM!*

"O-Ouch..." Izuku hunched over and clutched the red bump on his head in pain as Enso rubbed his fist.

"Calm down and stop holding me..." He sighed.

He then put a hand to his chin as he stared at the panicked Izuku.

_"All facts point to Mina being sexually attracted to him, so I COULD just tell him that the girl loves him and have him think about accepting that kiss as a confession, but..."_

Enso snapped his fingers, _"I'm not the one who should suddenly crush the others' chances with him. It's not in my right to do that. If Ashido really wishes to form such a bond, then she should've just confessed to the boy right there. So for now, I'll put Izuku into more of a... 'standby' position."_

He pulled Izuku on his feet and raised a finger in front of him.

"Listen, Izuku. First of all, _Mina_ was the one who kissed you, so you don't have to feel guilty about anything you did, because you didn't do anything wrong. Second of all, she said that she kissed you out of that bet she made with you, which _you_ didn't even agree on. So that means that you shouldn't think too seriously about that kiss or feel obligated to talk about it, just act normal around her when you get back to school. If you don't, you'll just make things awkward for both of you, and you may end up getting ravaged by your class if they find out you kissed her."

Izuku still didn't look so sure about it.

"I-Is that really okay!? I-I mean... I-It was still a kiss!"

"Izuku, if Mina really viewed that kiss as something more, then she'll bring it up with you again to let you know exactly what that was. But if not, then that means she doesn't want you thinking about it too much."

"B-But still..." Izuku looked down rather conflicted. "Th-That was _my_ first kiss..."

"Oh... You wanted it to feel a lot more special?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "N-Not exactly, I-I... didn't even expect I would get it... taken."

Enso sighed and pat him on the shoulder, "There's nothing you can do about it now... Just go home."

Izuku kept staring at the ground, "A-Alright..."

Enso turned around and started walking away. "And tomorrow, I'll introduce you to something new for your lessons, so be sure to come over in the morning."

Izuku raised his head with a new curiosity. "Something new?" He then remembered something important, making his eyes widened. "E-Enso! Wait!" He ran to him.

"What is it this time?" Enso grumbled as he turned back to him.

"M-Mom wants to meet you!"

Enso raised an eyebrow. "She does?"

Izuku nervously nodded. "Sh-She knows exactly who you are from the festival and knows that you're my mentor. What happened to me during our fight really scared her... So now she wants to meet you to um... I don't even know exactly why. Maybe to 'confront' you for not teaching me to keep myself in control?"

"You mean telling you not to break your arms, yet you still keep doing it?" Enso asked him.

Izuku looked down with a comedically depressing aura, "I'm sorry... B-But yeah... Basically."

"And what about Toshinori? Are you gonna have him meet her too?"

"I-I'm gonna have you guys meet her one at a time. S-So you may want to come to visit tomorrow instead of me coming over just so we can get that meeting over with."

Enso looked down, "I see... I suppose I should visit her after having trained you for over a year..." He turned to him. "Alright, I'll come tomorrow."

Izuku smiled, "Good to know! Keep in mind that she can get anxious about me, so try not to tell her anything _too_ serious."

He nodded. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind. Do you wish to bring up anything else?"

"Yeah." Izuku reached into his pocket and pulled out a large amount of leftover money that came from what Enso had supplied him. "Here."

Enso just waved his hand to reject it, "You take it and use it for what you think is right."

Izuku suddenly gripped onto his shoulder and pulled him close with a surprisingly menacing smile.

"What I think is _right_ is for you to use this to actually take the train and contribute to society rather than _jumping_ over rooftops to avoid it."

"..."

Enso looked away with a disappointed look as Izuku happily placed the money into his hands.

"Tsk...!"

* * *

**~{The Next Day: Sunday- 8:05AM}~**

Enso had his hands in his pockets as he gazed around at the familiar area that was Izuku's neighborhood. He hadn't been here in over a year, which was actually quite shocking to him now that he thought about it. Ever since he had discovered the empty dojo that Izuku pointed out, he had rebuilt it and stayed there expecting the boy to always come.

But now he was heading back, and to visit the most important person to Izuku's world.

His mother.

_"I vaguely remember her from so long ago... She looked just as timid as Izuku, yet he sounded like quite a force based on how scared he actually was when he realized he got several messages from her..."_

He arrived and glanced up at the apartment of the boy.

_"But, I guess I should never underestimate the power of a worried mother."_

Enso jumped up high and landed on the railing before hopping down to the front door.

He straightened out his red tie and took a deep breath. "Alright, let's get this over with..." He then knocked on the door.

He then stepped back and waited as he wondered if he should've done anything else.

Before he could think of an answer to that, he heard the door click open to reveal a yawning woman who had just finished getting dressed and had a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Who is it...?" She muttered as she rubbed her eyes, not even seeing who was in front of her yet.

Enso partly bowed, "Good morning Mrs. Midoriya." He then rose up. "I'm Enso Ureshi, Izuku's classmate, mentor, and..." He put a finger to his chin and looked up, "His best friend? I think that's right?"

Inko's eyelids basically shot open, and she looked wide awake from shock to see the person Izuku spoke about already here. She stared at the black suit he wore, the professional demeanor he gave, and the cold look in his eyes.

"U-Um..." Not knowing what to do, Inko just stepped aside and held the door. "J-Just come inside for now."

"Thank you for having me." Enso said as he stepped inside.

Inko stared wonders at Enso as the boy went over to the kitchen table and sat down.

She went over and sat down too, while gently moving her coffee to the side.

"What's Izuku doing right now?" Enso asked her.

"Well..." Inko glanced at the clock that read 8:11AM. "He should be still sleeping..."

Enso raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes... Um, Ureshi... was it?"

"Just Enso is fine. I prefer to be called that way."

"Alright. Well... Don't you think it's a little... 'early' for you to be here?"

Enso glanced at his watch, then glanced at Inko's kitchen clock, then back at Inko.

"..."

He tilted his head with a question mark over it. "You really think so?"

Inko sweatdropped.

"Do you usually wake up this early?"

Enso nodded. "I do. But it seems that this might be early for you and Izuku for weekends... Sorry about that."

Inko waved her hand with an awkward smile, "Er, it's fine. It gives me a chance to talk to you first without Izuku."

"..." Before Inko could speak, Enso slightly bowed to her. "I'm sorry Mrs. Midoriya."

"Eh!?" Inko was caught off guard.

"I taught your son everything he knows about fighting, I helped him learn how to use his quirk, I tried to do whatever I could so that he didn't hurt himself, and yet... He always seemed to be the one getting hurt in the end."

"Wh-Where is this coming from!?"

Enso continued. "I was unable to stop him from constantly sacrificing his own body, I was unable to save him from getting corrupted from his own quirk during our festival battle, and... I ended up unnecessarily exposing a sensitive matter of your son and his childhood friend all because of my own selfish intentions."

Inko froze as she heard this.

"I was honestly irritated by how lenient he was with the treatment he received by Bakugo in the past... Never reporting the bullying, always believing that they would be able to become friends again, I thought it was foolish. I felt that Izuku needed to know _exactly_ what Bakugo thought of him, and I had to know _exactly_ why Bakugo hated Izuku. I wanted Bakugo to reflect on his actions right there in front of everyone so that maybe, just maybe... he could've realized what was wrong and accept Izuku as a friend again."

Enso closed his eyes.

"But I did everything wrong... I only exposed Bakugo and injured his career, I only caused unnecessary emotional pain to Izuku just to realize what Bakugo thought of him, and I ended any hopes of the two ever getting along again. I took a selfish way of doing things, and it did more harm than good. And for that... I'm truly sorry..."

Inko stared at Enso with a new serious expression as she listened to him, neither sad nor angry.

"..." Both stared at each in uncomfortable silence, one that made even Enso shiver.

Inko sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I... I forgive you."

Enso rose up to stare straight at Inko with a surprised look.

"Wait... That easily?"

Inko nodded as she moved her hand from her face and stared at him with a sad smile.

"It's not like it was under your control when he went crazy with a new part of his quirk. And as for the boy and his arms... I know how stubborn he is. Even if you tell him not to do something, if he thinks there's no choice, then he'll do it anyway. But as for what you brought up during your fight with Katsuki... I don't approve of what you did, but you really didn't seem to have bad intentions in it. You tried to help Izuku and Katsuki become friends again. And it's not like what you did was bad compared to... what Katsuki did. He hasn't even come to apologize yet, if he'll ever do it at all..."

She frowned.

"But let me ask you one thing."

Enso narrowed his eyes.

"What is my son to you?"

"A strong, timid, and intelligent person who has the potential to be the best hero there ever was. But more importantly... He's my friend."

Inko smiled. "Then please keep it that way... He deserves so much better than what he faced so long ago..."

Enso looked down and rested his arms on the table. "So Bakugo never came to say anything?"

"No..."

"What about his parents? Surely they should've seen the festival as well?"

Inko let out a sad chuckle and looked down. "Immediately after your fight with him ended... I was shocked. I was sitting on the couch, crying and crying while all I could do was stare at the screen. To only process what I learned about my baby boy... I must've completely been out of it, because I didn't even notice that the phone had rung several times... And when I finally did answer, Bakugo's mother, Mitsuki, apologized again and again for her son... She had no idea, her husband had no clue either, and she was just as distraught about learning what her son had done..."

"And... what happened in the end?" Enso asked curiously.

"I... I didn't even say anything to her. I just listened to her as I cried silently... before hanging up the phone... Haven't heard from her since. I-I just needed time for myself..."

"You may have given her the impression that you're angry at _her _because of Bakugo and didn't wish to speak to her because of it." Enso pointed out.

"I guess so, but... I'm still recovering from this... I don't want to talk to her about her son just yet. And I'm not going to go over there and force an apology from Bakugo. I'm still making sure that my own son is okay..."

"He's alright Mrs. Midoriya. Just yesterday, he spent time with a friend besides me and that in itself has already helped him get his mind off the incident."

Inko shook her head, "There's much more to worry about than that... The day of the festival, when Izuku came back home, he... He got angry, and his eyes... They turned red. H-He said some things that I know he _never_ would've said in the way he did, even if he did really think them..."

Enso narrowed his eyes, _"Ikari must still be negatively influencing Izuku, but it seems to have developed to cause him to get aggressive easily."_

He bowed to Inko again. "That aggression is caused by his quirk, but I swear to you that I'll take care of your son. I'll do everything I can to help him control this new part of his power and make sure he becomes the happiest and strongest hero he wishes to be. All of his friends and all of the teachers of U.A will help make sure that he only becomes what he wishes to be... A hero."

Inko sweetly smiled.

"Thank you... It does feel reassuring to hear this from you. Please take care of my boy."

"I will." Enso declared as he rose his head up.

_*Groooooowl!*_

"..."

Inko blinked with a new look of surprise.

Enso looked down at himself.

"Huh... It looks like I forgot that eating was a thing."

Inko stood up from her seat, "U-Um, I haven't eaten anything yet either! How about I whip us up some breakfast?"

To that, Enso immediately stood up from his seat. "Please, allow me to cook for you as part of my apology." he said rather earnestly.

"No, no, no, please. I don't want to trouble you with-" Inko realized that Enso had stars shining around him.

_"Could it be... He actually really wants to cook?" _Inko blinked.

"I-If it wouldn't be any trouble…"

Enso brightly shined despite the emotionless look.

"Let me go out and buy some things real quick." He suddenly ran to an open window and dived out of the apartment.

"EHHHHHH!?"

* * *

**~{9:43AM}~**

Izuku's eyelids slowly started to rise as he woke up on his bed. He blinked several times as he sat up and stretched his arms up while letting out a rather loud yawn.

He rubbed his eyes and laid his head back on his pillow as he started thinking about the day he had yesterday. He had gone on a date with a girl, a date he really enjoyed a lot more than he thought he would.

He smiled as he remembered dancing with Mina on an arcade machine and danced with her again in a nightclub, both times memorable and very pleasant to recall.

He got off his bed and slipped on his slippers before doing some morning stretches on the ground as he thought of a matter for the day.

_"Enso said he would be coming today... But we never did agree on a time... I should probably text him after breakfast."_

Speaking of breakfast, Izuku detected a faint smell seeping into the room. He stopped doing his stretches and stood up while taking a sniff of the air.

_"Wow... That smells really nice! It doesn't smell like anything mom made before, is she trying something new?"_

He headed for the living room still wearing a dark green tank top and dark blue boxer shorts that he had slept in. He let out another yawn as he rubbed his eyes and clumsily opened the door into his living room that was connected to his kitchen.

"Morning mom…" He mumbled as he finished rubbing his eyes, "What smells so-"

He froze the moment he saw his mother standing next to a patch of familiar black hair and business clothes.

But what surprisingly stunned Izuku the most wasn't that his teacher was there, but that he had a white apron tied around him.

"E-Enso!?"

Enso repeatedly moved a pan up and down to toss around a mix of onions, green and red peppers. He turned his head to Izuku as he casually tossed in some salt.

"Ah, good morning Izuku. Breakfast will be served in a bit." He said as he added some crushed garlic.

"Breakfast will be serve- Nevermind that! Why are you here so early!?"

"Did you forget? I was supposed to meet your mother today."

"But not this early?! We didn't even agree on a time! And mom, what is-!?"

He was interrupted as Inko turned to him with stars in her eyes and holding a notepad with a pen.

"Izuku! You never told me that he can cook!"

"Er, I didn't really think it was that important..." Izuku scratched his chin.

"Get dressed Izuku. You'll look forward to this." Enso suggested.

Izuku lifted a finger to rebuttal but noticed just how absorbed Enso was in cooking, and the food was actually smelling _really_ good.

"Alright... Fine." The boy turned around and went back into his room as Enso explained his cooking techniques out loud to Inko.

"Then you add some smoked chipotle puree into the bottom of the pan and get it roasting so that it adds a bit of body and a bit of heat to the sauce."

Inko frantically wrote without even looking at her notepad, her eyes engrossed on the pan of cuisine.

In his room, Izuku sighed as he took off of his clothes and rushed to take a quick shower. After a few minutes of furious scrubbing, the boy finished, dried his hair, and came out refreshed. He then put on a casual dark blue shirt and some equally casual black shorts and stared out his window.

_"I really should've expected him to come early... It's something he'd do. But I didn't expect him and mom to get along so easily already..."_

He paused.

_"Wait, isn't that a good thing? If mom already approved of him, then... I won't have to worry about her keeping me away or arguing against him!"_

Izuku actually smiled at that thought as he slipped on his slippers again and made his way back to his kitchen.

"Ah, I was just about to call!" Inko smiled as Izuku came in while they placed down the food to the table.

Izuku sat down as he took a whiff of the sensational smell of the meal in front of him. He looked down at his plate and saw that his food didn't look like anything he'd normally seen. He could immediately tell that this meal wasn't Japanese, which rather intrigued him.

They didn't even use chopsticks to eat, he had a fork and tortillas to eat from. He used his fork to eat some of the contents and his eyes immediately brightened.

"Enso, what is this?! I've never had anything like this in Japan!"

Enso took a bite out of a fried egg, "You are indeed right on that it isn't in Japan. It is a foreign meal called "Huevos Rancheros," a Mexican dish that consists of onions, red and green peppers, garlic, smoked chipotle puree, spicy-"

"Er- Forget I asked. I don't want you going on a whole lecture..."

"Fine..."

_"He actually sounds disappointed?"_ Izuku thought with a curious gaze.

"Enso, this is such a fabulous meal! I can't wait for Izuku to be cooking things like this for me all the time!" Inko squealed.

"Say what now?" Izuku deadpanned.

"Ah yes, this was something I was going to bring up. At this point, I don't have anything left to teach you in dancing, you're vocal techniques are nearly at the peak of what you can do, and I'm sure I've taught you enough combat techniques, so I wish for you to learn more hobby-like things that can help you just improve the skills you already have. Cooking is the first thing that I decided would help you, as it helps ease your mind and relaxes your body."

Izuku stared at Enso rather suspiciously, before then shrugging it off. "You know what? I'm not even gonna argue with it. I remember thinking about this before anyways... So when do we start?"

"Right after we're done eating. I'll need you to come with me somewhere."

"Eh? Isn't that a little sudde-?"

"He'll go with you!" Inko blurted with excitement. She then turned to Izuku with a large grin, "Learn everything you can Izuku! Harness these skills to the best of your ability! Go far, just like when you've broke both your arms-!"

"MOM DON'T BRING THAT UP PLEASE!"

* * *

**~{U.A High's Kitchen-12:11PM}~**

Izuku stood within the rather large kitchen of U.A that consisted of several different stations and tables with utensils all over the place. He had a blank look on his face as he wore an apron and chef hat.

"Wait, you're... _not_ the one who's gonna teach me how to cook?" Izuku asked.

"Nope." Enso said as he tied a black apron around himself as well, then stuffing his long hair under his chef hat.

He then pointed a finger to the kitchen doors, "He is."

On cue, someone busted through the doors with a shining aura.

"Enso-kun! Midoriya-kun!"

Izuku became wide-eyed.

"L-Lunch Rush!?"

Lunch Rush suddenly appeared next to Izuku and hugged him with flowers floating around him.

"I'm so glad that you came to master the culinary arts with us!"

_"Eh!?"_

Lunch Rush then rushed over at Enso with his arms open, "Enso-kun! I'm so glad you won the festival!"

Enso's eye twitched as he suddenly grabbed Lunch Rush and tossed him across the room to avoid the hug.

"ENSO!?" Izuku was about to rush over to try to catch the chef, but surprisingly, he saw the man spin in a flying ball before sticking his legs out and perfect landing on the ground in a T-pose.

"Perfect ten!" Lunch Rush praised himself.

Izuku was dumbfounded.

Lunch Rush saw the look on his face and laughed, "Now now, you don't think I became a Pro Hero just because of my cooking, do you?"

"B-B-But, there was never any information about you having any sort of combat abilities!" Izuku stammered.

"Of course not! And it should stay that way! After all, even _I_ get called in sometimes for things other than cooking!"

"What do you do, season everyone?" Enso asked.

"As a matter a fact I- Wait, was that an insult on your doubt of my combat abilities!?"

The students sweatdropped.

"But anyway, as Enso-kun said, I, the great Lunch Rush, shall teach you how to become a chef better than any in all of Japan!" He casually wrapped an arm around Enso. "Besides us, that is!"

Enso threw him again, yet the chef landed on a table and struck a dramatic pose.

"So, from now on, we will set a schedule for you to cook with us!"

_"He's just going along with the throws!?" _Izuku thought.

Lunch Rush stuck a spatula in the air, "It was by Enso-kun's humble request that I teach Midoriya-kun everything that I know! That way, he'll be able to express his love to all of the young, blooming roses around him!"

"..." They were all momentarily silent.

"Eh? 'blooming' roses?'" Izuku repeated in confusion.

"Yes! I'm talking about your har-!"

Enso's eyes flashed menacingly red, and he dropkicked Lunch Rush on his side.

"ACK!" The pro hero was sent flying into the wall.

Izuku shivered in a mixture of fear and worry.

"Wha-Wha-What did you just do!?"

Enso landed on the ground in a crouching position. "Don't worry..."

He then turned his head to Izuku while giving him a thumbs up. "He and I are friends, so it's fine."

"THAT'S NOT HOW THAT WORKS!"

"Heheheh..." Lunch Rush weakly chuckled as he crawled on the ground. "It's fine... He does this all the time..."

"THAT'S EVEN MORE WORRYING!"

Izuku calmed down, "Wh-What was he even gonna say that made you kick him, Enso!?"

"Nothing, and even if he does know something, he should know not to say anything."

"So, he does know something?" Izuku deadpanned.

Lunch Rush suddenly appeared behind Izuku, "Don't worry, my boy! I should've known better!"

_"He shrugged off that attack!?"_

"Now, forgetting about that..." Lunch Rush took two samurai swords out nowhere and spun them rabidly like fans in each hand. "Let's start cooking!"

Izuku's hair blew back from the gusts of the blades, feeling his skin getting pulled back a little.

_"He's dangerous..."_

He turned to Enso, "U-Um... Enso? Wh-What _was_ lunch rush gonna say?"

"..."

Enso clapped his hands together.

"Well then, let's start your lesson, shall we?"

_"He avoided the question entirely!?" _


	39. What Makes A Hero's Name?

"What in god's name happened here?"

This was the question that Naomasa Tsukauchi, an expert police detective in the force, asked himself as he entered a crime scene with several other police officers investigating.

He rubbed his short black hair as his black eyes saw the sight in front of him. It was a net cafe, yet there were red blood splatters in any direction he looked.

He reached into the pocket of his tan overcoat and pulled out a small notepad to write notes as he carefully stepped around bloody puddles. He adjusted his tan-colored hat and clicked a pen with his glove-covered hands and started writing things down.

_"The force received the report of a missing person and reported this location to be where they were last seen... No one was able to enter due to the area being somehow sealed off. After managing to break a hole to enter the building, the police were shocked to find... this."_

Tsukauchi stared at over a dozen bodies scattered along the ground with blood covering all over them. Furniture had been scattered all over the place, blood had been spilled all over the floor, bullet or weapon dents, and there were all sorts of weapons besides the lifeless bodies, each showing signs of being used.

The detective saw the chief of police standing in the middle of the room with a cold look on his face. He was Kenji Tsuragamae, a tall man whose head had the appearance of a beagle. However, from the neck down he appeared more human, as he was wearing a black suit and a dalmatian-like tie.

"Good morning Chief." Tsukauchi said as he carefully walked around a pool of blood.

Chief Tsuragame turned his head to the detective and scoffed, "There's nothing 'good' about this morning. Not ever since I saw... this, woof."

Tsukauchi couldn't help but frown, as he did agree this was a brutal sight.

"It really is horrendous..." He glanced into his notes. "According to one of the officers outside, there are a total of 16 bodies, eleven men and five women, but there was also one survivor. That correct?"

The chief nodded his head. "Yes, the survivor is the owner of this establishment. He was reported to be suffering from blood loss and is being sent over to a hospital as we speak. I don't think we'll be able to get any information from him for a few days, as it was also reported that he was screaming and suffering mental trauma when the police came in here."

"Any cameras catch what happened?" Tsukauchi questioned.

The chief shook his head, "None. We managed to look through all the footage of the security cameras here, but they all ended up having corrupted footage, nothing that we could see or hear."

_"Could it have been a quirk?"_ Tsukauchi wondered as he tapped his pen on his chin.

"I see... Is there anything else relevant that was found?"

The chief gestured at a few investigators collecting evidence, such as blood samples and fingerprints.

"We're still collecting DNA samples as we speak. It'll probably take a while for them to sort out whose blood is who's due to the amount of it splattered around the room, woof."

The chief then pulled out something in a Ziploc bag and handed it to the detective. "But we did find that this somewhat stood out in this scene."

Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow as he received it. "A brown cloth?"

"No, not a cloth. It's part of self-adhering bandages, woof." The chief corrected.

"Bandages?" Tsukauchi was shocked as he stared down at the piece, "But... Look at the state it's in. These look way too old and worn down, and the blood on them is already dried up. Someone wearing this on any wound would just cause it to infect."

The chief nodded, "Yes, normally that would seem to be the case. However, something we've noticed is that no one in here is wearing any kind of bandages. So the most likely conclusion to come to is-"

"That it belongs to the one who caused this... right?" Tsukauchi finished.

The chief stared in silence at the detective.

"Although, I can't really say the 'one' that did this yet, can I? We don't really know for sure if one villain caused all this." The detective brainstormed out loud. "Could it have been the League Of Villains?"

The chief gazed around the room, "It's a possibility. I had my men check the cameras of the surrounding area, but supposedly they reported that they didn't see anyone come in or out ever since the day of the festival. So it may be possible that Kurogiri teleported villains inside to commit the act. They may have members with quirks to seal the area in metal and provide all those weapons."

"You don't believe the league brought the weapons themselves?" Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt it. These weapons look too old and would be hard to come across, such as that mace and sword over there." The chief pointed. "I don't think they would go through the trouble to find such specific weapons, so it must be someone's quirk, woof."

"Hmm..." Tsukauchi kept writing in his notebook, "From what I'm seeing here, there seem to be signs of struggle among the victims rather than fast deaths, meaning that all they, themselves, could've attempted to fight with the villains, or..."

"They could've done this to each other." The chief narrowed his eyes.

Tsukauchi felt a chill as he heard that.

"I... That would be another possibility, as several of them are still holding their weapons, and others have weapons stuck in them. But... Isn't that odd?"

"Odd?" The chief raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you think the league would've just killed everyone themselves? Why go through the trouble of making them kill each other? And why go for the random public? I assumed they would only causing trouble directly for heroes."

The chief stuff his hand in his pockets.

"Well, we don't officially know if the victims attacked one another, but... I understand what you mean. A part of me thinks that it might've not been the league, woof."

Tsukauchi looked up at him, "Are there any other suspects?"

"We thought about the owner, but... I think it's clear to us that he didn't cause this, woof." The chief looked rather solemn as he remembered the terrified look of the owner's face when he first found him.

"Then I guess we'll make the league our top suspects for now... But I'll look more into this." Tsukauchi reassured him as he closed his notepad up.

"Thank you, we'll supply you with any additional information as soon as we can. I wish you the best of luck, woof."

Tsukauchi adjusted his hat. "Will do chief. I'll do whatever I can."

The detected slightly bowed to the chief before turning around and leaving the room. He had to leave through a just big enough hole that forces created just to get in. When Tsukauchi stepped outside, he saw the ground soaked with water with only more falling from above. He looked up at the dark and cloudy sky as he felt the cold air hit against his skin.

_"That's not a good sign..." _He frowned. He hadn't expected the sudden rain to arrive, which only gave him a bad feeling about the day and future events to come. He walked out under the falling water with his hands in his pockets.

_"First the Hero Killer and now this? Should I have brought him up as a suspect? No, it wouldn't make sense for him to be here, these people weren't heroes..."_

He stopped at the corner of the sidewalk and waited for the crosswalk symbol to change.

_"The world just seems to be getting more dangerous..."_

Despite the crosswalk changing, Tsukauchi was deep in thought to notice.

_"I might need to tell All Might about this later…"_

* * *

**~{U.A- 6:58AM}~**

"And that's about it. Remember that you have your internships coming up soon. I expect every one of you to do your bestt." Aizawa frowned as he spoke to the full room of class representatives and vice representatives.

_"Easier said than done..." _Kendo thought as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. The students in the room were once again called in early by the homeroom teacher of Class-1A, but this time to discuss the results of the festival and a few other minor things.

"You're all dismissed. Class starts in about an hour, be sure that you're all on time." Aizawa finished as he stacked some papers together and carried them off.

Kendo turned to where her green friend sat but was surprised to see him not even move from his seat. In fact, his eyes looked like they lost in thought while he kept an expression of worry on his face.

"Whoa, Midoriya. Is something up?" The ginger girl asked rather concerned.

Izuku blinked at the mention of his name and turned to her. "E-Eh? What happened?"

"You really looked out of it." Kendo pointed out.

"Have you gotten enough sleep?" Momo asked worriedly as she approached her friend's desk with her bag in hand.

"O-Oh, um..." Izuku rubbed the back of his head and forced a smile. "I-It's not really anything. I-I've just been a little worried."

"About what?" Kendo questioned.

Izuku's forced smile immediately faded as he recalled his previous thoughts and put on a sad smile.

"Well... I-I heard about... Th-The Hero Killer..."

Momo immediately knew where this was going and had a sympathetic look.

"You're worried about Iida, correct?"

Izuku slowly nodded.

"Huh? What do you guys mean? What happened?" Kendo asked somewhat worried as she turned her head from Izuku to Momo.

Momo turned to her, "The Hero Killer heavily injured Iida's older brother, Ingenium... He may not be able to continue being a hero..."

Kendo was shocked, "Wait, Ingenium is his older brother? Oh no..."

Izuku could only wonder what Iida was going through right now. To think that while his friend suffered the pain of having a family member in such a state, he was off having a date with Mina without even contacting him at all.

"We should talk to him." Izuku muttered.

"He may want to be alone..." Momo pointed out.

"We still have to let him know that we're here for him." Izuku retorted as he gazed at Momo with a determined expression. He then stood up and quickly grabbed his bag.

"Where are you going?" Kendo asked as she saw Izuku start to leave in a rush.

"To wait outside, Iida always comes unreasonably early so he should be here any moment!" Izuku answered as he left the room.

Kendo turned to Momo with a questioning look, "Shouldn't you go with him?"

Momo shook her head, "It may be best to let Izuku handle this. As I said before, Iida may not want too much company."

* * *

Izuku panted as he burst through the front doors of the school and made it under the bungalows. He instantly felt the cold air around him from all the rain rampaging down at the ground. He didn't see anyone coming from the entrance yet, as it was both too early and raining rather heavily for anyone to be around the front.

He then leaned his back against the wall as he kept an unwavering gaze at the gates ahead, only waiting for his friend to arrive early. He heard the loud sounds of the windy day, he saw the dark colors of the clouds and shade they created, and could see the furious drops of water hitting the ground again and again. He expected Iida to come soon, most likely running to get out of the rain.

But surprisingly, a different friend showed up first.

Izuku had to do a double-take as he saw Enso casually walking through the rain with his hands in his pockets. He had no umbrella, nor any kind of coat, but despite this, he was completely dry. Izuku only realized how his mentor was doing this by the white outline of an aura surrounding him.

_"Is he using his Brute Style as a raincoat!?"_ Izuku deadpanned.

Enso caught sight of Izuku ahead and narrowed his eyes in wonder as to why he was just waiting.

"Good morning." He said as he came under the bungalows where he then deactivated his aura, the water that was rolling down it suddenly falling in a circle around Enso.

"Couldn't you have just used an umbrella like everyone else?"

"Nope."

"Are you at least using the train to get to school?"

"..." Enso turned his head away with a sigh, "Sadly..."

"Well, at least that's a start." Izuku sighed back.

Enso stepped beside Izuku and leaned on the wall with him, staring ahead at the entrance. "So, who are you waiting for?"

Izuku kept his gaze ahead at the gates. "I'm waiting for Iida..."

"Ah, I guess this has to do with the Hero Killer?"

Izuku nodded. "So you do watch the news."

"Of course, I have to know what's going on in this world. But as for Iida... There's no doubt that he's struggling to cope with it. To see someone you admire suddenly end up heavily wounded and have their career cut short."

"I know, that's why I'm waiting."

"..." Enso reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, brown bag, that barely had anything in it now. _"They could help him... But..."_ He thought about it for a few moments, whether to supply Iida with one of the special beans.

But he sighed as he put the bag back into his pocket. _"I can't... I barely have any left..."_

"What's up?" Izuku asked as he saw Enso's trouble expression.

Enso turned his head to Izuku, deciding to use the chance to speak to him of something else.. "May I speak to you about something?"

Izuku nodded.

"As you know, I've told you that I've taught you enough combat knowledge for you to use. So I think it's time for you to create your own fighting styles."

Izuku turned to him rather surprised. "What? My own styles?"

Enso nodded, "I've taught you a variety of martial arts, even if only the basics, I had you improve your body, and had you experience new methods of fighting using acrobatics of dancing and your voice. So I want you to take everything you've learned and use it to make something of your own."

Izuku turned his head forward again, but with a new look of wonder on his face.

"Have each style accomplish an area of fighting that _you_ wish to cover." Enso continued.

"So something like your fighting styles? One for defensive fighting, one for speed, one for-?"

Enso interrupted. "My own styles are sufficient to use for inspiration, but try to use your own imagination. You've written dozens of journals of heroes, so get creative. From what I've seen, some heroes have different forms that they use to fight a different way. I believe U.A may have you do something like that in the future, so... Just get a head start."

Izuku smiled as he turned back to gaze at the gate. "I'll... keep that in mind."

Suddenly, Izuku caught sight of Iida running through the gate wearing a raincoat and rain boots.

"Good luck." Enso wished of him as he walked inside.

"Iida!" Izuku smiled to see him.

"Midoriya! Why are you waiting out here? You're going to be late!" The fast boy remarked as he ran underneath the bungalows and pushed the doors open past Izuku.

Izuku followed him inside, "Late!? But there's still plenty of time before the bell!" Izuku responded as he caught up to Iida.

"U.A students should always arrive to class ten minutes early!" Iida insistently responded as he took off his raincoat.

"But we're still over half an hour early!" Izuku pointed out.

Iida stopped rushing as he came upon the stairs, then glancing down at his watch.

"Oh..."

Izuku immediately detected the sudden change in tone from Iida realizing his mistake. This just confirmed that what happened to his brother may be getting to the boy.

"Iida, I-!"

"If it's about my brother, there is no need to worry." Iida turned back to him with a forced smile.

Izuku frowned, "Iida, it's clear that this is tough for you, but-"

"Please don't." Iida said with a hand halting Izuku. "I'm fine, my brother is alright. I apologize for making you worry needlessly."

"B-But-!" Izuku didn't even get to say another word before Iida just rushed up the stairs to escape the conversation.

Izuku stood in place with a sad look in his eyes. "Iida..."

He saw Momo come down the stairs with an equally sad look.

"You weren't able to speak to him?"

Izuku shook his head.

"He might get angry if you keep pressing him, so it might be best to just leave the matter for now..."

The boy's gaze fell to the ground as he walked up the stairs with Momo, "But... I'm really worried Momo."

Momo patted his back, "I am too, but he doesn't want anyone's help right now. We can only wait and be ready to support him when he wants to talk about it."

Izuku sighed.

_"But just when will he let us support him?"_

* * *

**~{A Few Minutes Before Class}~**

"Some people recognized me on the way here!" Sero pointed at himself with a big grin.

"I had a few people come talk to me!" Kirishima jumped from happiness.

"Me too! Me too!" Kaminari smiled.

Many students of class 1-A cheerfully talked about the fame they managed to gather from the festival, sharing with each other the number of people that recognized them.

But one girl, in particular, didn't partake in the conversations carried around the room. Instead, she looked rather nervous as she kept turning her head to Izuku and then back to her desk.

Toru sat on her friend's desk and leaned close so others wouldn't hear.

"Soooooooooo how'd it go?"

"E-Eh?" Mina flinched, "How'd what go?"

Toru rolled her invisible eyes, "I'm obviously talking about the reason you're so fidgety right now! You keep turning your head to Midori like you're trying to draw the boy!" she whispered to her slightly irritated.

Mina awkwardly chuckled, "I mean, that would be a nice piece of art."

"I'm serious!" Toru pouted while angrily raising her hands. "Spill it!"

Mina then let out a loving sigh as she stared up and recalled the date.

"It was amazing... Midori was such a gentleman and gave me the time of my life... We were both sweating in each other's arms in the end, hehe..."

"EH!?" Toru was shocked by the implications.

Mina realized what she said and flailed her arms with a lilac blush, "Th-That came out wrong! Um, I meant that we both danced so much that when we were done we fell asleep beside each other!"

Toru let out a brief of relief, "That would've been _way_ too fast..."

"But..." Mina suddenly added.

"But-!?" Toru honestly didn't want to know more due to her already aching heart, but she forced herself to know Mina's progress with Izuku.

Mina squealed with her hands on her cheeks with a big grin, "I kissed him!" She said almost too loud.

Toru could feel a part of her heart get shot, but pushed through with a forcefully cheerful voice.

"Really?! S-So you're both going out then?" Her expression didn't match her voice, but an upside of being invisible was that no one would point it out.

At that question, Mina flinched and her smile faded into more of an embarrassed look.

"Well..." she scratched her cheek and looked down. "N-Not exactly..."

"Eh?" Toru's depression turned to confusion, "What do you mean?"

Mina shyly fiddled with her fingers, "Well… I-I kind of told him that the kiss was just for him winning a bet we made for beating me in an arcade... S-So, um... He thinks I did it because of that..."

Toru's veins popped out in irritation.

"What!?" It took everything she had not to scream that too loud. "Mina, that's _really_ bad!"

"It is?" Mina asked rather worried.

"Yeah! Midori might think that you're one of those girls who just mess around with a bunch of guys!"

"Really!?" Mina genuinely sounded scared that Izuku would assume that.

Toru paused and thought about it.

"Actually, he might be too innocent to assume that..."

That made Mina feel a little better.

"But still!" Toru scolded her. "You're not letting him know that he's special to you!"

Mina looked down rather determined as she punched her own palm, "Alright, so then I'll just talk to him alone as soon as I can!"

"Yeah, finally confess..." Toru suggested despite not sounded happy about it.

Then as if to end the conversation, the last person of class A walked through the door. The source of controversy that had caused the media to go to flames around the end of the festival.

Bakugo came in with his hand shoved in his pockets and his head down to hide his eyes.

Everyone stopped talking and their attention shifted to the boy. Izuku and Enso instantly felt auras of murderous intent coming from several of their classmates. The two even wondered if those people were actually planning to cause malicious intent to the boy.

_"Of course it's the females..." _Enso shook his head in disappointment.

"He didn't get expelled!?" Toru whispered to Mina.

Mina's hands tightly balled into fists as she glared daggers at Bakugo. "No..."

"B-But he... Wait, you stayed after school to talk with Aizawa, right Mina? What happened?!"

Mina slowly turned her gaze to Izuku's direction, where the boy stared rather concerned at his childhood bully.

"I learned some... pretty bad things..."

Toru got even more worried.

Momo and Jiro turned their heads away from the boy and turned to one another with firm expressions that basically communicated that they were going to talk to Izuku about Bakugo.

Tsu looked more concerned about everyone as she glanced around the room at how tense everything was.

Ochako had an innocent smile that didn't match the aura of bloodlust around her.

_"I hope no one explodes..." _Izuku nervously shivered in his chair. There was so much to worry about on his mind in such a short amount of time. The tension of Bakugo, Iida's suffering from his brother attacked, worried about the sudden aggression of Ikari that he hadn't even told Enso about, there was so much.

Bakugo took his seat in front of Izuku without saying a word.

As if to break this tension, or maybe even cause more, Aizawa walked into the classroom looking his usual, tired self.

"Morning…"

No one said anything as everyone was sitting in their seats now.

Noticing the atmosphere, Aizawa sighed. "If I hear any one of you bring up what you heard yesterday at the festival, you're out of here. Discuss it out of class."

Everyone flinched, as several people had indeed wanted to bring it up.

"Moving on..." Without waiting for even a second, Aizawa brought up his clipboard. "There's been a change to this class. Someone from the General Class will be getting transferred in class A."

Nearly everyone formed looks of shock as they realized that if one person was getting added to class A, then that would mean…

_"Someone's getting switched out!" _The class internally shouted.

Nearly everyone instinctively glanced at Bakugo, wondering if his actions caught up to him and that he would be punished by getting removed.

Aizawa didn't bother to clarify as he turned to the door. "Are you gonna come in or what?"

The classroom door then opened up and a student walked in. Everyone's eyes widened as they immediately recognized the messy indigo hair and purple eyes with dark bags under them.

"Yo. I'm Hitoshi Shinso… nice to meet you." he said as he rubbed the back of his head and avoided looking at anyone.

Izuku had a sparkle in his eyes and a big smile.

"This kid?" Kaminari uttered out.

"The one that declared war on our class but managed to secure a spot in it... How ironic." Tokoyami remarked.

"Now, your seat will be-" Aizawa started.

The entire class tensed up as they waited to hear who would be switched out of the class.

"-In the empty desk next to Ureshi." Aizawa finished.

"..."

Everyone blinked.

_"Empty desk?"_ They all thought in unison.

Nearly everyone turned around and indeed see a new, if not out of place desk, in the back of the class beside Enso.

"Wait, Sensei?" Momo said with a raise of her hand. "We're only _getting _a student?"

Aizawa nodded. "It was principal Nezu's idea. Our class has an odd number of students in it. So we thought to add one more person to make it even."

_"That's too simple of a reason!" _The class all thought.

"B-But why him specifically?!" Mineta questioned in an unnecessary shout.

Aizawa sighed, "No... particular reason. Anyway, go take your seat Shinso."

The indigo-haired boy himself looked rather unsure of being in the room as he made his way to the back of the class.

Shinso eyed Enso as he sat at his new desk beside the boy.

"You... did something, didn't you?" He immediately questioned the red-eyed teen in a low tone.

Enso stared at Shinso in silence, not answering his question with words but rather, just giving him a thumbs up with a sparkle.

"Er..." Shinso scratched his chin. "I guess I should say... Thanks? But why?"

Before Enso could even answer, Aizawa spoke up.

"_Anyway_, we're having a special hero informatics class today."

Everyone tensed up again.

"Code names. You'll be coming up with code names."

"We're gonna do something exciting!" Nearly the entire class yelled in glee.

Aizawa's eyes flashed red and his messy hair waved upward, shutting the class up as if nothing happened.

"This is related to the pro hero draft picks, or internships, I mentioned the other day. They usually begin earnestly in the second and third years, but that doesn't mean first years can't get them. Students have gained experience from working with heroes and learn to become immediate assets to even the pros."

He pressed a button on a remote, where a holographic chart emerged in the front of the class.

"And here are the totals for those with offers."

Everyone stared intensely at the screen, especially at the top spots.

**Class A No. of Offers**

**Ureshi: 4123**

**Midoriya: 2556**

**Todoroki: 2023**

**Tokyami: 360**

**Iida: 332**

**Yaoyorozu: 301**

**Kaminari: 106**

**Uraraka: 20**

**Bakugo: 18**

"In other years, it's been more spread out, but most eyes were on these two this year." Aizawa pointed out.

"Enso is first, and right behind him is Dek-" Jiro stopped herself before she could finish with that nickname, then looking down at her desk in discomfort.

_"Oh? Could it be that she doesn't wish to address him by that anymore?"_ Enso raised an eyebrow.

"Heh, it makes sense that both of them are on top. They nearly blew up the entire arena!" Kirishima said with a grin.

"On the other hand..." Kaminari said with a shocked look, noticing a small number, "Bakugo's invites are..."

"I guess no one wants a childhood tormentor." Mina mumbled to herself.

_"I'm sure Kacchan should've gotten more than that... I wonder if the pros thought he'd be expelled and didn't want to bother writing an application?"_ Izuku wondered.

"We got offers! We got offers!" Ochako joyfully cried as she shook Iida back and forth, the boy not even bothering to stop her.

"Yes..." Was all Iida responded between shakes.

"Izuku is actually not far above Todoroki... I really expected him to have a lot more invites." Sero pointed out.

Mineta shook Izuku with a frightened expression, "I-It's because of how much you injured yourself in that fight! E-Even some pros would be scared to be responsible of _that_!"

Izuku looked down with a sigh. "Yeah... I guess so..."

A tongue came out and smacked Mineta on the side of the head, knocking him off Izuku.

"Wha-!?" Izuku turned and saw Tsu retracting her tongue back while reeling it back.

"Don't worry Izu-chan, you got so many offers so I doubt the pros are scared, ribbit." Tsu reassured him.

"Th-Thanks T-Tsu..." Izuku put on a small smile.

Aizawa's pupils then moved to gaze at the boy. "That reminds me… Midoriya."

Izuku flinched and kept a straight stance in his seat. "Y-Yes Sensei!?"

"I don't mean to single you out like this, but you have to learn to fully control _that _part of your quirk. Whatever that energy of yours was, it was very destructive and out of your control. If it stays that way, then you could end up causing serious harm to not only yourself, but to the general public if ever released near them. So if something like that happens again... then we may have to take extreme measures."

Those words hit Izuku hard, making his eyes widen and causing him to shake as he stared down at his desk.

"Yes… Sensei…"

"I just want you to be aware of how serious it is."

"Looks like he's got it rough…" Shinso remarked to Enso.

"Oh, you have no idea…" Enso sighed. He stared at Izuku and reflected on how much he had been through. Childhood bullying, lack of confidence, pain from his own quirk, learning his tormentor's true thoughts of him, his new aggression from Ikari, and some more.

_"I wonder if he really is okay?"_

Many people had sympathetic looks to Izuku. After all he went through, he still didn't seem to be getting a break.

Aizawa spoke to the class again, "Anyway, keeping these invite results in mind, whether or not anyone asked for you, you will all be participating in internships with pros."

"Really?" Ojiro asked curiously.

He nodded, "You've all experienced combat against real villains at USJ, but it will still be a valuable experience to watch and work with pros firsthand."

"So that's why we need hero names!" Sato shouted excitingly.

"Right now the hero names you choose will be temporary, but if you're not serious about it-"

Suddenly the door opened and someone walked in, "-you'll have hell to pay later!"

Some of the guys smiled as they saw who it was. "It's Midnight!"

"Why are you guys so excited? You see her nearly every day for class..." Enso's eye twitched.

No one seemed to pay attention to him as Midnight seemed to capture the attention of the males.

"Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society, these names end up becoming their professional hero names!" Midnight said as she had both of her arms folded behind her head.

"Well, that's how it is… So Midnight will be making sure your names are okay. I can't do stuff like that…" Aizawa sighed as he reminisced how he got his hero name.

Midnight's gaze went on Enso sitting in the back of the class, to which she grinned and winked at him.

_"Eh?"_ Everyone in the class was confused by the hero's sudden action.

Enso actually felt a chill in his spine.

"Hm... I see..."

He looked down.

"I'm in danger."

A question mark appeared over Shinso's head as he wondered what was going on.

"When you give yourself a name, you get a more concrete image of what it is you want to be like in the future. Your name reminds you to get closer to that image. This is what it means when they say, 'Names and natures do often agree,' so get started." Aizawa zipped up his yellow sleeping bag and fell on the floor, not even commenting on Midnight's wink.

"Write your names on these mini-whiteboards!" The female pro said as she gave the front person in each row a stack of said whiteboards.

Many of the students clearly already had an idea of a name in mind as they received their boards and already proceeded to write away.

_"My hero name..." _Izuku stared at his whiteboard. _"A name for what I want to be like in the future, huh?"_

Izuku flashed back to a memory of his four-year-old self wearing an All Might onesie and jumping excitingly with a paper with different names on it.

He remembered his mother reading them out loud with a smile.

"Let's see, Mighty All Might Man, Mighty Boy, All Might Jr."

Izuku's eye twitched and he awkwardly chuckled.

_"I actually thought those were great back then. Hehe... But..."_

Izuku tightly held onto his marker.

_"Now that I've inherited All Might's power and received both his and Enso's guidance... I can see just how big the difference between me and them is..."_

After a few minutes of people writing, Midnight cracked her whip, actually scaring a few of them.

"Okay! Let's start presenting names starting with those who are ready!" She grinned.

"We're presenting these!?" Kirishima exclaimed in shock.

"Man, that's gonna take some nerve..." Sero nervously added.

Aoyama was the first to go up, confidently walking to the podium with his board hidden.

He turned to them. "Here I go, Shining hero…"

He suddenly rose his board up high for everyone to see.

"I can not stop twinkling!" Sparkles emerged around him.

_"IT'S A SENTENCE!?"_ The class boomed in their heads.

Enso facepalmed.

"It'll be easier to use if you take out the 'I' and shortened, the 'can not' to 'can't'." Midnight wrote on his board with a smile.

_"IT'S OKAY!?"_

Enso slammed his head on his desk.

_"Our teacher's an idiot."_

"I'll go next!" Mina jumped excitedly as Aoyama sat back down. "Hero name-!" She showed her board, "Alien Queen!"

"Denied! We aren't risking a copyright strike!" Midnight immediately shot it down while forming an X with her arms.

_"Those aliens are known in this world!?" _Enso looked rather disturbed.

"Pooey..." Mina genuinely looked disappointed as she headed back for her seat.

"May I go next, kero?" The precious frog-girl of the class raised her hand.

"Go for it, Tsu!" Midnight pointed proudly.

She went up to the front with a happy croak. "I've had this in mind ever since I was in elementary school."

She showed her board, "Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."

_"Finally, a normal name!"_ The class thought in unison.

_"So Kawaii…" _Izuku thought with a blissful smile.

"Sturdy Hero: Red Riot!"

_"So cool Kirishima..."_ Izuku stared in awe.

"Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack!

_"Nice! Jiro!"_ Izuku grinned.

"Tentacle Hero: Tentacole!"

_"Why do I have such a bad feeling about that name Shoji?"_ Izuku thought with a blank look.

"Taping Hero: Cellophane!"

_"Nice and simple."_

"Martial Arts Hero: Tailman!"

"But doesn't Midoriya know much more-mmph!?" Mineta was interrupted as Izuku turned around and covered his mouth.

"Shush! We don't need that! Plus I'm sure Ojiro's deep understanding one fighting style is better than me using the basics of many others." Izuku pouted.

"Sweets Hero: Sugarman!"

_"I wonder if Sato could bake with me sometime?"_ Izuku contemplated.

"Pinky!" Mina proudly shouted with a fist in the air.

_"Kawaii!"_ Izuku smiled in bliss once more.

"Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt!"

_"Pretty good Kaminari."_

"Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl!"

_"Somewhat plain, but it does work a lot."_ Izuku nodded.

He then realized that he was focusing too much on the other names.

"I-I still have to think of mine..." He stared down into his board, his mind frantically trying to think of a name now.

More students went up.

"I hope I won't bring shame to this name... Everything Hero: Creati!"

"Creative!" Midnight complimented.

"Shoto."

"Just your name? Is that okay?" Midnight questioned.

"No, no, Todoroki! You gotta say it like Endeavor!"

Kaminari stood up on his desk, cleared his throat, and stuck his hands out while looking straight up.

"SHOTOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A sudden marker came flying and nailed Kaminari on the side of his head.

"BWA-hAH!" He cried as he fell to the ground.

Everyone turned to Aizawa, who had glowing red eyes and showed signs of being the one who threw the marker.

"Shut it."

He then went back to sleep.

Todoroki focused back on his class. "I think just my name is okay. I'm not really thinking of anything."

Enso raised his hand in the back, "Can I offer a suggestion?"

Everyone was actually surprised that he piped up.

Todoroki tilted his head curiously, "I suppose."

Enso pointed a finger at him.

"Hot and Cold hero: Thermo."

Everyone was momentarily quiet.

"Ok." Todoroki replied without much change in tone.

"Short for Thermostat to reflect the adjustments of how hot and cold he could suddenly change the tide of battle!" Midnight said excitedly.

Enso had sparkles around him.

_"Don't tell me he's really proud of coming up with that name?"_ Izuku wondered with a look of confusion.

They moved on.

"Jet-black Hero: Tsukuyomi!" Tokoyami proudly shouted.

"God Of the Night!" Midnight pointed out.

"Fresh-Picked Hero: Grape Juice!" Mineta jumped with his sign.

"Nice!"

Koda shyly held his sign up to reveal, **Petting Hero: Anima**.

"You got it!" Midnight gave him a thumbs up.

Then when Bakugo went up...

"King Explosion Murder!" he said in a menacing tone.

_"Nope…" _Enso sweatdropped as Midnight sent him away unamused, receiving glares from most of the class. _"I'd think you'd just officially end your career with a name like that..."_

"Okay, my turn…" Ochako nervously said as she walked up with her sign covered.

"This is what I thought of." She revealed it rather shy, "The gravity hero, Uravity."

_"Kawaii... Again." _Izuku thought with a small blush.

"Great! We're really blazing through with these!" Midnight grinned. "But we still have just a few people left to go! Bakugo needs to rewrite his, then there's Iida, Shinso, Enso, and Midoriya, correct?"

Iida was frozen with the marker shaking in his hand, thinking about a name that he couldn't bear to use.

_"Tenya..."_ A voice called out.

Iida's eyes widened as he heard his brother's voice and remembered his words in the hospital.

* * *

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Iida heard the vital signs monitor picking up on his brother's current state. He didn't even acknowledge the beeping as he just stared in horror at his brother's bandaged head and his covered lower body.

"Tenya... I didn't want to say anything to you, but I feel that as another member of the family becoming a hero, you deserve to know this..."

Iida didn't want to know but listened earnestly.

"I... I actually don't have any feeling in my legs..."

Iida's pupils shrunk. "N-No... Way..."

"The hero, Ingenium, will probably end here..." Tensei grunted in some pain.

Iida shot up from his seat, "N-No! You still have so many more people to lead! People to help! I-I don't like this!"

He furiously shook his head while trying to keep himself from crying, "I don't like this one bit!"

"I don't like it either..." Tensei weakly said. "So that's why..." His eyes slowly made their way to stare at Iida. "If you're up for it..."

He forced the rest of his head to turned to stare at Iida directly.

"Will you... take the name for me?"

* * *

**Ing-**

Iida blinked as he realized that his shaking hand was starting to write down the name his brother offered up to him.

He stopped himself and closed his eyes in pain.

_"I'm sorry Tensei... I... I can't take it..."_

**Tenya**

This was the name Iida presented to his class, averting his gaze from them and keeping silent.

"Eh? You're going with your first name?" Midnight questioned him.

Iida just nodded.

Izuku grabbed his own hair as he stared at his still empty board.

_"What name to use? What kind of name... What names have I been called before-?"_

His pupils instantly shrunk.

The voice of Bakugo echoed in his head. _"Deku!"_

Several voices of his previous class echoed in his head.

_"Deku!_

_"Oi, Deku!"_

_"Look, it's Deku. Still quirkless I see..."_

_"What do you even think you can do!? You're quirkless! Worse, you're Deku!"_

_"No... Not again!"_ Izuku grabbed his own face and took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. _"I can't... Wh-Why did I think of-?"_ He felt a pain in his head.

The world started turning dark around him.

_"No... Ikari! Don't!"_ he instinctively thought. He breathed hard but turned his head away so no one would see him panicking.

He tightly gripped his marker in his shaky hands. His mind just rampaged through his thoughts, his memories. Even though he tried not to think about it, something kept dragging him back to every single time he was called that name. Every grade, every class, every day. He thought he was gonna pass out just thinking about it.

But then...

_"Hey Deku!"_

Izuku froze as a different, more cheerful voice called to him.

_"Huh?" _He blinked.

_"Good morning Deku!_

_"Hey Deku! It's so good to finally see you again!"_

_"O...chako?"_ Izuku recognized.

He heard another voice.

_"Oh, morning Deku."_

_"What's up Deku?'_

_"Jiro?"_ Izuku processed next.

All the pain had stopped and several different images of both girls calling him this name played through his mind.

_"Deku! You were amazing!"_ Ochako beamed.

_"Not bad, keep it up Deku." _Jiro grinned.

_"Deku! Good work!"_ Ochako cheered with a fist in the air.

_"Thanks Deku."_ Jiro answered rather flustered at one time.

_"Deku..." _Ochako gave him a smile.

_"Deku..."_ Jiro had her head turned away.

_"You really are amazing."_ Both voices came out in sync.

Every instance of the sweet brunette and cool punk girl calling him that name passed through his mind. The tight grip he had on his marker loosened and the dark world around him started to brighten in pink.

A single tear went down his face as he remembered how happy he was hearing that name from _them_ every time.

These memories then ended with one last image.

A line of text on his phone.

_"I kinda thought it sounded like Dekiru, you know, 'You can do it!'."_

Izuku's lips formed into a smile as he remembered this text message from Ochako.

_"I can do it..." _He took a deep breath._"That's it... No more. I can't keep letting the past bring me down like this... I should've already gotten over this from my date with Mina. What 'that' name has meant before doesn't matter now. It's time to stop rejecting that name and accept it, but in the way I'M accepting it, accepting what it means now."_

He wiped his eye and stared back at his board.

_"What matters now is only what it means to me. What matters is me facing this name head on. I'm not gonna let it get to me anymore. All that pain... all those worries... it has to stop. If I want to be the strongest hero and control Ikari, then I have to stop it."_

With a flaming decision, he got to writing.

"The hypnotic hero: Hypno" Shinso grinned from the front of the room.

Enso's eye instantly twitched.

_"Dear lord... THOSE things? Those yellow creatures with pendulums in hand and try to hypnotize you or put you to sleep!? Dear lord..." _Enso had a blank stared as he recalled some rather disturbing things from a previous world.

"You're up Ureshi!" Midnight sweetly called out to him.

Enso snapped out of his disturbed state and he shook his head, slapping his cheeks to get the thoughts out of his head. He then got up with his board and walked past rows of desks until he made it to the front.

He uncaringly showed his sign in hand.

"Reaper."

Chills went around all of the class.

"Um... Are you sure that should be it?" Midnight questioned.

"..." Enso glanced down at his bored, then turning it to him and using his marker to change something.

He turned it back to his class.

"Grim Hero: Reaper."

"Not what I meant!" Midnight shouted as she snatched his board away. "Don't you think that sounds a little scary!? Reapers usually associate death you know!?"

Enso turned to her with a blank look.

"But I like it."

"But that kind of name will most likely just strike fear in citizens!"

"But I like it."

"That doesn't mean it's fine! A hero name should calm citizens and inspire them upon hearing it! It should be a name that anyone can proudly say to the sky!"

"..."

Enso blinked, blank expression maintained.

"But I like it."

Midnight slammed her head again the class board. "Ugh... Fine... Just sit down..."

Enso had sparkles around him as he triumphantly started to walk back to his seat.

_"What the hell?"_ Everyone sweatdropped.

_"I'll deal with him later..."_ Midnight sighed as she removed her head and then turned to Izuku with a smile.

"Midoriya, are you ready?"

Izuku raised his head with a determined smile. "Yes!"

He got up and rushed to the front, feeling the curious gazes of everyone around him, especially Enso.

As he got to the front, he took a deep breath and looked more intense.

_"It just has to be this."_

He flipped his board and tapped it onto the podium with an earnest stare.

Everyone immediately let out gasps.

"Izuku!?" Momo shot up in her seat in disbelief, even slamming her hands on her desk. "Th-That name-!?"

"I know."

"Wait, are you really-!?" Mina started.

"I am."

"Are you actually serious?" Jiro asked.

"Yes."

"You might get called that forever." Tsu pointed out.

"I'm ready for that."

"But I thought you hated that name!" Toru finished.

Ochako couldn't even say anything else from how surprised she was.

Izuku was momentarily silent, then taking a deep breath before speaking.

"Yeah… Growing up, I've never liked this name. Every minute of every day, I was always called this. I've always thought of it the same every time I heard it, that it would be the only thing I would ever be known as. That it would be the only thing that I _could _be..."

He looked down with a sad gaze.

"Even while hearing it here, it always seemed to be haunting me. Every time I heard it, I always kept wondering if that was what I really was..."

A few glares went over at Bakugo, who just kept his eyes narrowed on Izuku.

"But-!" Izuku's eyes then focused on Ochako's stunned expression, a new smile forming on his face.

"Then I remembered that someone else had created a different meaning to this name. I wasn't sure about it myself at first... I thought the previous meaning would keep overwhelming me, would keep hurting me, would end up breaking me down over time... But as I met so many new friends, as I saw the smiles that all of you had on me, as I got stronger and made everyone proud, this new meaning started sticking to me."

He turned back to his class with a proud grin.

"I realized just what big of an impact this new meaning actually had and how much it really seemed to reflect me. When I started hearing this name from others, I ended up feeling more confident, every time I heard it, I felt... happier. So I've decided that I'm going to face this name and never let get to me like before. I'm going to keep it not as what it meant in the past, but what it means to _me _now."

He once again pushed out his board for everyone to see as a glimmer of hope reflected in his eyes.

"This is my hero name! Deku-!"

He gave his class a close-eyed grin.

"-The Hero That _Can_ Do It!"

Ochako had an ear to ear smile on her face as she felt her heart flutter.

Momo was in awe by what Izuku said, the girl finding herself sitting back down on her seat in disbelief.

"Oh, Izuku..."

But she managed to sweetly smile at the thought of him taking a step forward.

Everyone else in the class smiled at his declaration, including Midnight, who looked rather proud of him.

"Heh, he's quite the guy." Shinso remarked to Enso.

Enso stared at Izuku with calm eyes. "He really is..."

Bakugo let out a scoff and continued writing on his own whiteboard.

_"About time you stopped letting that shit bother you..."_

* * *

**~{Nezu's Office}~**

"Now, may I ask what was so important that you had to speak with me alone?" The principal asked a sudden guest that came into his office.

Kamui Woods had a stern glare with his arms crossed as he faced the hybrid of animals right in front of him.

"Principal Nezu. I know you're respected by many-"

"Just get to the point please, I have papers to work on." Nezu pressed him before sipping his tea menacingly.

Kamui flinched and lost some of his composure. "Er... Alright. This is about one of your students, Enso Ureshi."

"Alright." Nezu set his cup of tea down to listen.

Kamui took a deep, pacing around the room as he spoke. "About a year ago, I encountered a mysterious white light above the rooftop of my agency headquarters. There I saw something fall out of this white light without setting off a single alarm."

Nezu's smile faded.

"I went to the roof to investigate, and it was there that I met a person that heavily wounded my pride..."

_"Oh dear, so that was where Enso-kun first arrive? Right in the presence of a pro hero?"_ Nezu thought as he sipped his tea again.

"I have no doubt you've realized that I'm talking about your top first year. But it wasn't just his location that bothered me. When I gazed into his eyes... I saw the look of a man that had been through so much. When I felt the intense aura he gave, I immediately sensed my life in danger and acted upon instinct, only trying to restrict his movements, and yet... He overwhelmed me in an instant, humiliating me in the next...

"So, what is it that you want exactly?" Nezu questioned him.

Kamui narrowed his eyes, "He appeared in an unauthorized area, resisted arrest, and gave off a natural feeling of murderous intent. The level of danger that came from him alarmed me, so I spent so much of last year trying to find him. Then all of a sudden, I find him here in U.A, being treated as an innocent student?"

"So what, you wish to take him into custody? You wish to take my precious student away, out of just a personal grudge?" An oni mask appeared Nezu as a menacing purple aura surrounded him.

Kamui's eyes widened, and he felt his blood turn cold. "Wait, wait, wait, wait! I-I didn't mean it like that!"

"Then _what_ do you want?" Nezu demanded to know.

Kamui fiddled with his fingers, "W-Well... I-I don't really want to arrest him. I would like to avoid that too, but I'm just... confused. I thought he was a villain from such a dangerous feeling I felt from him. He didn't seem to care for laws and didn't hesitate to fight against me with shocking abilities, so I was worried... Worried about what he would do in public, wondering what kind of dastardly cause he was trying to fulfill."

He glanced outside at some students running laps around the dirt courtyard.

"But... Then I find out he's in a school meant for those trying to become heroes. And you better believe that made me confused with my thinking. I know that he is no ordinary child, far from it. I know that you, Nezu, would _always _find out if someone with dark intentions is in the school, so I know that boy must not be the villain I thought he was. But even so... I just want to confirm for myself just what type of student he is and just what he truly thinks about heroes. Otherwise... the matter would bother me every day to no end."

"And how are you proposing to 'confirm' this exactly?"

Kamui took a deep breath, then slapping his hand onto his chest.

"You're having the first years go to agencies for experience, aren't you? If so, then I wish to have him intern with me!"

"Hmmm..." Nezu took a sip of tea. "So basically, you were going to blackmail me by threatening to arrest the boy due to his 'offenses' to you if I didn't make him intern with you?"

Kamui started sweated nervously. "No, no, no, no, no! I didn't plan to do anything of the sort! I just really want Ureshi in my agency for the upcoming internships!"

"Oh? Then why didn't you just send him an invite to your agency? Did you think I'd _make_ him choose yours?"

Kamui shook his head, "I have no doubt he'd have thousands of offers to choose from, and there's no way he'd choose my agency just for the fact that he knows me as the one that tried to arrest him. So yes, I wished for your influence on his decision. But..."

He bowed to Nezu.

"I just feel like he _has_ to come with me... During the festival, I saw the look of distress that he had for his friend, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't just surrender the battle to him. After that battle, there's just been this gnawing feeling in me to have him with me. I know you have no good reason to do this... But can you at least talk to Ureshi? Please at least tell him that Kamui Woods, the hero he threw into the ocean a year ago, bears no grudge against him and only wishes to make his acquaintance..."

Nezu stared down at Kamui and blinked in surprise.

"He threw you into the ocean?"

Kamui flinched, suddenly shooting up to his feet and embarrassingly scratching the back of his head.

"Er, I wouldn't say he 'threw' me into it... I-It was more like, um..."

"Pfft!" Nezu used his paw to cover his mouth. "How amusing, hehe!"

Kamui hung his head with a comedically depressing aura. "The humiliation..."

"But in regards to what you're asking me..." Nezu said, voice turning back to a compose professional. "In all honesty, I was looking through different agencies that I could possibly send Enso-kun to. You see, Kamui, as you've been thinking, he's actually a 'special' case among the students."

Kamui glanced back at him, intrigued.

"He's the type of person who wouldn't choose, nor care about any of the internships he's been invited to. He'd focus on going to the same agency as his closest friend. But I don't want him to go follow through this, he has so much to learn about heroes as a whole. So I've been trying to find an agency to suggest for him to go. Yours isn't particularly a bad choice..."

Kamui had hopeful eyes.

"But that doesn't mean I'll just _make_ him join you." Nezu pulled out a paper fan and started fanning himself with a smug grin.

Kamui flinched.

"You are a rapidly growing hero high in the ranks, but in the end, Enso-kun has to decide where he wants to go. So if you really want him..."

He stood up in his chair with a grin.

"Then let's just go and you can ask him!"


	40. Return Of The Inventor

**~{?}~**

A short, elderly man wearing a costume of white and yellow sat on his couch alone as the T.V displayed the events of the festival. He tapped his cane on the ground as his eyes focused on a specific green-haired boy throughout the entire thing.

He watched as Izuku showed off his quick thinking and quick analysis by using the mines of the last zone of the obstacle course race to push himself to first place even after getting set back by an explosive teen. He watched him clashed against fighter after fighter using different levels of One For All to adjust to different situations while showing off incredible skills in martial arts.

"Hm... Interesting. It seems you've found yourself quite the successor Toshinori..." The elder grinned from his seat as his eyes were glued on the boy.

His interest was piqued even more when he saw the boy demonstrate his _own_ power. He first caught a glimpse of it during the obstacle course race, where he saw him produce black flames to keep another boy away.

"Hm..."

He watched as, during the cavalry battle, Izuku showed no effort to bring out this power again. It was only at the last second where the elder caught a glimpse of black as Izuku grabbed a headband from another team after having leaped away, then launching himself upward with a flick of his finger.

"Now then... Why didn't ya use your actual quirk?" He raised an eyebrow.

He watched as he fought Kendo without showing his quirk, although getting surprised when he projected his voice rather destructively.

"Heh, Toshinori never did that..." He was rather amused.

Then he watched as he fought against Endeavor's son, his power only appearing once throughout that entire battle, and not even for too long.

The elder narrowed his eyes. "Could it be...?"

He watched Izuku's fight against Enso, watching him suddenly bring out this power yet again, but at a much larger and more destructive scale. He saw the look in the boy's eyes, the look of uncontrollable rage.

"I see..."

He realized something as Izuku broke his arms and unleashed a wide variety of attacks from his quirk. "So he can't control his own quirk, yet can control One For All better?"

He looked disappointed as he saw Izuku using his broken arms, shattering them but still kept on going.

"Toshinori... You've been teaching him how to use One For All, but... you haven't even taught him how to use his _own_ quirk? Tsk!"

The elder turned off the television once he saw Izuku lose, then hopping off the couch and using his cane to help guide him to the phone.

"Well, if you wanna see something done right..."

He grabbed the phone and started dialing.

"You gotta do it yourself."

* * *

**~{U.A: Class 1-A}~**

"Now that everyone has decided on their hero names, we'll go back to talking about internships." Aizawa said as he slipped out of his yellow sleeping bag.

"But what about Bakugo? He didn't choose a hero name yet." Kirishima pointed out.

"I'm giving up right now, every one of his names have been too ridiculous to let him use..." Midnight sighed.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEM!?" Bakugo screeched.

Momo looked disgusted while the other females either sighed or rolled their eyes.

_"Can he actually not tell?"_ Izuku deadpanned.

"I've got a name for you Bakugo." Enso called from the back.

"HUH!?" Bakugo stared back at him rather hostile.

Enso spelled it out with his fingers.

"How about _Die_namite?" He suggested with a straight face.

"SHINE!"

"Exactly."

Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima covered their mouths as they desperately tried to keep in a laugh.

_"Oh god, he's actually serious."_ Izuku thought, wondering if Enso had joked for a moment, but knew that it wasn't the case.

"Whatever, he can choose his name later. Your internships will last for a week. As for where you'll actually have them, I will pass out the lists of hero agencies that have invited each of you over. Then you can choose which agency to go for yourself." Aizawa explained.

Aizawa and Midnight passed the papers out themselves to each respected person, being careful not to mix any papers out.

As Izuku took a small stack of papers for himself, he shivered as he saw the thousands of agencies on the list, each one with a description and information.

_"Th-This is gonna be hard…"_

"Turn in your choices before the weekend." Aizawa said as he picked up his yellow sleeping bag.

"Only two days!?" Kaminari asked in disbelief.

"Yes, so make your decision efficiently." Aizawa finished as he left the room.

"Well, I'll be seeing everyone in my class later!" Midnight smiled as she headed to the door behind Aizawa.

On the way out, she took one final glance at Enso and blew him a kiss, the visible small red heart slowly floating over to him.

As it neared Enso, he shivered and sliced the heart in two with his dagger.

Midnight just giggled before finally leaving the classroom.

A few people noticed all this and stared at Enso with a dumbfounded expression.

Mineta was the one to jump on Enso's desk and grab him by his collar with watery eyes.

"EHHH!? Ureshi!? What was that just now!?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just as confused as you are..." Enso remarked with a twitching eye.

"No far... Even Enso gets a busty babe...!?" Kaminari cried.

Sero looked rather curious. "I wonder if it's because he's been hanging around Midoriya?"

Kaminari and Mineta's faces lit up.

"Hey, Midoriy-ACK!" Both were punched by Jiro's earlobes.

"Don't bring him into this, you idiots!" She sternly shouted.

At the same time, Izuku hadn't even noticed these events and was too busy staring at his list of agencies to stare from, forming a small frown as he did so.

_"I've got a lot to think about..."_

* * *

**~{Lunchtime}~**

"Hey, have you guys decided on an agency yet?" Mina asked anyone listening while staring at her list of offers.

"I'm going to Mount Lady!" Mineta proudly stated.

"I'm gonna go with Death Arms." Jiro smiled as she punctured Mineta for his obvious intentions.

"I'm thinking of going with Fourth Kind! He's really manly!" Kirishima grinned.

"What about you Enso?" Kaminari turned back, only to be surprised not to see him gone. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"I saw him leave with Midoriya. I think they already went to get lunch." Sato told them.

Mina looked disappointed. She wanted to talk to Izuku about their kiss, but when she wasn't looking the boy had already left.

"Come on Toru! To the cafeteria!" Mina grabbed her best friend's hand and pulled her out.

"Why so suddenly!?" Toru shouted as she got pulled away.

Jiro looked rather annoyed that Izuku was gone too, intending on talking to him about another matter.

"And here we were planning to talk to him about Mr. Explosive disorder and that name..." she sighed.

Momo tapped her shoulder to get her attention, then giving Jiro a reassuring smile.

"I don't think we need to talk to Izuku about Bakugo anymore. You heard him when he chose his hero name. He's fine now. Even if Bakugo still stays here, he won't be much of a bother for Izuku anymore. Even if he tried anything, then he'll just be sent out."

"..." Jiro looked down as she thought about Izuku.

Momo noticed that the source of Jiro's troubles wasn't necessarily on just Bakugo. "Is something else troubling you?"

Jiro scratched the back of her head, "Well, it's just... It's about his name..."

"About his hero name?" Momo questioned.

"About what I've called him since coming here... Deku. I know that he's proud of it now, I know that he won't let that name bother him, but... After hearing everything that happened to him..."

Jiro looked up at Momo with a frown.

"I don't think I can call him that anymore."

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

"So... Where are we going exactly?" Izuku questioned Enso as they made their way down the halls _away_ from the lunch area.

"I wish to see if there's a way for you to manually activate Ikari." Enso said as an answer.

"EH!? Really!?" Excitement and hope grew in Izuku as he turned to Enso with bright eyes.

Enso nodded, "Yes, but in order to do so, it may involve something that... You won't enjoy."

"Huh?" Izuku had a bad feeling about this. "Wh-What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Enso stopped in front of two big, metal doors.

"We're here."

Izuku looked up at the sign for the door and his eyes widened at the sign.

**Development Studio.**

"Th-The development studio? What are we doing here? Does this have to do with Ikari?" Izuku asked with hints of confusion.

Enso nodded, "I think there's a way to make adjustments to your costume so that you can bring out Ikari."

"Huh?" Izuku stared at him. "How can my costume do that?"

Enso's eyes narrowed into a serious glare.

"By having it inflict pain to you."

Izuku could feel a chill course through him.

"Wh-What d-do you mean by that?"

Enso closed his eyes as he explained.

"You see Izuku, pain can feed anger, whether it's physical or emotional. Pain won't _cause_ anger, but it can help it grow in a person. So if you can use this to inflict pain to yourself, then you may be able to activate Ikari whenever and wherever you want."

"S-So you want me… to hurt myself… t-to get stronger?" Izuku asked him.

Enso nodded, knowing fully well how unsure Izuku would be about this.

"I know that it may sound bad, but you can't just willingly get mad easily. And it's even harder because it's you we're talking about. And you heard what Aizawa said about controlling your quirk, right? If you want to control it as soon as possible, then this might be the best way."

Izuku shivered as he thought about it, "B-But what kind of p-pain d-do you mean?"

"Well..." Enso reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up paper and a blue paper with it. "I managed to get Nezu to get me a copy of your costume blueprints to see if I can make any adjustments to it for my idea. I thought it'd be simple to make a lot of changes, but it turns out, your costume was already changed."

"My costume was changed!?" Izuku took the blueprints from Enso and scanned his costume.

Sure enough, his costume had indeed been changed. His knee pads were extended and reached up to his thighs, he had some new gloves, and his respirator had been changed to metal with eight holes in it.

"Th-They didn't even tell me they were doing this! Do the support course always do this!?" Izuku said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

But his eyes then widened as he saw red markings on his costume blueprints that represented additions Enso wished to make, along with small descriptions on what they were for.

"U-Um, Enso? Wh-Wh-What is this?" Izuku shakingly turned his head to him.

"It's what I'm proposing. That's what it is." Enso immediately responded. "I had other plans, but with your costume already changed, I had to improvise. Rather than making changes to your costume directly, I think it'd be better to have these extra pieces of gear on you."

Izuku gulped nervously at the suggested changes, wondering if U.A would even approve them.

"I'm not going to force you to accept these changes Izuku, but lets at least discuss them with the person I want to meet in that room." Enso pointed at the big metal doors. He gently took the blueprints back from him before folding them and putting them in the pocket.

"I... O-Okay..." Izuku was still nervous about the changes Enso suggested but decided to just get into the studio first before discussing it more. "Let's go inside then."

He walked up to the door and pulled on the handle. However, just as he swung open the door, something suddenly large shot out and slammed right into his chest

"ACK!" Izuku turned black and white as he was forced back and slammed against the wall behind him. He then slid to the ground with a new weight sliding onto his lap.

Enso blinked with a new look of surprise as he wondered what just happened, his vision obscured by a heap of smoke around the surrounding area.

"Ow... Ow..." Izuku grunted as his back leaned against the wall and felt his chest in pain. His eyes were closed as he winced in pain while feeling confused and disoriented as he wondered what just happened.

Enso replayed what he had just seen. Someone had come out flying backwards out of the room on top of a jetpack of the sort, causing her to crash right onto Izuku's chest and push him against the wall.

"Well then, that was... surprising..."

He then heard a voice through the smoke and saw a silhouette swinging his arm in an attempt to disperse it.

"I told you to build that jetpack on your own time!"

He cleared some of the smoke, revealing himself to be the Excavation hero: Power Loader.

"Don't work on it here! You could destroy everything!"

Then a familiar voice was heard, "My bad, at least it wasn't because my baby failed! I just pressed the wrong button!" A girl laughed.

"It doesn't matter if you were able to succeed in building it or not, I didn't want you building it in the studio anyway!" Power Loader shouted angrily.

Recognizing the other voice in the smoke, Enso brought an arm close while surrounding himself in the yellow aura of Snipe Style. Then he used the speed of the style to thrust his fist forward in a punch with enough speed and force to disperse the smoke away.

The first thing he saw was Izuku sitting on the ground with his back against the wall, yet with someone sitting on his lap with her back to him.

Power Loader saw this too, his momentary anger turning into worry as he saw Izuku.

"Hatsume! I think you hurt someone!"

Indeed, the one that had rammed into Izuku and was now sitting on his lap was none other than the genius inventor herself, Mei Hatsume.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Mei innocently smiled at Powerloader.

"You're on him." Enso pointed out.

Mei realized that she was sitting on someone's lap and glanced behind her to see a familiar, yet dizzy boy.

"Oh! When did you get here?"

Izuku slowly came to, recovering from the impact and feeling the extra weight on his lap.

"Nngh..." He rubbed the back of his head and blinked several times to snap out of his blurry vision. He saw pink and when he fully regained his sight, he saw familiar, yellow cross-haired eyes staring back at him happily.

His eyes widened completely open in shock as he processed Mei right there.

"M-Mei?!" Izuku shouted in surprise.

Mei formed a large grin, "Heya Muscles! It's good to see ya again!"

Izuku instantly turned red.

"M-M-Muscles!?"

Mei grinned, "That was the thing that stuck out to me the _most_ about you."

"EH!?"

She giggled.

"Hatsume, would you mind getting off of Izuku? This is inappropriate for a school environment." Enso said bluntly.

Mei glanced to Enso, "Oh, hey U!"

_*Bam!*_

Mei was sent spiraling in the air.

"I told you not to call me that." Enso's fist steamed from knocking Mei right off Izuku, who then landed face-first on the ground.

"Enso, don't punch her!" Izuku yelled as he got up.

"Don't worry, she can take it, so it's fine."

"AGAIN, THAT'S NOT HOW THAT WORKS!"

Mei got with a grin despite her comedically swollen cheek and red forehead.

"Sounds like you didn't like that name, I'll try again later!" She declared, seemingly unfazed by that punch.

"Um..." Power Loader got Izuku and Enso's attention. "I'm assuming you guys need something from me?"

Enso turned to him as Izuku helped Mei up.

"We actually came to speak to Hatsume."

Power Loader looked relieved. "Great, you can watch her while I'm gone then. I have to do something with the other teachers, and there's no way that I'm gonna leave _her_ in charge of this place. If she does anything that seems dangerous, knock her out."

_"I don't think an adult should be encouraging that." _Izuku thought with a blank look.

"We'll look after her." Enso bowed.

Power Loader then turned to Mei.

"Hatsume, behave yourself. Otherwise, you may find yourself unable to enter the studio for a while."

Mei rubbed the back of her head with a smile, "Alright."

Power Loader walked off, "I'll be back by the end of lunch!"

_"We won't even have time to eat after this then." _Izuku sighed.

He then turned to left, only to see Mei's intrigued face inches from his.

"KYAH!" Izuku backed up and his breathing increased.

"How you doing Muscles?"

"U-Um, I-I'm doing fine Mei..."

Izuku then noticed that the girl in front of him wasn't wearing a normal class uniform like the rest of the students were. Instead, she was wearing some sort of work clothes. They consisted of a black tank top that greatly highlighted her healthy figure, the same black fingerless gloves she wore during the festival, and new black, baggy work pants with a black sweater tied around her waist.

Mei adjusted the goggles on her head as she turned to Enso, "So Boss-!"

Enso chopped her on the head.

"Ow-!" she winced.

"Try again."

"B-Boss?" Izuku repeated in confusion.

"Let's just get inside the studio before someone else hears this, please." Enso urged them in.

"Alrighty, then I could continue working on my babies!" Mei bolted inside.

"W-Wait! What did you mean 'boss'?" Izuku stammered as he and Enso followed her inside.

"I'll explain later. For now, let's work on the costume changes for you."

"Huh? But I don't even have my costume!"

"Costume changes!?" Mei bolted away from some of her gadgets and got right in Izuku's face with sparkling eyes and a fast breathing pace.

"GWAH! Mei! P-Personal space!" Izuku stammered as he backed up onto a table.

Instead of listening, Mei just listened to herself and started feeling upon Izuku's chest and arms. "With a build like you, we can make all sorts of improvements to your costume with my babies! Oh, it's getting me excited!"

_"She's touching me! Too close!" _Izuku was frozen in fear by the contact all over his body.

Meanwhile, Enso simply searched around the development studio. "Where was is it again...?" he mumbled as he started looking underneath tables.

Izuku started to push Mei back, yet the girl just kept pushing forward with an excited grin.

"What kind of babies do you think we could add on it!? Don't you think we should add them!?"

"I-I'll think about it all right!?" Izuku stammered, hoping that at least she'd back down.

"Ah, here it is."

Both teens curiously turned their gazes at Enso as they saw him pull a case underneath one of the tables.

Izuku's eyes widened as he recognized it. "I-Is that the case for my costume!? How'd it get there!?"

"The rodent."

"Call him Nezu!" Izuku snapped.

Enso placed the case onto the table and opened it up, revealing Izuku's new version of his hero costume.

Mei instantly bolted beside Enso and stared down at Izuku's costume with sparkles in her eyes.

"Ooo! This is your costume Muscles!?"

Izuku walked over to them, "They really did change it..." He muttered, looking somewhat disappointed that it was done without his knowledge.

Enso turned to both of them.

"I wish to have Hatsume make your costume changes now."

"Huh!?" Izuku was surprised. "Why now? And why not just request the changes from the school?!"

Enso narrowed his eyes, "You know why. You _just_ saw what changes I'm suggesting. Do you think the school would just approve these changes so fast? We need you to control Ikari as soon as possible, and we'll be heading to our internships right now, so it's better for her to be the one to make these changes now rather than wait."

Izuku flinched, "R-Right..."

"What kind of changes _do_ you guys even have in mind?" Mei asked as she turned from Enso to Izuku repeatedly.

Enso pulled the blueprints out of his pockets and handed it over to Mei. "This is what I have in mind."

Mei eagerly took the blueprints from Enso and began to scan it with her eyes and with an excited smile.

However, the more she looked, the lower her smile went, turning into an uncomfortable stare, the first time Izuku had seen such an expression from her.

"Are... Are you really sure about this Muscles?" She turned her head to Izuku.

Izuku nervously scratched his cheek, "W-Well... I-I don't really know myself."

Mei put the blueprints down on the table, giving herself a full view of what Enso was planning.

It turned out, Enso had planned to have a vest and upper arm braces be included in Izuku's costume, both of which had metal areas on it. And what the metal on the vest and braces both had in them were smooth, retractable metal needles that were long and skinny enough to deeply puncture into the muscle. The trigger to activate the insertion of these needles into his skin would work via Izuku clapping his hands together, to which the needles would insert themselves into him and then automatically retract back within a few seconds.

"Remember, I'm not planning these suggestions to be permanent Izuku, that's why what I'm having you include in your costume are just the vest and upper arm braces. And about the area these needles will insert, they won't leave permanent marks and will actually heal rather quickly. This is just until you can get a grip on Ikari, then you can just remove them. "

"Ikari? Is that your quirk?" Mei asked Izuku.

"Er, yeah..." He turned to his mentor, "But Enso, if what you're saying is true, that it's just a vest and braces we're making, why do I need my costume?"

"I just wanted to see how your costume looks with the other gear on, so that if it looks stupid, then I could make quick design changes."

"But... Aren't I gonna be wearing them under my costume?"

"Exactly, I don't want it to look noticeable underneath. If the shape shows, then it'll look like you just grew even bigger and unnatural chest muscles, which would look stupid."

_"THAT'S THE ONLY REASON!?"_

"I've had Hatsume already produce the vest and braces anyways, but now she needs to put them on you and adjust it so that it can press against you." Enso moved on.

Izuku gave up making sense out of the reasoning.

"Hold on. Muscles, you didn't answer me before, but are you really sure about these additions?" Mei interjected.

"..." Izuku gulped nervously as he was reminded that these changes would be so that he could pierce his own skin, but if it was Enso suggesting it, then he had probably thought about it a lot. "I-I'm sure. Don't worry Mei."

Mei didn't look so convinced, but it was his choice.

"Alrighty then. But if you're doing this, then I'd be glad to be the one to help with that at least."

Izuku smiled, "Thanks Mei."

"Good, now that we're in agreement..." Enso crossed his arms at Izuku.

"Strip."

Izuku blinked.

"Eh?"

"Strip and change into your costume."

Izuku blinked a few more times as Mei adjusted her goggles looking rather interested. He then started blushing madly with an agape expression of disbelief.

"H-Here!? Now!? B-But Mei is here!"

"She doesn't mind."

"I sure don't!" Mei grinned with a thumbs up.

"BUT I DO!" Izuku's shout was enhanced by One For All, comedically sending Enso and Mei flying.

Enso flipped in the air and landed in a perfect Y stance, while Mei just fell facefirst to the floor.

"Oh come on, we only have until lunch is over. Just do it quickly." Enso sternly said.

Realizing that time was limited, Izuku sighed. "F-Fine... B-But Mei! P-Please step back and look away, p-please?"

Mei got while maintaining an innocent smile. "Okay!" She turned around with her hands behind her.

Izuku let out a breath of relief as he thought Mei listened to him, then pulling off his tie and removing his shirt.

_"I think he has a little too much faith in her..." _Enso thought.

As he knew would happen, the moment Izuku took his shirt off and revealed his bare chest and arms, pink dreadlocks blazed right at him.

_"She's fast!"_ Enso thought rather surprised.

Izuku was just unbuckling his belt when he felt hands touch his back, making him completely freeze.

"Wha-Wha-!?" He robotically turned his head at Mei giggling as she felt the bare muscles of his arms once again.

"Yes, yes, yes." The inventor repeated in peaked interest.

"M-M-Mei, wh-what are you…?" Izuku whimpered.

Mei just seemed to ignore him, "Just wanted to feel again just how solid you are! You have some really thick babies of your own!" Mei moved her face near his with a satisfied grin.

Enso sighed and started walking over to pry her off.

"M-Mei! Too close!" Izuku stammered. Despite saying this, Mei reached up to Izuku's face and cupped her hands around his face, feeling them and making Izuku heavily blush.

_"Plain faced, but not bad looking too..." _Mei found herself thinking. She then let go and started examining his arms closely, a cringed look formed as she saw the scars on his arms. Notably, the ones from Izuku's battle with Enso.

_"Whoa... These must've really hurt..."_

Enso suddenly grabbed Mei by the back of her neck and pulled her off Izuku, then dropping her and using both of his hands to tightly cover her eyes and pull her to the other side of the room.

"Hatsume, that counts as sexual harassment." Enso sternly pointed out.

Seeing his chance, Izuku quickly started to change at a faster pace.

"Wha-Hey! What do you mean!? I was just getting to know Muscle's body better! It's been on my mind since seeing it at the festival!" Mei complained as she tried to pry Enso's hands off her eyes.

Izuku quickly zipped up his hero costume but paused for a second as he realized something.

"Actually, I didn't bring this up before, but you actually stayed to watch my battle Mei? I thought you'd go back to... Well, 'here' just to keep building your gadgets. Yet you stayed at the festival and watched me?"

With Izuku finishing dressing up, Enso released Mei, but the girl had stopped moving entirely with a red color in her cheeks. Despite this, she was still able to keep a straight face as she grinned and gave a thumbs up to him.

"I-I was interested in using you to make my babies more popular! So I was watching you to figure out which ones to put on you to show off while giving fanservice to others!"

_"Still brutally honest..."_ Izuku sweatdropped.

Enso, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at Mei.

_"She stuttered."_

Izuku stared down at his new hero costume which serious eyes.

_"So this is my new suit..."_

Enso raised an eyebrow, "Why did you put all of it on?"

"Was I not supposed to!?"

"We need to fit the vest and braces on you, so you'll have to expose your upper body for a moment."

Izuku sighed as he took off his respirator and placed it on the table. "Then _tell_ me that!"

"Hatsume, hand him the vest and braces." Enso instructed while ignoring him.

_"I'm gonna knock him down one of these days..." _Izuku felt the urge.

Mei nodded and went over to a cabinet where she pulled out both items. As she carried them over to the table, she noticed that the metal was plain old stainless steel and confusingly turned to Enso.

"Hey, why didn't you have these made out of Vibra... Vibra-whatchamacallit?"

"It's Vibranium, and there's _no_ way I'd use such precious material for something like this. Izuku won't even have these for long anyway. I only have a limited amount of it anyways, just be glad you'll be able to work with _some_ of it."

"Vibranium?" Izuku questioned. "What's that?"

"I wanna know too! I know it's a metal, but I've never heard of it! And Mr. Dealer won't tell me what it is-!"

"Stop calling me suspicious names." Enso karate chopped Mei on the head while snatching away the items.

Mei ignored the red bump on her head and just stared at Enso again with her usual grin.

"You gotta let me see it! Then you gotta show me where you got it from!"

"You can't just _get_ it anywhere here. If you tried to obtain some, then some prince in a foolish panther-like black suit from Africa will try to hunt you down with an army of warriors."

Izuku stared at him with a black and white deadpanned expression.

"Enso... Is there something you wanna tell me?" Izuku asked.

"..." Enso turned away. "Nope."

"When am I gonna get to build some babies with it!? And why does Muscle need these costume changes anyway?!" Mei asked excitingly.

_"Mei just ignored those suspicious words from him entirely..."_ Izuku thought rather baffled.

"So many questions..." Enso sighed. He turned his attention to the inventor girl. "Hatsume, I'll explain the circumstances once we get this down and promise to let you in on other things about that metal and build with it, but it has to be later. For now, you can have Izuku be a test dummy for your inventions as a form of payment for your services."

"Deal!" Mei saluted him with sparkles in her eyes.

"Wha-A test dummy!? Why me!?" Izuku shouted with comedically bulging eyes.

"Now, Hatsume, let's start adjusting the equipment onto Izuku. I look forward to working with you." Enso shook hands with the girl.

_"He ignored me entirely…" _Izuku sweatdropped.

"Likewise, Mr. Happy Face!" Mei grinned.

Enso used his other hand to suddenly slap her, "You're not even trying anymore, are you?"

Mei grinned despite her swollen cheek, "Sorry, just saying whatever comes to mind until the right nickname comes out!"

"For the love of god just call me Enso..."

"Anyway, come on Muscles! Sit down and get comfortable while I put this stuff on you!" Mei suddenly appeared beside Izuku and pushed him onto a stool rather suddenly.

"Wha-hey! Mei, don't just-!" He stopped with his eyes widening as he saw Mei get right in front of him, her 'babies' seeming to bounce as much as she was in excitement.

"Gonna need you to unzip the top and put these on." She handed him the items.

"J-Just don't touch me please..."

"No promises!"

Izuku stopped just as he received the items, a dead gaze staring right at the girl.

"...Alright fine!" Mei looked rather disappointed as she backed up to give him space.

Izuku, still looking rather suspicious, unzipped his costume carefully and pulled his arms from his sleeves, revealing his upper body as he then picked up the vest to put on.

He paused for a second as he noticed a trail of blood coming from Mei's nose as she had an ear-to-ear grin directed at him.

"Um..." Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"Don't mind me!"

"..."

Since she indeed didn't make any moves, Izuku decided to just ignore her and put on the vest, slipping his arms through it and then clipping on the braces on his upper arms.

He then zipped his costume back up and stood up, rotating his arms and walking around.

"How is it?" Enso asked.

Izuku looked worried. "Er, the vest feels kind of loose."

"Yes, I can see the shape moving around. Sit down and let Hatsume make some adjustments to keep it pressed against your skin."

_"I still don't get why Mei has to be the one to do this..."_

"I'll make it better! Just sit back down!" Mei excitedly pulled out a screwdriver.

Izuku sat back down and unzipped the top part of his suit once again to show the vest as Mei got close.

"Be careful, if you end up messing something up, then the spikes may just stick out and pierce him." Enso warned her.

Izuku flinched, "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT!?"

"Don't worry Muscles! I won't mess up! I'm the beautiful inventor genius after all!" Mei confidentially got close and stood over Izuku while checking out the components of the vest.

As she did this, the boy saw her cleavage and turned red. He instinctively turned his head away to avoid looking, but Mei didn't even seem to notice his embarrassment and grabbed his head to keep it facing forward.

"Hold still and keep looking forward, moving seems to make the metal plates on this thing shift, so keep completely still." Mei instructed as she got to work.

Izuku got even more nervous as he was forced to stare forward again at Mei's _babies_.

He closed his eyes and tensed up.

_"Girls are gonna be the death of me…"_

* * *

**~{U.A Cafeteria}~**

Mina pouted as she and Toru sat beside each other in the cafeteria, the pink-skinned girl repeatedly tapping her feet on the ground.

"Midori didn't come to lunch..."

"Yeah, I wonder where he went?" Toru added as she stared around the room rather confused.

Mina plopped her head onto the table, ignoring a bowl of her favorite Natto right in front of her.

"Pooey..."

"Cheer up Mina, you can always talk to him later." Toru patted her back.

Mina just sighed.

_"What am I even gonna say to him once I see him?"_

"Isn't that him?"

"Yeah, the guy said to have been a tormentor?"

"What the hell, what is he still doing here in U.A?"

"Maybe what we heard was false?"

"No, you hear him shout those things at the festival."

Mina's eyes opened as she tilted her head to the voices and saw several students whispering while gazing over at a blonde, lone wolf sitting at a table all by himself.

Mina formed a glare, _"Serves him right..."_

Toru noticed her gaze and needed to bring up again;

"Um, Mina...? You never did tell me what happened after class, about the festival."

Mina froze for a moment, wondering if she should say anything about that.

"Well... I guess I should let you know..."

At the same time, Ochako and Tsu were sitting at another part of the cafeteria, with Ochako looking somewhat disappointed.

"I wanted to talk to Deku about his hero name..."

"You didn't like how Midoriya-chan used the nickname you gave him? Kero?"

Ochako waved her hands, "N-No! It's the complete opposite! I'm really glad that he took the name to heart and it really reassured me that he's doing better after..." She turned to Bakugo's direction. "Everything that happened."

Tsu put a finger on her chin, "You never did tell me what happened after school that day. I thought Bakugo would end up getting expelled, but clearly, something happened to change that..."

Ochako sighed, "I guess I should explain."

As for Jiro and Momo, both sat beside each other only a few tables away.

"Are you really sure you want to call him by something else? I'm sure he wouldn't mind being called Deku by you. In fact, I'm sure he'd be proud to be called that." Momo tried convincing Jiro.

"I know he would, but... I can't just call him that anymore. I had no idea just how much pain that name must've been to him. And if I kept calling him that, then I would just be reminding myself of what he went through and would feel terrible about it..." Jiro said.

"Maybe you should just talk to him about it..." Momo sighed.

"I wanted to right now, but I don't even know where he went. He just disappeared with Enso somewhere..."

"Hm, I wonder where they could've gone...?" Momo then muttered as she ate a chunk of rice.

In another part of the cafeteria, Kendo sighed in frustration. "Monoma, _please_ stop trying to plan schemes against Class A!"

Hearing that, Momo, Jiro, and rest of the class A females turned their heads with blank faces, listening to the usual conversation between Kendo and the trouble maker of Class B.

"What? I'm just asking to hold a bout between you and Midoriya using just pure martial arts in order to prove-!"

"Quit it with that, would ya?" Kendo interrupted. "We already fought at the festival and I lost, alright?"

Monoma sighed in disappointment, "Yes, I had all my hopes in you but then it ended up being a Class-A paradise to the top... But to think that Ureshi-kun would allow that villain Bakugo to win-"

"Shut it Monoma, don't badmouth others." Kendo glared.

"This isn't about me badmouthing at this point! You heard everything during that last fight, did you not? It's clear that he doesn't deserve to be in the hero course, and yet he's still here. I'm beginning to think that U.A isn't quite the 'amazing' school as everyone makes it out to be..."

Kendo lowered her head with a frown.

"I know that things seem... complicated. And I still want to talk to Midoriya about that. I checked his class a bit after lunch started, but he was already gone."

"Oh, this morning, I heard Ureshi mumble something about taking Midoriya to the Development Studio. So they might be there right now." Monoma casually mentioned.

The Class-A females all perked their heads up.

_"The Development Studio?"_


	41. Finishing Touches

**~{Author's Pre-notes}~**

**Just a small note here to thank everyone who has been reading so far! I didn't expect to get as many new comments here as I did on other sights, but I'm still getting nice feedback and it always makes me feel so bubbly inside when I read new comments. I hope you guys keep reading and leave comments of anything, whether they're praise, criticisms, or even questions! For any questions, I'll prob answer them up here for others to see unless if you want me to just direct message an answer instead. (_Try not to ask things that would be considered spoilers, because I'll most likely won't answer._)**

**And to address a few requests of adding Miruko to Izuku's harem... I don't really know when, or _if_ I'll even do that. In all honesty, I always found her overrated (_don't hate me please_) but I understand why so many people like her, I like her too. But with the harem being so large so far, the six girls of class A, Kendo, Mei, planning Toga, and _one_ other girl I plan to bring in after final exams of fic, it might get big for me to handle. And to be honest, I'm even planning for _Enso_ to have someone to deal with his own. _Because trust me, the interactions are going to be hilarious._ So I'm sorry if I don't add Miruko or if it takes me a while to add her.**

**Thanks for reading and be sure to leave a Plus Ultra comment!**

* * *

"So, Red Eyes, how is this momentary addition to his costume supposed to help him with his quirk?" Mei asked as she carefully adjusted a few things on the vest.

Enso's eye twitched and he had to resist throwing something at Mei, "_Don't_ call me that. Another idiot already does..."

"Oop, sorry then. But back to his quirk. How does it even work?"

Izuku had his eyes closed since he didn't want to see Mei's _assets_ right in front of him, but he answered.

"My quirk is called Ikari. It has a few... different characteristics to it."

"One is it boosts your strength and speed, right? That was the first thing I saw about it." Mei said as she went behind Izuku to work on the back.

Izuku opened his eyes, "Er, yeah... B-But then, there was a second part that I didn't know I had for a while..."

"That black stuff, right? What was that anyway?"

Enso spoke up as he sat in a chair, "That was pure energy that developed in Izuku via anger."

Mei paused with a questioning look, "Made from anger? Anger from this guy? I thought he went berserk and angry during that battle because of his quirk, but his anger was the actual cause of him and his quirk blowing up like that?"

"N-Not exactly..." Izuku stammered. "Y-You see Mei, m-my quirk actually has a... mind of its own."

"Huh!?" Mei nearly moved a screw wrong. "You mean it's alive!?"

"To an extent. Ikari just seems to be a separate consciousness in Izuku's head. But whatever he is, Izuku's anger brings out power from him to use onto the battlefield. This is usually when something highly important is at stake. However, Ikari can end up taking over Izuku's actions to accomplish whatever wish the boy is facing by using pure violence to solve it... Going more than overboard in the process."

"B-But, I actually talked to Ikari, and he said that he doesn't mean to do it! H-He's just as influenced under anger as I get... Y-You could call him my manifestation of anger, but he actually doesn't seem to be that way. In fact... he seemed rather nice and understanding."

"Huh, you could talk to your quirk? Cool! When did you first do it?"

"Actually, I was first able to actually speak to it when I passed out during Enso and Kacchan's battle."

"Kacchan?"

"Er, Kacchan as in Bakugo."

Hearing this, Mei froze, remembering what she and everyone else heard during that fight. "Right..."

Deciding not to bring that up, she asked something else. "Can you still talk your quirk now?"

"Not really... I've tried to see if I can speak to him while I'm sleeping, but nothing has really worked. That's why I need to learn to control my quirk so that maybe I can bring him out and speak to him."

"And that's with this equipment is for?" Mei got back to work, tightening the vest.

"I'm planning to have pain help to increase Izuku's anger when he wants so that he could possibly bring out Ikari easier and on his own terms. The pain won't cause him to get angry by itself, but it can help it grow in situations." Enso explained.

"Ah, I see. But... Are you really okay with taking that kind of pain?"

Izuku had a sad smile on his face. "Yeah, I was used to it already, so it should be fine."

Mei stopped once again, feeling uncomfortable by what he implied by that, already connecting it to Bakugo's battle with Enso.

"Oh..."

"If Izuku learns how to use the second part of his quirk, then it would a breakthrough in his abilities. To be able to form the energy of his anger to mimic quirks or manifest what he wants, it's such a powerful ability."

Mei suddenly had a thought as she momentarily stepped back from Izuku.

"Wait, if his quirk creates energy..."

She suddenly dashed right in front of Enso with a grin and stars in her eyes.

"Can that energy be used to power things up!? Like what if we put it in my babies!"

Instead of pointing out how wrong that sounded, Enso seemed to be intrigued by the point she brought up.

"To use the energy of Ikari to fuel machines... I wonder what would happen? I don't believe it would work, but it seems like something interesting to try out... Can we even contain some of his energy? What would happen?" Enso had a hand on his chin in thought.

"Am I gonna be some sort of battery?" Izuku asked with a blank stare.

"Maybe. We'll have to test this when you get a better hold of Ikari." Enso didn't hesitate.

"Oh, boy! I can't wait!" Mei bounced around.

"Get back to work, please." Enso sighed.

"Whoops, my bad!" Mei rushed back behind Izuku to finish the adjustments.

As she worked, Enso brainstormed out loud. "Ikari's energy seems dangerous, as it is formed from anger, so it may be difficult to contain easily. I may have to make a special container for it, especially because when the energy does separate from Ikari, it'll disappear at a point of contact with something else..."

Enso's eyes then widened as another thought came to mind.

"I wonder... how will it interact with other people and their quirks?"

"And done!" Mei stepped away from Izuku and placed the screwdriver on the table.

Enso stopped his brainstorming and stood up, "How is it now?"

Izuku zipped up his costume and stood up, indeed feeling the vest pressed against him, although not too tightly. He started doing some stretches and moved his body in different ways to see if his vest remained pressed against him, which it did.

"Remember that to activate the needles, you have to clap your hands together. That method seems to be the safest way for you not to accidentally activate them. Once activated, you'll get inserted needles for a few seconds, and then they'll automatically retract back." Enso explained.

Izuku stared down at his palms, the trigger for this new addition of equipment.

"And another thing to note, the level of penetration that they'll cause will depend on how hard you clap your hands together. So you won't inflict the same level of pain each time to you and Ikari." Enso added.

Izuku froze as he realized that Ikari indeed shared his pain when summoned, so if he did use these needles to bring him out, then his quirk may feel the lingering pain of getting stabbed by tiny needles too.

Enso noticed his expression. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah! W-Well…" Izuku stood quiet for a moment to think about this. "It's just that… Remember how I said that Ikari feels the same pain that I do? So… Isn't it a little selfish of me to just add these changes without… at least discussing it with him first?"

"Izuku, I'm having these changes _so_ you can talk to him. I'm sure he'd understand, especially if he actually wishes to speak to you again. Once you both can properly communicate with each other, you can understand how to control Ikari. When that happens, you won't have any need for these extra equipment."

Izuku didn't look too sure as he kept his gaze on his arms.

"You don't want what happened at the festival to happen again, do you? What if it happens in a public area?"

Izuku's mind flashed images of himself during his fight with Enso, where he saw blood from his shattered arms flying with each attack. "N-No... I don't want it to happen again..."

"Then make sure it doesn't happen, _try_ to use this method to bring him out so that nothing like that happens. It's the best idea I've had for getting you in contact with Ikari willingly..." Enso gazed down at the ground.

_"That's right... Enso thought carefully about this idea. No doubt, he doesn't want what happened at the festival to occur again. Whether it's out of worry for the public, or because he doesn't want to see me go through that pain again..."_

"I-I'll try my best! I'll learn to control Ikari so that we can use his power to help people! I'll make sure to be able to control him by the time we're finished with the internships!"

_"I sure hope so..."_ Enso thought.

*SQUEAK!*

They all froze as they heard that eerie sound.

"What was that?" Enso questioned.

"Er, I think it came from behind me?" Izuku said, keeping still out of worry.

"Is it still the vest?"

"But I'm sure I got it down!" Mei pouted.

"It may be something underneath the metal plating. I don't think we have that much time left, so just fix it while Izuku keeps wearing it." Enso sighed.

"Can't we do this later?"

"Nope."

Izuku sighed, starting to back up to sit back down on the stool.

"Actually, sit on the desk right there, Muscles." Mei pointed as she went over and grabbed her screwdriver.

"Eh? Okay?" Izuku listened and carefully pushed himself onto the sturdy desk, letting his legs dangle in the air with his hands at his sides. He unzipped his upper part of his costume once again to reveal the vest and let Mei get to work.

Mei got on the table and scooted behind Izuku, sitting in a cross-legged manner as she started working.

"Hm... Looks like some things moved around." She pulled out some black tweezers and started gently moving things around.

By this point, Enso was getting bored of standing around, so he asked Mei something.

"I'm gonna take a look at your other inventions to see if there could be anything useful. Do you have a place where they're organized?" Enso asked her.

"Hm? Oh yeah! In the back storage room right over there!" Mei would've jumped in excitement by his interest if she weren't working on Izuku right now. She pointed her finger to a door in the back of the room.

Enso walked over to the door and grabbed the handle, turning it and opening it up.

Only for him to disappear entirely in a wave of gadgets.

"ENSO!?" Izuku's eyes comedically bulged out.

"Hold still Muscles." Mei said, not even fazed by Enso getting engulfed in machines.

A hand weakly stuck out of the massive pile of gadgets, and that hand followed by the rest of Enso pulling out his upper body while panting.

"*Huff* You call this organized!? This is *gasp* enough to drown someone..."

Mei stopped for a moment and grinned, "Yeah! It's organized! That area over there is where the armor is, that area over there are blasters, over there is-"

"For the love of god, I'm gonna fix this mess and _actually _organize it."

Enso forcefully pulled the rest of his body out of the pile and landed on the floor with a relieved sigh. He then got up and grabbed a broom, separating the gadgets into piles while grumbling.

Mei shrugged and continued working while Izuku looked somewhat impressed by all the gadgets she made.

As a few minutes passed, Mei seemed to frown, "Dang it..."

"What is it?" Izuku didn't look back.

"I can't really get this part right here... I think I'd have to work on it from the other side."

_"Other side?"_

Izuku didn't get to question this as Mei suddenly placed herself right onto his lap, her knees beside each of his legs as she raised herself up.

"Wha-MEI!?" Izuku instinctively tried to back up, but the girl used a hand to firmly grab his right shoulder to keep him there.

"This will only take a couple of moments, Muscles." Mei smiled without too much thought of what she was doing. She used his knees to raise herself up while pulling the boy's head down so she could get an upward angle of the inside of the metal plates.

"Wh-Why can't you just work behind me?!"

"I've got a better angle from here." She paused for a moment, "Although... I can't really reach this part right here, I'm gonna have to get closer... One second, Muscles!"

She leaned forward to reach over Izuku. However, when she did so, her _babies_ pressed up against his face.

"MMPH!?" All of Izuku's skin turned red, his head started steaming, and he completely froze with his eyes wide open. Although Mei wasn't necessarily suffocating him, her breasts were still _very_ pressed up against Izuku, allowing him to feel just how soft they really were.

But he also discovered a new fact.

_"SHE'S NOT WEARING A B-B-B-BRA!?"_

He shut his eyes and tried to keep his breathing calm.

_"No way, no way, no way! Don't think about it, Izuku, don't think about it! Don't think about how soft they are, don't think about how nice she smells, don't about how you're buried in them! Don't… think… about…"_

He opened his eyes in realization.

_"CRAP, I'M THINKING ABOUT IT!"_

"Just a bit more..." Mei mumbled as she worked.

_"Please finish, please finish!" _He closed his eyes again and just tried to keep his head clear, but was miserably unsuccessful.

"And... done! Phew!" Mei let out a breath of relief and let herself sit on whatever was right underneath her, which in this case, was Izuku's lap.

"EEP!" Izuku flinched as he felt the girl's behind against a delicate area.

Mei leaned back, and her assets were removed from the boy's face, to which Izuku turned his red face away from her in silent embarrassment.

"Hm?" She innocently tilted her head with a smile. "What's up Muscles-?"

It was suddenly Mei's turn to become silent as she felt something rise under her.

"Eh?" She blinked with a blank expression, her mouth even partially opened. She slightly rose and felt the object raise with her, glancing down between herself and Izuku. "What's this?"

She saw a bulge in the center of Izuku's pants pressing up against her.

"Um..." She glanced back at Enso, who wasn't paying attention to the two due to focusing on organizing her gadgets, sweeping them up into piles based on what kind of machines they were.

She then turned back to Izuku, finally noticing the shade of red his body had formed while the boy used both of his hands to cover his completely flustered face.

Despite everything, Mei still had a look that resembled her usual smiling expression.

"So..." She tilted her head. "Care to explain?" She asked, light blushes in her cheeks with her blank smile.

Izuku let out a whimper, speaking the quietest he has ever spoken. "I-I-I'm sorry, M-Mei… I-I… Th-They just kept p-pressing up against me…" He lowered his head while still covering his face.

At first, Mei said nothing and could only repeatedly blink as she processed the situation, glancing from Izuku, to the area below him. Being the genius inventor always tinkering away with devices, she had always ignored any guy she came across or that had made an obvious move on her, leaving her with not much experience with them.

"Er... I guess I should take this as a compliment?" She lowered her voice to a whisper, not wishing to get Enso's attention.

Izuku was too embarrassed to speak, just remaining silent and refusing to look at Mei. She probably thought he was disgusting right now, she probably thought that he was some sort of pervert and that she didn't want to help him anymore.

So Izuku was surprised when he felt both of his wrists grabbed, then following by them being pulled to expose his face.

"E-Eh!?" He opened his eyes and was shocked not to see any sign of negativity on Mei's face. In fact, there seemed to be a newfound look of curiosity on the girl's face.

"Hold still, just let me see you real quick." Mei grinned, keeping Izuku's hands away from his face to admire it.

"Wh-Wha?" Izuku shivered, still completely red and confused as he stared into the girl's yellow, crosshair eyes.

Mei recalled her previous thoughts about Izuku. Strong and tough, plain but cute, and the boy that gained popularity in the festival could give her so many chances to spread the word of her babies by using them.

_"He's also been rather tolerant of everything I've done to him. Someone like that would be easy to work with. And he likes heroes with gadgets like Air Jet and is pretty smart and analytical... It might actually not be a bad idea."_

Mei had a curious look on her face, actually contemplating on something she's never thought about before.

_"I don't think he 'likes' me though, he doesn't seem to be the type to have a crush if he's focusing on becoming a powerful hero. He spends most of his time with Cold-Eyes anyways. And I don't really know how you 'like' someone either... Can I get him to like me?"_

She glanced down once more at Izuku's natural reaction to her body, making Mei grin.

_"But I think I can fix that... right? If he likes this, then that means keep on going would help him like me... right? Yup! It's a plan! To get my babies to spread to the world and have someone cute and reliable to always test them out!"_

Izuku's eyes widened as he saw the new look the inventor was giving him.

_"Wait, wait, wait! That... That look!"_

He couldn't help but feel oddly scared as he recognized the look in her eyes. His mind instantly flashed back to the same look Mina had given him when_ she_ was sitting on top of his lap at the nightclub he went to on their date.

"Did you like them?" Mei suddenly whispered to Izuku with sly eyes.

Izuku flinched and turned his head away, "I-I... Um... Wh-What?"

Mei purposely leaned forward so that her head was closer, with Izuku shivering as he tried to lean back.

"My _special _babies? Do you like them?"

"H-Huh!?" Izuku turned his head back to her, shocked as he didn't expect that kind of question to ever come from her of all people.

_"I don't know if this is working or not, but... This is surprisingly fun just to see his reaction."_ Mei giggled.

"It seems down _there_ likes them." She let herself sit right down on Izuku's private region once more.

"W-Wait, hold on!" Izuku closed his eyes and instinctively pushed his hands forward to get the girl away.

*Squish!*

_"Squish?"_ Izuku repeated in his head.

"Eep!" Mei let out a squeak as Izuku's hands touched her, the girl herself not having expected him to do that.

Izuku slowly opened his eyes and instantly began trembling as he saw what both his hands were grabbing.

Mei lightly blushed with an awkward laugh as Izuku's hands on her _babies _reminded her that she was missing something on them.

"O-Oh yeah... Sometimes I kind of... Forget to wear a bra cause I'm tight on time. Hehe..."

Feeling these forbidden fruits in his hands, Izuku's body finally had enough.

"ACK!" Izuku let go and fell back with his nose gushing out blood, the back of his head slamming to the table with completely white eyes.

"Eh!? Muscles!?" Mei cried out, raising her butt off him and crawling above him.

But by doing this, it looked like she was pinning him down.

"What the hell are you doing?" A threatening voice growled from behind.

"EEP!" Mei turned black and white with a chill up her spine.

She slowly turned her head in a robot-like manner, gazing at a menacing black silhouette with blazing red eyes standing behind her with a broom.

"H-H-Hey, M-Mr. Wouldn't Hurt A Fly!"

Hearing that, Enso slowly raised up the broom he had just been using to sweep.

"Well... shi-"

_*CRACK!*_

**~{Cafeteria}~**

"Didn't you say he'd be here?" Kamui Woods asked somewhat confused as he and Nezu sat together in the cafeteria.

"Pooey, I was sure he would be. After all, who skips lunch? And with _our_ school food at that?" Nezu pouted as he had to sit on some books to reach the table properly. "And here I wanted to surprise Enso-kun..."

"Can't we just head back to your office and call him there?" Kamui Woods asked as he waved at several students who noticed him and got excited.

"Lunch is nearly over, and I don't want to call him in the middle of class. We'll wait until right after school to discuss your issue with him."

"Huh?! So I've got to stay here for a couple more hours!?"

Nezu turned to him with an innocent smile that didn't match the malicious intent Kamui felt from him. "Is there a problem with that?"

Kamui flinched and turned back to his plate of food, "N-No..."

Nezu clapped his paws together, "Good! We can spend more time in my office! It gets rather lonely working on paperwork all day, but now I have someone to share that burden with me!"

Kamui's head fell as he let out a sigh, "So you just want to use me as a temporary secretary...?"

"Yep! So let's do our best, Kamui!" Nezu said with a paw in the air.

"*_sigh_* Yes sir..."

At the same time, a familiar angry blonde boy passed by their table, a boy that had Kamui look up in shock.

"Wait... That boy-!?"

"Hold it now, Kamui..." Nezu said with a complete change of tone. "Don't cause any commotion."

Kamui turned to him, "But isn't he-?!"

"Yes... He is."

The wooden hero's eyes widened, then narrowing as he turned back to the boy continuing to walk.

"I heard rumors, but I didn't think he'd still be attending this school after that battle... So... Why?"

He placed his hand on the table and turned back to Nezu suspiciously.

"Why is Katsuki Bakugo still in U.A?"

Nezu took a sip of tea, then gently placing his cup down and sighing.

"Kamui... You know Bakugo, correct? Or you had an encounter with him, at least?"

Kamui crossed his arms, "Yes... That day a little more than a year ago. Seeing him struggle within the sludge villain, the fire in his eyes, and seeing him fighting with no sign of backing down... I knew that he would be a strong student here."

Nezu nodded. "Correct. He's a boy with several issues. But one of the biggest ones has to be... his pride."

"Pride...? And is that pride that led to those allegations of bullying that were said during the festival? Allegations that apparently went on for years without anyone knowing?"

"The reasons for his bullying towards Midoriya are personal. It runs deep in their childhood."

"But that doesn't answer my previous question. Why allow such a student to remain here? I'm sure it'll hurt U.A's reputation."

"Perhaps... But there are a few reasons as to why I'm allowing Bakugo to remain."

He turned to Kamui and raised a finger of his paw.

"One, Midoriya himself didn't want Bakugo to get expelled."

Kamui was shocked, "The victim himself wished for his tormentor to remain!? But why would he-?"

"Personal reasons." Nezu interrupted him. He raised another finger of his paw. "Reason two, if Bakugo did end up getting expelled, then I fear that it may result in him in resenting heroes and even possibly turning to the side of evil."

That reason Kamui was able to somewhat understand.

"So you'd rather have him here where you can watch over him and set him straight rather than have him at home and possibly turn to the dark side?"

"Yes, but the third and most important reason I've decided to keep him here is..." Nezu stared down at his reflection in his tea.

"Hope."

Kamui raised an eyebrow at that, "Hope? What do you-?"

"That's all I'm going to say on the matter, Kamui. If you wish to understand more of the situation, then perhaps speak to someone else. But I'm sure you'll find that people will be reluctant to speak about it or won't have too much knowledge about it."

Kamui was silent at this now, wondering precisely what Nezu is thinking.

He stared down at his plate of food.

_"Izuku Midoriya... And Katsuki Bakugo..."_

He stirred his pasta with his fork.

_"And then there's the matter of Enso Ureshi being the one to bring it up at the festival..."_

He turned back to Nezu, "About Enso Ureshi, what exactly _is_ his relationship with Izuku Midoriya? From what I've seen at the festival, he seems rather close to the boy."

Nezu started laughing, his teacup shaking in his hands as he did so.

"Wouldn't you like to know!? Perhaps if you get close to him, then he may actually tell you! Good luck with that!"

Kamui didn't look too surprised by that answer, he just remained staring at Nezu as all the class A females plus Kendo passed by him, the group having one destination in mind.

"Hm?" He turned his head to the females all walking together, feeling a rather fierce demeanor coming from them.

"..." He turned to Nezu, "Um-"

"Love interests."

"Eh?"

"They're all love interests." Nezu sipped his tea.

"Wha-? Huh!? Of who!? Don't tell me of Ureshi!?"

"No, of Midoriya." Nezu chuckled.

"..." Several question marks appeared on Kamui's head. "Eh?"

"It's quite impressive." The principal commented.

Kamui just rested his head onto the table.

"I'm... so confused."

**~{Development Studio}~**

Mei was lying face-first on the ground with a large, steaming red bump on her head. Her body twitched in pain next to an innocent but broken-in-half broom that had been used by the one who made her this way.

Meanwhile, Izuku had tissue stuffed in his nose as he was now sitting on a stool still red and embarrassed but had somewhat calmed down.

Enso stood next to him, facepalming with a disappointed sigh.

"For a genius inventor, she's a damn idiot..."

"Are you sure you didn't overdo it? That really looked like it hurt." Izuku asked in a stuffy voice due to his plugged nose.

Enso turned to Mei on the floor, "Hatsume, are you alive?"

Mei shakily raised her right hand from the ground, forcing a thumbs up.

Enso turned back to Izuku, "She's fine."

"She's clearly not..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"More importantly, how is the gear?"

_"More importantly, he says..."_

Izuku sighed as he stood up and took the now bloody tissues out of his nose. He did squats, push-ups, a front flip, and a cartwheel, then standing up straight and smiling. "I think it's okay now."

"That's good then. We still have to wait for Power Loader to get back, so while we have the chance, let me bring up something else..."

He suddenly jabbed a finger on Izuku's forehead.

"OW, OW, OW! What was that for!?" Izuku shouted as he backed up with a red mark on where he was jabbed.

"It's _apparent_ that although we've brought up fixing that self-confidence of yours, you still have another major weakness." Enso told him as he crossed his arms.

"Huh!? A weakness!?" Izuku was scared upon hearing that, ignoring the stinging pain in his head. "Wh-What kind!?"

Enso raised a finger up in the air, then lowering it to point at Mei.

"Girls."

Izuku turned black and white with a blank expression. "Er... Come again?"

Enso's hands clenched into fists.

"Time and time again, I've seen you fail to defuse situations involving the several females of your class. Unable to talk back, unable to push them away, not knowing how to smoothly explain things, it's happened so many times..."

Izuku started sweating nervously as he fiddled with his fingers. "U-Um, I-I mean... I-I don't really get mad-"

"This isn't about getting you mad. This about adapting to these situations. You clearly need more advice and experience with getting those _friendly_ females off of you."

Izuku had a depressing aura around him as he stared down at the ground, looking rather ashamed. "Y-Yes, sir..."

Enso rubbed his eyes with a sigh. "Yare yare daze..."

"Eh?"

"I get that you're timid to a degree because of Bakugo, but I thought having you gain your confidence through training and praise from others would solve that... But clearly, that isn't the case." Enso moved his hand from his eyes and put both hands on his hips.

Izuku looked embarrassed.

"S-Sorry..."

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault. You've changed so much since we've first met anyway... From a pushover crybaby with a dream, to a pushover crybaby that _became_ his dream, that became the hero he wanted to be, even if he still has a lot more room to grow."

Izuku glanced back up at Enso in surprise. "Enso..."

"And if you keep getting better and showing off more, then you can help me get even more popular!" Mei suddenly shouted right next to Izuku with a grin.

"KYAH!" Izuku jumped back several feet from her sudden appearance.

"Oh, you're alive." Enso pointed out.

"Yup! So now that we're done adding that equipment, we can talk about payment!" Mei grinned excitingly despite the red bump on her head.

"P-Payment!?" Izuku stammered in confusion.

Mei frantically nodded up and down. "Yup! I'm gonna need you to come with me to test my babies sometime!"

The girl dashed to the table where Izuku's uniform was, pulling out his phone from one of his pockets and tapping multiple things on it.

"Wh-What are you doing!? You don't even know the passwor-!"

"Got it! I'll just add my contact here and call you sometime!" Mei finished.

"Huh!? Wh-Wha!?" Izuku looked dumbfounded.

"..." Enso turned to Izuku and narrowed his eyes, "You didn't set your password to All Might's birthday, did you?"

"..."

Izuku hung his head in shame, making Enso facepalm.

_"You idiot..."_

Mei suddenly appeared in front of Enso, "I hope you invite me soon to build with vibr-whatchamacallit! I look forward to it Hot Potato-!"

"What does that even mean!?" Enso cut her off as he swung a fist and uppercut Mei.

"WAH!? She spiraled majestically in the air before landing right on her head, "GACK!"

Her body stiffened upon landing, then slowly falling forward to the ground with spirals in her eyes.

"Phew..." Enso shook his hand. "This really helps relieve some stress."

"DON'T MAKE THIS A HABIT!" Izuku scolded him.

"I won't." Enso glance at Mei on the ground. "Probably..."

He then turned back to Izuku. "Now then, Power Loader will come back any second, so change out of your costume.

"Oh, alright."

"But _this_ time-!" Enso said as he started heading to the door, "_You'll_ have to deal with _her _yourself."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked.

Enso opened the door, his back still facing his student.

"Consider this your first task for defusing a situation, whatever happens next isn't my fault. Good luck."

He quickly slipped outside and closed the door.

Izuku then heard some giggling behind him.

"EEP!" He started shivering in fear, his body robotically turning back to see Mei rubbing her hands together with dim eyes and a scary grin.

She raised her head, eyes sparkling as she then raised her hands with her fingers pointed out like a predator preparing to pounce.

"Want me to look away?"

**~{U. A Halls}~**

"Er..." Toru walked alongside Mina as she stared at her other female classmates and Kendo walking together. "Could it be... We're all going to the same place?"

"That depends..." Jiro turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "Are you all heading for the Development Studio?"

"I am, at least. I wanted to talk to Midoriya." Kendo spoke up.

"Oh, could it be you're concerned about... what you heard at the festival?" Momo asked her.

Kendo nodded, "Is he okay now? I know you guys are all closer to him, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was alright. But... I still want to at least talk to him about it."

"Midoriya-chan seemed to be fine. Many of us were still somewhat worried about him, but when we chose our hero names..." Tsu smiled. "We knew he'd be alright, kero."

"Oh? You guys chose your hero names too?" Kendo asked them.

"Yup! I got one of the cutest names ever! Go, Pinky!" Mina cheered with a grin while sticking her fist in the air proudly.

"Heh, it's cute." Kendo smiled.

"What's your hero name, Kendo?" Ochako asked her curiously.

To that question, Kendo's cheeks turned red as she awkwardly smiled and scratched her chin embarrassingly.

"W-Well it's... Battle Fist."

"Oh! So it's to reflect your quirk!" Ochako smiled with a clap of her hands.

"Heh, yeah. It seems really plain compared so some of the other names in my class..." Kendo admitted.

"Pfft! Plain? My name is literally Invisible Girl!" Toru laughed.

"Well, to be fair, hero names that reflect just the quirks themselves do tend to sound somewhat plain, but they're usually common and self-explanatory." Momo pointed out.

"And your hero name is great compared to others we've heard. I mean, someone in our class literally has a sentence as his hero name..." Jiro facepalmed, remembering the sparkling blonde male in her class.

"Hehe, now I kind of wish I was in your class to see that." Kendo giggled. Then she had another thought, "What about Midoriya? What's his hero name?"

The other females all smiled, except Jiro, who personally still didn't like the name after hearing so much more of Izuku's past.

"He chose a name that he hated at first." Toru said.

"A name that was given to him by someone..." Mina added.

"A name that he wasn't sure about." Tsu said.

"A name that grew on him during his time here." Momo smiled.

"A name that had its meaning changed..." Ochako continued.

Hearing them all say these things, Jiro sighed but formed a small smile.

"A name... that he's proud of now."

All the girls stopped walking, with the Class A females smiling at each other as they said the same thing.

"Deku, the Hero That _Can_ Do It!"

Kendo stared at them rather surprised as she heard Izuku's hero name, the same name his reported bully, Bakugo, always called him every day. But... seeing the boy's classmates smile the way they were, it just gave her a reassuring feeling. It was clear that whatever happened while she wasn't in their class had helped Izuku already start to move on.

She closed her eyes and smiled, "I see... I guess I worried for nothing."

"It wasn't really for nothing." Momo patted her shoulder, "Anyone would be happy if a friend was genuinely worried about him."

"Heh, yeah, I guess so. I'm sure you guys know much more about Midoriya's situation with Bakugo, but I won't ask. If he's already pushing through his past troubles, then that's good enough for me. It's just reassuring to know that all of you are helping him out." Kendo grinned.

"Awww, that's Class B's big sister for you!" Mina laughed.

"Geez! I'm always called that! Even by the teachers!" Kendo suddenly pouted with a stomp of her foot. "You guys didn't start that about me, did you!?"

"Nope, but I think it's adorable!" Toru giggled.

Kendo sighed as she twirled some of her ginger hair. "Well, I can't do much about it now..."

"Oh, look, it's Deku!" Ochako suddenly pointed out with a smile.

The group turned their heads and caught sight of Izuku walking beside Enso. However, the boy was hugging himself with a red face while shivering unnaturally.

"Wh-Wh-Why did you leave me in there? W-With _her!?_" Izuku stammered to Enso, head faced down to the ground and not noticing the girls up ahead of the hall.

"Oh please, that was necessary for you to _finally_ do something." Enso said, his gaze focused on Izuku with his hands in his pockets. "That was a lesson for you. You're lucky that Power Loader came back before anything too bad happened. I have no doubt that you're going to end up in more situations like that, and I'm no longer going to be interfering. Either let them ravish you if you're into that or actually do something to stop or avoid it."

_"What the hell are they talking about?"_ The females all stared with blank expressions.

Enso then turned his head forward and saw the group, prompting him to stop walking.

"Oh."

Izuku stopped too and looked up, forming a look of surprise to see them there.

"O-Oh! H-Hi, everyone!" He shakily waved.

"Midori!" Mina ran over and dived at him with a grin.

After that experience with Mei, Izuku's eyes flashed as his instincts kicked in.

He dashed forward and went under Mina, a hand reaching up to grab her arm.

"Eh?" Mina blinked as in a split second, Izuku's back was facing her, and he was firmly holding onto her arms. "Wha-!?"

_*Bam!*_

She was slammed right onto her back, even bouncing up before falling back down and twitching in pain.

Izuku was over her with a momentary blank expression, then blinking as he realized what he had done.

"AH! I-I'm sorry, Mina! My instincts kicked in!" He apologized while still shaking and sweating.

Seeing him have done this, Enso gave him a thumbs us. "See? It wasn't that hard."

"Be worried about her!" Izuku snapped at him.

"Nice form Midoriya!" Kendo clapped with a laugh.

"Again, be worried!" Izuku stammered as he crouched down to the girl.

"I mean, to be honest, I'm surprised you _hadn't_ done something like that yet." Jiro rolled her eyes.

Mina sat up.

*Sniff...*

Her eyes comedically burst into a fountain of tears. "Waaaaaaaah! Midori rejected my hug!"

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Izuku apologized several times as he helped pull Mina back to her feet.

They all sweatdropped.

"What are you all even doing here? Isn't lunch nearly over?" Enso asked the group.

"It seems few of us had issues to speak about with Midoriya, while the rest of us just sort of tagged along." Momo answered.

"E-Eh? Something to talk about with me?" Izuku asked confusingly as he pointed at himself.

"About Bakugo?" Enso guessed.

There was dead silence.

"W-Well, not for me." Mina suddenly stopped crying, being replaced with a feeling of nervousness about bringing up her kiss with Izuku.

Enso rolled his eyes, "Well, lunch is just about to be over, and I doubt he'd have time right now to answer any of you."

"And whose fault do you think that is? Why'd you guys even go to the Development Studio?" Jiro piped up.

Izuku and Enso both had different reactions of surprise.

"H-How did you know we were there?!"

"Monoma." They all answered in sync.

"Wait, how did he even-?"

"Did some unnecessary listening to you guys in the morning." Kendo answered.

_"Note to self, be VERY careful about my surroundings..."_ Enso thought, knowing that he must've been careless.

"We were just in there discussing adjustments to Izuku's costume." he then told the group.

"Both of you?" Toru asked curiously.

"Y-Yeah, he just wanted to join me." Izuku answered.

"But why do you look so shaken up. Deku!?" Ochako pointed out in worry.

Enso bluntly responded for him.

"Oh, sexual stimulation."

A record scratched, and everyone besides Enso turned black and white. Dead silence filled the halls, shadows covered all the eyes of the females while their heads slowly turned to Izuku.

"Deku...?" Ochako started.

"What does he mean by that?" Jiro asked.

"And... with who?" Mina added.

Izuku quickly flailed his hands in surrender. "Wait, wait, wait! It's not how it sounds! E-Enso! Explain to them that-!"

Enso was already walking away.

"This is another lesson for you."

"YOU MONSTER! You said it like that on purpose!" Izuku shouted.

Enso waved a hand without turning around, "Defuse the situation or avoid it, good luck."

"Wait-!" Izuku didn't even take a step before he felt a firm hand grabbed hold of his arm, making him flinch and start sweating buckets.

He slowly turned around and saw Momo staring down at him with a rather scary glare.

"Midoriya, what kind of actions are you committing at school?"

"I-It's not like that!" Izuku stammered.

"M-Midori..." Mina looked heartbroken, eyes commercially watering.

"It's not like that I said! And why are you crying!?"

"It seems I've misjudged you Midoriya-chan. I didn't think you'd do something so shameful in school." Tsu said with a blank face.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

All the girls had become black silhouettes with red eyes flashing.

"ENSO! SAVE ME!"

Enso ignored his cries for help as he carried on.

"He'll live."


	42. Personal Offers

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Heyo, it's ya boy, Pikaboo. Back at it again with making your day. Keep in mind that I surprisingly had some trouble writing/editing this chapter to fit a lot of stuff in it. Phew, it came out at about 11,000 words, definitely one of my much larger chapters. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

_"__I didn't get to talk to him in the end..."_

Mina pouted on her desk as the remainder of the school day went on. Due to Enso's comment about Izuku's sexual contact, of course, the girls ended up basically interrogating the boy to find out what happened to him in the studio. Because of this, they forgot what they were even going to speak to him about in the first place.

At first, Izuku was too nervous and shaken up to give a straight answer, so the girls thought about just marching into the studio to figure out who was in there. It was then Izuku frantically explained how he was only discussing costume adjustments with Enso and Mei. And as for the 'sexual contact' Enso claimed, Izuku explained this to them as Mei just constantly touching him to get 'measurements' of his body.

Not _technically_ a lie.

Some of them suspected more about the situation, but they didn't get to ask since the bell rung for the next class to start, making everyone rush back into their classes.

Which then brought them all to now, the end of the day. The colors of the world were orange and purple-ish from the sunset on the horizon, some students were already heading to the gates outside.

"You're all dismissed." Aizawa told his own class.

Mina shot up in her seat, determined to talk to Izuku.

"Midor-!"

**"I Am Here! In a bizarre position!"**

The classroom door suddenly slammed open, with All Might bowing in a 90-degree position for some reason.

"Huh!?" Mina stopped approaching Izuku, her and the rest of the class caught off guard by this.

"What kind of logic or forces had you arrive here in _that_ position?" Enso asked with a twitching eye.

All Might stood up straight, **"Doesn't matter! Right now, I need you and Young Midoriya to come with me!"**

Mina slammed her head on her desk. _"God damn it!"_

"Wh-What's the matter All Might!?" Izuku stammered, getting up and quickly packing things away.

**"I'll explain once you come with me!"**

Enso packed his bag and then tapped his watch, to which his gray uniform shirt and green pants suddenly changed into the black colors of his usual clothes/hero costume.

"Are you a wizard!?" Kaminari shouted as he saw this.

"If I was, I'd be in a magical school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Enso sighed as he passed him.

"Eh?"

**"Let's go!"** All Might took off.

"Why are you running!?" Izuku and Enso ran after him.

Jiro looked irritated beside the now sulking Mina, _"The one time I wanna talk to him, and I can't even find a chance!"_

Izuku, All Might, and Enso all made it into the teachers' lounge, the number one hero closing the door and keeping his back to the boys.

**"Getting straight to the point, Young Midoriya, you got an offer from a hero."**

"Don't keep your back to us just to look more dramatic. And obviously, we've _both_ gotten thousands of offers."

All Might flinched, turning around to face the two. **"You really don't hold back at all to point out things, do you Young Enso?"**

"Nope."

**"Figures..."**

"A-All Might? But if you're bringing up an offer that _I _got, then does that mean it's special?" Izuku asked him.

All Might raised a slip of paper in his hand. **"Why yes, it is! The reason for this is that it's an offer from someone I personally know!"**

"Someone you know at that level!?" Izuku asked with bubbly excitement.

Enso raised an eyebrow, "Hm? Someone like that asked for Izuku? Is he aware of One For All?"

All Might nodded. **"Indeed he is, Young Enso! Which is why he probably asked for Young Midoriya in the first place! This hero's name is..."**

He put a hand over his chest.

**"Gran Torino! He was a teacher at U.A, but for only _one_ year! This man was my homeroom teacher in addition to being someone that was trusted with the delicate secret of One For All!"**

Izuku's eyes sparkled, _"All Might's homeroom teacher!? Really!?"_

But then he realized something, making his excitement turn to curiosity.

"Wait, so there was someone else who knew about One For All while you were attending U.A, All Might?"

All Might placed both hands on his waist. **"Indeed once again! Gran Torino was the sworn friend of the previous holder of One For All before me! He retired a long time ago, so I forgot to count him in as someone who could help us…"**

"What an irresponsible hero..." Enso sighed.

But both boys then noticed All Might's legs shaking in place.

**"I-If he went so far as to use his old name to make an offer… I-It's scary… Too scary…"**

Enso curiously crouched down and used his hands to grab All Might's leg, trying to keep it from shaking. Instead, the boy himself shook along the hero's legs.

"Oh wow, he really is frightened." Enso concluded from this.

_"Just how scary is this guy!?"_ Izuku started shaking too, picturing what type of person All Might's previous friend was.

**"A-Anyway, it is my duty to train you, but since you got an offer, you should go work to your heart's c-content-t-t-t…" **As he said this, All Might shakily handed Izuku a paper with Gran Torino's address.

"I-I-I'll do my best!" Izuku nodded.

**"S-So y-you are going to s-spend your time over there? I-I wish you luck!"**

"A-Are you really all right, All Might?" Izuku stammered, not used to seeing his idol shake so much.

"I got this." Enso jumped up and kicked All Might on the back of his head.

**"ACK!" **He flipped upside down and landed on the teacher's lounge couch with a slam.

He then immediately got back up.

**"What are you doing Young Enso!?" **The hero shouted in comedic angry fumes.

"There we go, he stopped shaking."

Izuku sweatdropped.

"So now that you've calmed down, tell me All Might, since you said Gran Torino made an offer personally to you, did you tell him anything about my otherworldly origins?" Enso asked him.

**"Well, I didn't tell him about that, but I did ramble a bit and tell him other things..."**

"What _did_ you tell him about Izuku and I?"

All Might put a hand on his chin as he remembered the conversation he had.

**"Well... I told him that you had knowledge about One For All and All For One, and that you were someone that he could trust. I think..."**

Enso's eye twitched, "You _think_?"

All Might just continued, **"I also told him that you've been training Midoriya effectively in adjusting to One For All and in combat abilities."**

"That's a lot to tell him..." Enso sighed.

**"But... Then I got scolded for not teaching Midoriya how to use his real quirk..."**

"You told him about Ikari?" Izuku asked him.

**"Well, I didn't explain to him what Ikari was... I believed you'd explain it better Midoriya. But he is looking forward to learning more about it. But he also pestered me on why Young Enso was teaching you in the first place... But since that involves your past, I didn't tell him."**

Enso sighed, "He'll no doubt be suspicious of me..."

**"But Gran Torino is very understanding. So even if he'll feel uneasy around you once learning about your circumstances and... 'previous actions', he won't hold it against you once he realizes how misled you were in your life... You didn't have any figures to teach you the right ways of living."**

Enso narrowed his eyes.

_"Is there really a 'right' way for living?"_

He shook the thought off, "Then... I'll tell him everything when I see him with Izuku during our internships."

**"Er..." **All Might scratched his cheek,** "Actually Young Enso, I was going to bring up another matter to discuss involving that."**

"What's there to discuss? If this 'Gran Torino' is asking for Izuku, then I'll just head over with him." Enso said.

**"That's actually the issue. I'm sure Young Midoriya will want to go see my old teacher, but I'm not sure you'd want to go there for _your _internship Young Enso."**

"Why not?"

All Might rubbed his nose.

**"Well, if Young Midoriya chooses to go with Gran Torino, then the reason would be no doubt to get more experience using One For All and possibly even get some good insight on bringing out Ikari, Gran Torino is a rather wise man to help him with that. But... I don't think you'd learn anything from him if you went over there."**

"Does that really matter? I'm focused on Izuku growing, so learning to grow my strength doesn't really matter to me. I'm sure that I can even fight against a few of the pros due to all the experience I've accumulated in other worlds."

**"Er... I don't mean that kind of learning. While getting stronger would be good, I believe that these internships could be a chance for you to learn more about the hero world! So you should head to an agency that'll give you this experience!"**

"I refuse."

**"No hesitation!?"**

"There's no way I'm looking through that four-digit list of agencies and researching all of them just to spend a week of pointless time over there."

**"But-!"**

"No."

**"You-!"**

"I don't wanna."

**"Oh, come on-"**

"You can't make me."

**"What are you, a child!?"**

Izuku awkwardly stared at his friend.

"Um... Enso? While I do appreciate all you've done for me and how much you want to keep helping me grow... I think it's necessary for me to go off on my own this time."

Enso sulked in the corner of the room with a small spotlight upon him. "Betrayal..."

"Wh-What!? No! I'm not 'betraying' you at all! I-I mean, this morning, didn't you say that I should be coming up with my own fighting styles!?"

"..." Enso slightly turned his head to peak at Izuku from the corner of his eye.

"I-I think this is the perfect time for me to come up with those different ways to fight alone. If I stay around you, then I'll just keep taking influence from you. I also want to come up with my own fighting forms, I also want to figure out just what kinds of methods of fighting are right for me. Whatever Gran Torino has me do, I need to do it by myself rather than have you constantly looking over my shoulder. I need to be on my own, only then will I be able to think of my _own _methods to get through things." Izuku smiled.

**"Well said, Young Midoriya!" **All Might laughed.

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, Enso sighed and stood up. "Alright, I get it... I'll find somewhere else to go..."

"Sorry, about this Enso. But I promise, when we get back from the internships, I'll show you some new things!" Izuku grinned.

"I'll expect it. But now I'll actually have to look through that large list..."

Al Might laughed, **"Don't worry Young Ureshi, I'll help you look through it and point out the more suitable agencies for you!"**

"I'd be rather suspicious of any agencies _you_ choose."

**"Ouch."**

Enso sighed and scratched his head, "But if that's it, then we should go."

_"Insults him then says to leave..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

Enso opened the door and the trio stepped into the hall.

"So I've got by Friday to decide on an agency? Two days..."

"I can help you out! I know the best agencies!" Izuku smiled.

"Oh right, I forgot you were a massive fanboy."

"H-Hey, at least it really helps me- eh?" Izuku stopped as he noticed two people had just come around the corner and walked behind Enso.

**"Ah, hello there Principal Nezu!" **All Might waved.

"Oh great, another headache..." Enso sighed once more as he turned around. "What is-"

He stopped, recognizing the wooden hero besides the principal who was eyeing Enso with a rather intense stare.

"..."

"..."

Enso glanced from a grinning Nezu to the pro hero he had tossed when he had first arrived in this world.

"Okay..."

He cleared his throat.

"I think I know what's happening here..."

He took a deep breath.

"And it seems that leaves me no choice then..." He said as he glared at Kamui. "I'll have to use my secret technique..."

Kamui raised his arms in surrender, "Hold on now, I didn't come here to-"

"Nigerundayooooooo!"

Kamui blinked, "Wait, wha-?"

Enso was already running away in the opposite direction, leaving clouds of dust behind as he ran in a professional sprinter's run.

_"HE RAN AWAY!?" _All three left behind thought in shock.

"WAIT, HOLD ON!" Kamui shouted as he comedically ran after him.

"Eh!?" Izuku stared down the corridor as Kamui chased after Enso.

When Enso made it to the end of the hall, he dove right out the open window with his arms forward as if diving into a pool.

"What's with him and windows!?" Izuku shouted with bulging eyes.

Kamui dove right after him. "Don't run!"

Nezu chuckled, "Oh dear. He might've assumed that Kamui came to arrest him."

"Wha-huh!? Kamui!? Enso!? Arresting!? What's going on!?" Izuku stammered as he repeatedly turned from Nezu to the open window at the end of the hall.

**"P-Principal Nezu, you can't be serious!? Arrest Young Ureshi!?" **All Might was stunned.

"That's why I said _assumed._" Nezu chuckled. He signaled All Might to come close, to which the burly hero got to one knee and allowed Nezu to climb onto his shoulder. "You see you two, Kamui Woods was actually the first person to intercept Enso-kun when he arrived here."

"H-He was?" Izuku stuttered.

"Yup, Enso-kun threw him right into the ocean! Kyehehehehe!" He laughed.

"The ocean!?" **"The ocean!?"** Izuku and All Might repeated.

"It was quite amusing to hear, but don't worry. Kamui isn't here to arrest Enso-kun, he's actually here to personally invite the boy to his agency!"

"Oh? Kamui Woods is a good agency to go to! They focus on strengthening many traits of their members including charm, confidence-"

"I know Midoriya, which is why now I'm hoping for Enso-kun to accept the invite. I brought Kamui to talk to him about it."

**"Er... Shouldn't we go get them then?" **All Might pointed out.

"I suppose we should, even though it would be amusing to just watch them run. Let us go All Might! And as for you Midoriya, you can go home now. We've seen some of your har- er, _friends_ waiting around for you." Nezu grinned.

"Oh, I guess I should see them then." Izuku said, looking somewhat confused by a part of the dialogue Nezu cut corrected.

"That you should. Now, All Might, onward!" Nezu pointed.

**"Until next time Young Midoriya!"** All Might then blasted down the hall with Nezu on his shoulder.

"Don't jump through the window, you'll break it." Nezu told him as they got near the end.

All Might suddenly did a sharp turn and continued running.

"..." Izuku now stood alone in the hall, still absorbing these chaotic events.

"I wonder if Enso is gonna join Kamui...?"

He repeated this question as he started walking down the hall and got to the stairs. As he walked down them, he found a familiar punk girl waiting after just the first flight.

"Eh? Jiro?"

Jiro glanced up and raised a hand, "Yo."

Izuku stepped down, looking somewhat nervous as he remembered how scary she and the others looked when they interrogated him earlier.

"U-Um... If I remember correctly, you wanted to talk to me about something? Before we... *cough* got off track?"

Jiro looked down, still unsure if she should say what's on her mind.

"Well... It's about your name... That nickname."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked, surprised that it was what she brought up. "What about it?"

She looked slightly ashamed, but said what she thought.

"When I heard you choose 'Deku' to be your hero name, I honestly felt happy. Not happy that you chose that name, but happy that you were using it to get over what Bakugo did. But even though you're choosing that name and you're holding it proudly..."

She shook her head.

"I think I'm gonna stop calling you that."

Izuku looked shocked. "H-Huh?"

"I don't know if Enso told ya, but a few of us stayed after school and talked about the whole thing with you and Bakugo."

Izuku nodded, "U-Um... Yeah. I know about that."

Jiro avoided his eyes.

"That was when I learned just how far he tormented you. I didn't know just how bad it was until hearing all that... It left more than a sour taste, it pissed me off so much, and it pissed me off even more to learn that you wanted to let him stay!" Her voice was rising by the second.

"I-I didn't let him stay to try to be friendly with him!" Izuku quickly uttered, believing that was the problem. "I-I'd just feel guilty if I took away his chance to become a hero... And I'm more worried that him getting expelled would make him do something rash..."

"Still..." Jiro grumbled, avoiding Izuku's gaze. "Just seeing him pisses me off so much now, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to call you the same thing he does..."

"Y-You don't have to stop calling me that because you learned what K-Kachan did! I'm okay with-"

"I know you'd be fine with it, but I wouldn't!" The punk girl suddenly snapped.

Izuku was stunned to silence from how worked up Jiro was.

Jiro lowered her head, hiding her eyes.

"B-Because I know just how it feels like to be called something for your entire life... For everyone to call you something _so_ much, that you end up starting to believe it..."

Izuku's eyes widened as he remembered the day that Jiro tripped and had revealed her sensitive clothing underneath. She remembered what she told him.

_"L-Look, I-I know that… It doesn't suit me… I know that I'm not as... 'developed' or 's-sexy' like the other girls in the class..."_

It wasn't hard for Izuku to realize what was going on.

_"D-Don't tell me.."_

He put both hands on Jiro's shoulders, a new serious stare forming.

"Eh!?" The girl lightly blushed, not having expected him to grab her.

"Jiro... You weren't bullied, were you?" Izuku asked in all seriousness.

Jiro blinked in shock after he asked that question.

Both maintained silence for a few seconds before the girl then formed pissed off look.

"As if I'd let someone push me or others around. I was the one stopping those bastards..."

"Eh?" Izuku wasn't expecting this answer.

Jiro continued to grumble, "I was pretty well known back in my junior high for how... 'ruthless' I was to anyone who treated others like shit."

Her earlobe jacks moved up and then menacingly shined.

"These punctured a lot of heads." She said with a straight face.

Izuku comedically shivered in black and white as he let go of the girl's shoulders. _"Jiro's quirk is terrifying!"_

Jiro's earlobes then fell as she formed a look of sadness.

"But because of that and my rockstar-like looks, a lot of people began... 'saying stuff...' Even though they always said it behind my back... I-I always ended up hearing what they said with my quirk. It was always the same things... About not being girly, about being scary..."

_"They must've led to the insecurities she has about herself..." _Izuku thought with a sympathetic expression.

He sighed.

"Jiro... So when you said you knew how it felt to be called something that everyone agreed with... My situation reminded you of that? And that's why you don't want to call me Deku anymore?"

Jiro shamefully nodded.

"I just... I just don't wanna call someone something they're clearly not... Even if _you_ changed the meaning of that word, it'll take me a while to even consider calling you that again..."

_"It doesn't seem like she'll change her mind..."_

If Izuku were to be honest, hearing this from the girl actually made him rather sad. She was one of the reasons he was able to accept the name as his hero name, so hearing her new decisions didn't go well with him.

But despite this, he formed a small smile.

"I understand... But I hope you can call me that one day. When we're heroes on the field standing right beside each other."

Jiro awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "I'll try... And sorry. I know it's not really a good reason to stop calling you something you're trying to be proud of, but-"

"It's okay, Jiro. I understand. Just try to keep your mind off Kacchan in the future." Izuku nodded.

Jiro sighed in frustration, "Yeah... I'll hold back on urges to stab the guy."

_"With her quirk or with something else!? Wait, both are bad!"_

Izuku stared at Jiro's troubled expression. It was quite rare to see the usually cool and calm girl so troubled. His mind went back to what he assumed was the root of the issue, where it was Jiro just being reminded of being called several things that hurt her self confidence as a girl.

He took a deep breath. "Jiro."

"Hm?" She glanced back at him, "What?"

Izuku brightly smiled. "Those people in you're junior high that said those things about you, they wouldn't say them if they actually _knew_ you. You can be scary and strict sometimes, but I know it's because you're helping those you care about. If they took the time to get to know you better, then they would see what a cute and charming girl you are."

"..."

Jiro blinked, slowly turning red.

"E-Eh?"

Izuku realized how blunt and sudden he said this and turned red too, immediately flailing his arms around.

"U-U-Um! I-I mean-!? I was j-just-! Y-You just have a cute side- Er, I-I didn't mean it like that! I-I mean I did, b-but I-!?"

Jiro's head erupted in steam with a completely red face.

"H-How could you say something like that while so calm, you idiot!?" Jiro covered her face with both hands and suddenly took off running down the stairs in pure embarrassment.

"Sh-She ran away again..." Izuku stuttered. "Hasn't this become a pattern?"

He thought about it.

_"This happened so many times already... In the hall of the school, at the sports festival, she runs away every time I compliment her..."_

He sighed.

_"But even though I try to reassure her of good qualities, she doesn't seem to accept them... I don't think so at least."_

He started walking down the stairs.

_"If Jiro's going to stop calling me Deku... Then what is she gonna call me?"_

He didn't think of any ideas by the time he went down the stairs, where he saw Mina waiting there looking rather confused.

"Mina?"

The girl glanced up at him, "Hey Midori, why did Jiro just come blazing by as red as Kirishima's hair?"

Izuku flinched, "Er... I don't really know... A-Anyway, what are you still doing here? I thought you left with everyone else?"

Mina awkwardly scratched her cheek, "Not yet... I still have to... talk..." Her voice trailed off.

"Eh? About what?"

Behind the stairs, Toru watched over Mina and Izuku while giving her best friend a thumbs up that said, _"You can do this!"_

Even if her thumbs up was clearly not seen.

"U-Um..." Mina nervously rubbed her legs together.

_"Something's off."_ Izuku thought as he saw Mina fidgeting right there. _"C-C-Could it be about... o-our k-k-k-!" _

He started sweating.

Toru stared at her friend from afar patiently. _"Just tell him about the kiss Mina, you can do it."_

After a few more awkward seconds of silence, Mina spoke.

"S-So where did you decide to go for your internships!?" She more or less shouted.

Toru comedically fell on the ground behind the stairs. _"You wussy maiden! Why is it that when you're the one doing these things you're struck silent!? You've helped make five couples in our junior high for god's sake!"_

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, surprised to hear her ask that. "Wh-Where I'm interning? W-Well..."

He wondered how to answer this.

"I-I'm actually interning for someone that used to work here in U.A."

"Eh, really? Who?" Mina said, her embarrassment replaced with a momentary curiosity.

"W-Well, his name is Gran Torino. He was actually All Might's homeroom teacher." Izuku confessed with a smile.

"Eh!? Someone that cool!?" Mina squealed. But then her smile changed to confusion. "Wait, Gran Torino? I've never heard of him."

"I-I haven't either, to be honest." Izuku chuckled.

"Then... why did you choose to intern with him? I have no doubt that you got so many offers from many popular heroes. Did you just want to go to him _just_ because he was All Might's homeroom teacher?" Mina pouted, thinking Izuku was just being a fanboy.

"N-No A-All Might himself suggested I go to him. S-Since our quirks are kind of similar, h-he thinks that G-Gran Torino's knowledge may be beneficial for me to control my power better like he did!"

"Eh? To help you control your quirk? What was it called again...? Ikari?" Mina asked.

Izuku looked down into his palm, "Y-Yeah... I have to learn how to control Ikari... Not just the output of power I bring out, but controlling to keep it and myself sane ... I have to focus on that. I have to keep focusing on growing, and if anyone is going to help me, then it's Gran Torino, the teacher that helped All Might grow into the strongest hero there is..."

Mina stared at the boy that had a look of pure determination on his face, the boy that had a clear image of what he was growing for.

"Midori..." She looked rather intrigued. "Is getting stronger... everything to you right now?"

Without looking up at her, Izuku nodded.

"I want to be able to save anyone with a smile... That's all I want. And if I want that, then I have to focus everything I've got on getting stronger."

"..." Mina felt how serious Izuku was.

_"That's right... He just wants to save everyone..."_

She formed a small smile.

"Right... Thanks Midori."

"Eh?" Izuku glanced back at her confusingly. "For what?"

Mina giggled, giving him a big grin. "For being you."

Izuku had question marks around his head, wondering what she meant.

"Well, let's go Toru!" Mina suddenly waved.

"Eh!?" Izuku turned around and saw the invisible girl in clothing behind the stairs, who flinched upon seeing him.

"Wha-Mina!? But aren't you gonna-!" Toru didn't get to finish as Mina rushed over, grabbed her friend's hand, and cheerfully dragged her outt.

"Bye Midori! See ya tomorrow!" She waved with her other hand.

Izuku was confused in silence as he watched Mina drag Toru out through the front doors of the school door, leaving him standing alone.

"..."

He let out a small sigh while feeling pretty foolish. "She didn't mention the k-kiss at all... I-I guess... I really was thinking too much about it..."

Izuku walked outside and saw Momo, Ochako, and Tsu waiting out there. The girls all looked rather confused as they saw Izuku come out.

"Deku, why did Mina run out laughing while dragging Toru with her?" Ochako asked, confused.

_"I'm sensing a bit of a pattern here..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

"In all honesty... I don't really know." He answered.

He approached the three.

"You guys really didn't have to wait for me."

"But we wanted to walk to the station together with you, kero." Tsu said as she poked her head behind Izuku with a smile.

"While... checking on how you were doing." Momo finished with a small look of concern.

Izuku chuckled, surprising her.

"I'm actually really fine. Even after Enso made me remember all those things about Kacchan and I learned what he really thought of me, I've... just accepted it. I can't talk to Kacchan like before, and we'll probably never be friends, but the one thing I'll never stop thinking about is how amazing he is. He still has that power, that determination to become such a strong person... He always kept an image of winning that I admired..."

Izuku smiled confidently.

"That's why I want to beat him. That's why I don't want to have him expelled. I wanna show him just how wrong he is about me and beat him, his own image of victory."

He stared at the three girls more cheerful than ever before, thinking about the upcoming internships, thinking about how far he came in the festival, thinking about how much he's grown from the meek child a year ago.

"So right now... I'm really happy. I'm so much stronger than before, and..."

He formed a bright smile.

"I have so many important people with me."

The girls lightly blushed at how innocent that sounded.

"O-Oh you!" Ochako looked away while frantically waving a hand up and down out of embarrassment.

"That's sweet Midoriya-chan..." Tsu cooed.

Even Momo felt herself getting slightly flustered.

"I'm... *Ahem* I'm glad you're doing okay then."

Izuku felt satisfied that maybe they'll stop worrying about him now.

"Thank you..." He bowed to them. "Thank you so much for being my friends..."

_*Ba-dump!*_

The three girls comedically cried.

_"Why are you so pure!?"_

* * *

**~{Streets Away}~**

Mina dragged Toru on the sidewalk, both of them running with one smiling while the other was confused.

"Wait, wait, wait Mina! Why didn't you confess!? Why didn't you even bring up the kiss with him!?"

Mina made sure they were far enough before stopping, letting go of Toru's hand and turning to her with a big smile.

"Hey Toru, you know that the other girls in the class probably like him too, right?"

"Huh? Well, I mean... I'm pretty sure some of them do." Toru answered, wondering where she was going with this.

"But why do you think none of them confessed yet?"

Toru tilted her head, "I thought it was because they were too shy to admit their feelings?"

Mina giggled. "I thought that too, and who knows? Maybe that's part of it. But..."

She gazed up at the moon.

"Now that I heard what Midori really wants, it made me realize something... Something that I think all the other girls realized too."

"...And that is?" Toru asked.

Mina turned back to her friend with sparkling yellow eyes.

"All Midori wants to do is become the strongest hero, and he's working his butt off to become it. He's amazing, after been through so much already, he's still kept on going... He really doesn't let anything mess with him or his dream..."

She looked more serious.

"If I said I liked him right there... Then I think it would just add another problem to his plate."

Toru's eyes widened, eyes you couldn't see.

"Everyone else might be thinking the same thing too. They don't wanna give Midori more trouble, they don't want him to be constantly worrying about something like dating... So they might be thinking the same as me, that it's better if things stay the same between all of us..."

Toru was surprised by what her best friend was saying.

"So... We should let him just focus on just becoming the hero he wants to be?"

Mina giggled, "Yup, let's let him grow into the best hero he can become."

The invisible girl sighed, "And here I was so focused on helping you with him, I feel like I should've noticed this..."

She then giggled.

"But at least I learned that you _can_ be mature Mina."

Cross-veins of irritation formed on the pink girl's head.

"What do you mean!? I am mature!" She fumed while moving her arms up and down.

Toru laughed out loud for a few seconds before calming down.

"Phew... Well, I'm glad you actually made a considerate decision. I really thought you'd confess to Midori... But if you aren't gonna do it now, then when?"

Mina put a finger on her chin and looked up.

"I... I don't really know. But if I had to base it off anime-"

"Please don't." Toru sweatdropped.

"Then if I had to base it off what _I_ think, then..."

Mina closed her eyes and looked down with a small smile.

"I'm sure that it'll happen naturally... There'll be a point where I wouldn't be able to contain these feelings, and then I'll end up just blurting it out. Or maybe Midori finds the one that makes him the happiness and he confessed to her instead... I don't know which it'll be, I don't know when it'll happen, but everything should happen naturally when the time is right..."

_"So she's letting the universe decide?" _Toru thought as she instinctively clenched her own heart. _"Then... I wonder if it'll be the same for me... Can I keep these feelings in until Mina conveys hers? Or... will there be a time when they'll leak out?"_

"..."

"Arrrgh! Mina, why the hell did you do this to me!?" Toru suddenly shouted

"EH!? Do what!?" Mina answered back.

They bickered continuously in the night for reasons they didn't even know.

* * *

**~{Principal's Office}~**

Kamui was laying on the floor of the principal's office in comedic black and white colors, struggling to catch whatever breath he had left. Beside him was All Might holding a yellow sleeping bag upside down with Enso in it, only his face exposed.

"Did you really have to put me in a sleeping bag?" Enso asked as he hung upside down like a caterpillar.

**"Forgive me Young Enso, but it was the most convenient item I could use to keep you in."**

"Where did you even get it?"

**"Oh, we passed by Eraserhead and asked him for something to hold you in, so we got a spare sleeping bag he carries!"**

"Okay, ignoring why he would even have a spare, why didn't he just give you his scarves?"

**"..."** All Might put a hand on his chin, **"Huh, why _didn't_ he?"**

Enso sweatdropped.

Nezu took a sip of tea at his desk, turning his gaze at the sky now turning into darkness.

"_Getting_ back on track-" He started, "Enso-kun, you sure caused us a bit of trouble. Kamui wasn't even here to arrest you."

"Oh, I assumed that."

"THEN WHY DID YOU RUN!?" Kamui shot up from the ground rather pissed off.

Enso managed to glance at Kamui from the corner of his eyes.

"Because why not?"

"You little-!" Kamui had to stop himself before saying something he would regret, closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths to calm himself despite his hands twitching as if he wanted to strangle the boy.

"Okay... It's fine now, we're finally here..."

All Might let out a hearty laugh, **"So you led us on a wild goose chase out of amusement? How hilarious!"**

Nezu noticed All Might's arms shaking with some steam coming off him. "All Might, thank you for your help in acquiring Enso-kun. You may put him down and leave for the night."

All Might gently placed Enso on the ground, the boy lying down completely still. **"Thank you Nezu! And I wish you good luck Kamui Woods to convince Young Ureshi to join your agency!" **

He then blasted out of the room with his iconic heroic laugh, leaving clouds of dust behind as he did so.

Enso looked similar to Aizawa, lying on the floor with an uncaring expression before flipping on his side of his sleeping bag to face the wooden hero.

"Did I hear that correctly? You wish for me to attend your agency for next week's internships?"

Kamui, now fully recovered from chasing Enso for so long, cleared his throat.

"Yes. As I mentioned before, I did not come here on ill terms of taking away your chance to become a hero Ureshi-"

"Enso."

"Eh?"

"Just Enso is fine, I prefer it."

Kamui raised an eyebrow and turned to Nezu, as if asking him about it.

"What? Why do you think I call him Enso-kun?" The principal chuckled.

"_You_ added that unnecessary part to my name." Enso's eye twitched.

"But it's cute." Nezu grinned.

Kamui glanced back down at the boy.

"Well... 'Enso,' you heard correctly. I wish to personally invite you over to my agency to show you just how heroes work in the field."

Enso raised an eyebrow. "Why me? Didn't I throw you into the ocean?"

"_Forgetting_ about that-!" Kamui insisted, "I know you have the talent to be one of the strongest heroes around, we all saw it from the festival. But... I can just feel that you have a lot to learn. Not physically, but mentally. And I believe that I'm someone that can teach you those things."

"Kamui has been rapidly growing in the hero ranks, and because of this, I believe that he has quite the understanding of heroes as a whole and would be perfect for you." Nezu added.

"..." Enso sighed. "I don't necessarily care about those matters... But alright. I'll see you soon then." He started squirming on the floor towards the door.

"Huh!? Wait, wait, wait! That easily!?" Kamui uttered.

Enso stopped by the door and managed to wiggle his body so he stood up straight.

"I really don't wanna argue with going or not when it's this dark outside already... And I know that Nezu might put me through something worse if I don't come to terms with an agency. So this is the easiest thing to do."

"You accepted for a reason like that? But that's so anticlimactic with how long I was here preparing to speak to you!" Kamui stated.

"Your fault for getting too worked up about it." Enso responded without much care.

"Kyehehehe! Isn't that great Kamui? Now you got yourself quite the student to help your agency grow in popularity!"

Enso rolled his eyes, "Popularity... Hmph."

_"Why do I feel like the boy just developed a wrong impression of me?"_ Kamui wondered.

"If that's all, then can I go home now? It's late for staying in school this long..." Enso asked rather uncaring.

"Yes, you may." Nezu answered.

Enso somehow opened the door, waddled out still in the sleeping bag, and then plopped onto the floor on his side.

"..."

"Er-" Kamui was going to say something, but Enso suddenly started rolling on the ground to travel down the hall.

"I wonder if it's Aizawa's sleeping bag itself that causes him to do that?"

Kamui sweatdropped.

_"This school is really full of odd people..."_

* * *

**~{Musutafu-7:35PM}~**

**_"This is so boring..."_** Lynch stood in another alleyway with a few corpses scattered around. The night sky had it so that he had the perfect cover to take out back-alley thugs in the darkness.

**_"None of them even lasted five minutes... They didn't even have any amazing powers I could research... Spitting paint and just a dragon arm? What a joke... Where are all the good powers?"_**

He stomped on the puddles of blood on the floor.

**_"That school should no doubt have the best kind of powers, but I can't just bust in... With Reapy and a bunch of professionals,even I would find that a pain in the ass..."_**

He looked up and scratched a bony finger on his dark grey trauma mask.

**_"I wonder... What if I just wait until some students leave?"_**

He growled, shaking his head and stepping onto a puddle of blood.

**_"No... That'd be too much trouble. I'd have to wait around for someone to be alone and follow them until they go somewhere alone where others won't see... Not to mention the reports that would arise and make getting more of them difficult..."_**

Lynch glanced at the corpses on the ground, staring at them with his open red eyes and mouth glowing red.

**_"That's right..."_**

He crouched down to one of these corpses and placed his large hand on it. The body visibly shook before violently deforming and shrinking until it became a ball of flesh the size of the marble.

He picked it up and held it in front of his face.

**_"I can use these for later."_**

The middle of his palm literally opened up, skin splitting to reveal what almost looked like a black abyss, to which Lynch dropped the marble of flesh into it. He repeated the method to the other lifeless bodies scattered around.

"Hey, look! It's Endeavor!"

"He's doing patrolling? So cool!"

"He looks angry, doesn't he?"

"When _doesn't_ he look angry? Being number two behind All Might really makes him sour."

**_"Hm?"_** Lynch stood up straight, his body cracking as he did so before turning to the end of the alley where he heard the commotion. He slowly stepped over near the open street, his glowing red eyes and mouth turning black as to stop emitting light so he could hide in the shadows as he peeked.

**_"Number two... huh?"_**

He watched as a large man with flames around parts of his body walked down the streets looking rather angry.

**_"Flames... How basic..."_**

He watched the hero scoff at the crowd around him.

Lynch then turned around and walked back into the alleyway.

**_"Hmph... So strong because of his superpowers... But I'm sure even he would break down like everyone else."_**

He got on all fours, where his body grotesquely deformed and shrunk, cracks echoing as he turned into a new shape on the floor.

The figure then stood up and spread some wings, revealing himself to have turned into a grotesquely deformed falcon with a rotten looking body.

**_"Hmph... Even those with the strongest of powers can have the weakest of minds... Those powers just give people arrogance. Not like Reapy, he doesn't even care about that."_**

He flapped his wings, flying into the dark night sky with only a part of the moon visible in its current phase.

**_"I wanna break Reapy... I'll make sure his mind is in pieces and find what's the most precious to him... I'll make him get what he deserves..."_**

He flew high over the highest buildings in the city.

**_"But first, I think it's time to find somewhere for me to stay. Somewhere hidden where I can set up all my 'special' friends..."_**

He landed on the edge of a building, looking over the thousands of lights in the city.

Lynch was dripping a green liquid from over his falcon-like body as he let out a cackling laugh.

**_"Let's start looking."_**

* * *

**~{The Next Day: Enso's Residence}~**

"Snipe Style-Ricocheting Bullet."

Enso bounced all over the dojo while Izuku stood in the middle of the arena trying to keep track of him.

The boy slowly turned his body and listened to the air getting pierced by Enso's speed while trying to catch glimpses of the yellow blur flying around him.

He heard a whoosh behind him, to which Izuku jumped to the side, but his arm still got hit as Enso passed by, making him stumble back. He was then kicked from behind, sending Izuku him stumbling forward and fall to his knees.

Izuku immediately pushed off the ground in order to jump up, avoiding Enso as he blazed by underneath him.

He then landed on his feet and did the splits, avoiding Enso coming higher above him.

_"I'm actually managing to avoid some of his attacks, but I haven't even struck back yet!"_ Izuku thought as he rolled on the ground and then jumped in a spin to avoid two more attempts of Enso swinging at him.

At one point, Izuku saw Enso land on the ground before blast towards him once more.

_"There!"_

With One For All coursing in him, Izuku swung his arm quickly to intercept his mentor.

Instead, as Enso grew near, he suddenly used Izuku's arm to cartwheel on it, getting him over the boy.

_"Eh!? He dodged it!?"_

He didn't get to process what he saw before Enso swung a leg while over Izuku and slammed it right on the back of his neck.

"ACK!" Izuku's head was forced down to the ground and Enso landed on top of him, grabbing the boy's arm to hold it behind him.

"It seems you're getting good at reacting to fast movements. Now if only we could get you to match that speed."

"Nngh... I-I'm still learning to use more of One... For... All..."

"Then learn to use more, easy."

"Shut up!" With a loud grunt, Izuku rose up and swung the back of his head in an attempt to hit Enso with it.

Enso jumped back to avoid getting hit, doing multiple flips in the air before then landing in a crouching position a few yards away.

"Punk Style." Enso's yellow aura changed in a flare to become a blue color.

Izuku got up and glared over in his mentor's direction.

_"That style is dangerous..."_

Green electricity emitted of Izuku as he blasted forward at Enso.

Enso took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Punk Style-Calm Mind"

A mental drop if water dripped and caused ripples to spread, revealing outlines of the surrounding area around him.

Enso ducked a kick from Izuku, cartwheeled to avoid a swipe at his feet, and used his arm to parry a punch from the boy.

Izuku swung his leg but Enso grabbed it before flinging him across the room.

Izuku aimed his feet and landed on the wall, using it as a footing to blast back to Enso while swinging his leg again.

Enso's right fist shined blue.

"Punk Style-"

He ducked and avoided Izuku's leg, his eyes suddenly snapping open as he raised his fist up.

"-Spirit Breaker."

His fist connected to the intended area.

Izuku turned black and white on the spot, all of gravity seeming to stop for a moment as he froze completely still in the air. He then fell straight down to the ground, immediately curling into a ball and holding his private region.

Enso stood up straight and his blue aura faded away, just leaving himself standing fine while his friend suffered on the floor in the most agonizing pain he's ever been in.

"H-H... *gurgle* H-How c-could... you?" Izuku squeaked.

"Hey, you only told me that I couldn't use that move against a girl."

"Y-You... ugh... m-monster... Wh-Wh-Why didn't you... *grunt* just h-hit something else...? Wh-Wh-Why d-down there…?" Izuku struggled to say in pain as he felt his testicles go inward. "I… *mmph* feel s-sick…" Water was in his eyes at that point.

"I would've hit a vital organ if it would've been more effective for keeping you down."

Enso crossed his arms.

"That move, 'Spirit Breaker,' doesn't target private regions specifically, it's meant to first scan the opponent I'm fighting to see where their most vulnerable or devastating area to strike is. Then I strike it and render my opponent immobile."

"S-So... Y-Y-You... Nnngh... J-J-Just found... M-My... down there to be... Mmph... vulnerable?"

Enso sat down beside Izuku in a cross-legged position. "That's how it is most of the time, when people don't have any injuries, their most delicate area is always down there."

He stretched his arms.

"Punk Style overall is meant to find vulnerable points of a person and take advantage of them in any way I can. So basically, fighting dirty and brutally taking advantage of weaknesses. 'Calm Mind' helps me search for positions of people and lets me avoid attacks until I see an opening. 'Memory Breach' usually takes advantage of a person's vulnerable mind to make them relive bad memories to make them lose their composure in battle. 'Mind Storm' takes advantage of those who can't fight in a distance, and 'Spirit Breaker...' You know what it does. Even without those techniques, the style overall is dirty tactics. Going for vital organs, attacking the eyes, and hitting delicate areas."

_"This is valuable knowledge for me to remember for fighting Enso again!" _Izuku thought despite all the pain.

"Wh-What about... your other... styles?" He forcefully grunted through the pain.

"I'm sure they're all easy to figure out to you. Snipe Style is overall about speed to overwhelm opponents with fast strikes and movements, but is also the most useful for getting away. Brute Style is more about increasing defenses and dealing back stronger punches than I'm taking. And Reaper Of Worlds... You know what it does."

_"Intent to kill..." _Izuku recalled.

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

"About time." Enso suddenly stood up and walked over to the door, leaving Izuku still shaking on the floor.

"Wh-Who...?" Izuku grunted as he shuffled against the ground to make his head face the door.

Enso opened the door and Izuku's eyes widened at who he saw.

"Sh-Shinso?!"

Shinso took one step into the dojo home and paused as he saw Izuku on the floor holding his delicate area.

"Um..." He turned his head to Enso. "What happened to him?"

"Oh, we were training and I punched his genital area." Enso bluntly answered.

"..." Shinso raised an eyebrow. "You mean his dick?"

"Basically. "

Shinso glanced back at Izuku, then forming a smug grin.

"Heh, I guess even the strongest of people can be taken down by such a simple method."

"Q-Quiet you..." Izuku struggled but finally started getting on his knees and pushed himself up. "Wh-What are you even doing here?"

Shinso shrugged, "I wish I knew. Ureshi here just told me to come today around this time."

"Allow me to explain." Enso turned to Izuku, who was finally standing back up on his feet. "I ended up with the task of teaching Shinso alongside you."

"Eh?" Izuku and Shinso both said in sync.

"It was a condition to have you moved into the hero course. The roden-Er, _Nezu_ said that Shinso's physical capabilities should match the other students of the class, which is why I was tasked with teaching him."

_"It sounds like you were going to say something really rude there..."_ Izuku thought about one part of his dialogue.

Shinso raised an eyebrow. "Hold on, I didn't know about this, so I got a few questions. First of all, how the hell were you able to convince the teachers to let me into the hero course? Second, _why _did you choose to help me get into the course? And third, we literally only have until Monday before the internships start, that's four days, so are you really gonna start 'training' me now?"

Enso thought about his questions.

"Well, to answer your first question, Nezu and I are... Hm..."

"Friends?" Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"Hmmmmm..." Enso had his hand rubbing his chin.

"Companions?" Shinso tried.

Enso paused.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm..."

"Why are you thinking so much about it!?" Izuku shouted.

Enso snapped his fingers as he came to a conclusion.

"Acquaintances."

Izuku and Shinso sweatdropped.

_"Just say friends..."_

Enso continued, "Since he and I are 'acquaintances,' I used his help to drag you into our class."

_"Isn't that kind of an abuse of power or something?"_ Shinso wondered.

"And as for the reason I actually decided to help you get into the hero course... Do you remember what you told me during our fight at the sports festival?"

Shinso remembered his own words.

_"A villain's quirk, they said... Because of this quirk, everyone around me feared me... They thought I was some villain in the making. 'It's good for being a villain, huh?' Everyone had that same idea, it was just what the world was like... But... Even though they say that... I-I... I just wanna become a hero... because I want to prove everyone wrong... I wanna show them that I'm no villain, I wanna prove that I can help people..."_

He glanced away with a grumble. "Maybe... What of it?"

Enso crossed his arms, "In a way... You kind of reminded me of Izuku... To have people constantly doubt you to becoming a hero, yet you really do have the spirit and desire to help others, even if a part of that could be from pettiness to just prove people wrong. It would've really bothered me if I didn't help you, so I talked to Nezu and called in a favor for him to get you in the course, however..."

Shinso raised an eyebrow, "However?"

"I actually learned that Aizawa had been interested in getting you into the hero course too, but Nezu had deemed that you didn't have the necessary abilities to be in there."

"Wait, but you guys have a girl that's literally _just_ invisible. And _I_ don't have the abilities?" Shinso's eye twitched.

"That's what somewhat confuses me... But that also makes me curious to wonder if there's much more to a few of my classmates... But yes, apparently you don't have the ability to be in the hero course. Aizawa had offered to be the one to teach you, but he has his own responsibilities that Nezu needs him to fulfill."

"And... is that where you come in?" Shinso deduced.

"Yes, I have the task of training you up to be part of the class. And this works to my favor too, not just because it gets rid of the bothering feeling I had..."

"Eh? What do you mean by that Enso?" Izuku blinked.

Enso turned to him. "Well... I believe he can help us."

"E-Eh!? Really?"

Shinso narrowed his eyes, "Wait a second, that sounds hella suspicious. What the hell are both of you going to drag me into?"

"I'm not going to drag you into anything dangerous. I'll just be helping you grow in strength, but... In the future, I may want a favor."

"I've got a bad feeling already." Shinso stared suspiciously at him.

"Don't think too much on it, I'll never forcefully make you do something."

"O...kay?" Shinso said, not really convinced. "But like I said, we only got a few days before we head off for internships, so are you really gonna start teaching me right now?"

Izuku blinked with a look of realization.

"Wait, Shinso, where _are _you going to intern?"

Shinso grinned, even putting his hands on his hips.

"I'm going to Edgeshot's Agency."

"EH!? The Ninja Hero!? The one who ranked number five in last year's Hero Billboard chart!?" Izuku shouted in complete shock.

"Yup." Shinso said proudly.

"..."

"..."

Enso reached over and patted Shinso sympathetically on his shoulder with a sad look of pity.

"You don't have to lie..."

Cross-veins emerged on Shinso's head.

"Hey! I'm not lying! He was one of the only five agencies that actually invited me!" He angrily shouted.

"But... why would a high-ranking hero invite a clearly moody, weak, rugged-looking boy like you? No offense."

"How is that not offensive!?" Shinso shouted while confusingly turning his head around.

_"Enso really doesn't hold back..."_ Izuku sweatdropped.

The emerald haired boy then thought about Edgeshot's agency.

"Well... Edgeshot likes to focus on stealth, keeping calm composures, and being quick enough to either react to danger or prevent it in the first place... Among a few other things..."

"I guess that's why he's the ninja hero... But I still don't see why he'd want Shinso of all people."

"You're really pissing me off..." Shinso said with a blank stare at Enso.

Enso clapped his hands together.

"Anyway, getting you back your last question from before, Shinso. I'm not technically going to 'teach' you anything right now. We'll start that when we get back from internships."

"Then what do you want from me right now?" Shinso asked, confused.

"Easy. We're gonna break your body's limit."

Shinso blinked, "Excuse me?"

"Oh no..." Izuku sighed.

"Now let's start off!"

Enso suddenly put on an excessively detailed and shadowed serious expression.

"One hundred push-ups! One hundred sit-ups! One hundred squats! Then a ten-kilometer run!"

"Huh!? Wait, hold on-!"

"It'll be just as painful as it was for Izuku because neither of you ever exercised before, but that helps add to the pain tolerance!"

"Whoa, whoa! What-!?"

"Keep doing squats even if your legs are heavy and refuse to move! Even if your arms are making weird clicking noises, keep doing push-ups!"

"You went through-!?"

Enso grabbed the back of Shinso's collar and started pulling him to the door.

"It's better to do this all outside and do these exercises multiple times! Izuku, we're done for today!"

"WAIT! YOU'RE CRAZY!" Shinso shouted as he struggled to get out of Enso's grip and even tried using his quirk, only for it not to affect the boy still.

"We've only got the last two days remaining in this week and then the weekend, so I'm just going to set your body up as much as I can before you head off to your agency. You won't end up with a physique like Izuku since that takes _way_ longer to do, but your body will at least be able to handle much more exercise and give you a higher pain tolerance. Well, after your body heals from the soreness and broken bones that is... But don't worry about that, I'll make a formula to heal those quickly by the time internships start!"

"MIDORIYA! SAVE ME!" Shinso shouted as he was dragged outside.

"My condolences." Izuku bowed with his hands together.

* * *

**~{Internships: Day 1-Train Station: 9:12AM}~**

Monday.

A day many people would normally hate, a day that would mark the start of either classes or work, followed by several more days of repeated activities.

However, for Class A, it was an exciting day, as they were going to separate in order to head towards their respected agencies. They all stood together with cases containing their costumes at their side, waiting for Aizawa to send them off at the train station.

"You all have your costumes right? Remember, you aren't allowed to wear them in public. Don't lose them, otherwise, I'll be wondering how the hell you made it into U.A."

"Such words of encouragement..." Enso sighed.

"Yes sir!" Mina yelled as she excitedly raised her briefcase in the air.

"Make sure you mind your manners with the heroes at your internships. Off with you now." Aizawa finished.

"Yes sir!" The whole class yelled.

As soon as he said that, Iida turned and started walking away at a quick pace, eager to leave.

"Iida!"

Iida stopped walking, but didn't look back as he knew that it was Izuku who had called him. Indeed, the emerald boy and Ochako had immediately gone over to him upon Aizawa dismissing them too.

Izuku looked serious.

"If you ever feel hopeless, make sure you let us know."

Ochako nodded in agreement to what Izuku said, looking concerned about her friend.

Even Enso went over.

"Iida..."

Izuku and Ochako turned to him, wondering what he would say.

"Don't do anything stupid."

_"DO YOU HAVE ANY TACT!?" _Ochako and Izuku both thought with threatening glares.

Enso rubbed the back of his head. "I'm... Not good at talking to people about matters concerning close family... So that's the only thing I can say... Don't do something that you'll regret. Others may be affected by it more than you know."

Izuku and Ochako both looked surprised.

"Thank you..."

They turned to Iida, who had spoken.

"But I'm fine... These internships should be able to help me clear my head..."

He turned around to the three, giving them a smile.

"Thank you though... I'm glad you guys really do care..."

Enso narrowed his eyes. _"A fake smile..."_

Izuku also knew right away that Iida wasn't okay, yet he just watched him walk away. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what else to say, he could only watch as the engine boy left.

"There's no point in worrying about him and letting it affect our internships, just focus on doing your own best right now. If he does anything, then that's on him." Enso said.

Ochako got a little mad. "You could be more sensitive about it, you know?"

"I-Er... I _really _don't think I can." Enso honestly answered.

"Yeah, I've come to accept that Enso doesn't have a hold on himself..." Izuku sighed.

"Midoriiiiii!"

Izuku felt someone slam into his back with the inclusion of two arms wrapping around him.

"Gwah!?" He stumbled forward before stopping, then turning his head to see the Mina snuggling on his back.

"Man, it'll be a whole week before we can see each other again Midori! I'm honestly gonna miss that adorable side of yours!"

"M-Mina!? Y-You've gotta stop doing this so suddenly!" Izuku told her.

Ochako had a distraught look on her face as she saw Mina hug Izuku.

"Wh-What are y-you doing A-Ashido?" The girl uttered while shaking.

"Just giving Midori a goodbye hug!" Mina cooed.

"Awwwww! Look how red he got! So adorable!" Toru got in front of Izuku and pinched both of his cheeks.

"T-Tworwu!?" Izuku muffled as the girl pulled his cheeks.

Both girls then reached up and placed their hands on Izuku's head, rubbing it gently.

"Fluffy~!" Both purred in bright auras of bliss.

Izuku started steaming from his head.

"Now he's even warmer... Ahhhhh..." Toru breathed.

"Think about where you are, please!" Momo walked over to the group and grabbed Mina while Ochako grabbed Toru.

"And stop suddenly pushing yourself on Deku like that!" Ochako added as both girls pried them.

"Ehhhhh!? Give me back the fluffy!" Mina whined with a flail of her arms.

"Well, I guess this is where we part." Enso told Izuku.

"H-Huh?" Izuku turned to him. "Yeah... You think you're going to be fine at Kamui's agency?"

"Why should you worry about me? I'm different from everyone else here."

"Exactly."

"Why you... you can be quite problematic yourself." Enso argued, feeling rather annoyed and insulted.

Izuku smiled. "Yeah... I guess we can both be."

Bakugo stared at Enso and Izuku speaking to each other from afar. He lett out a growl before turning his head away and flinging his hero case over his shoulder.

"Hmph..." He then walked away as he thought about passing them.

Enso nodded to his student, "Goodbye Izuku, I hope you can get a good grasp on Ikari by the time we return."

"I'll make sure of it." Izuku confidently responded with a determined smile.

"Good. Until next time then." Enso turned around and started walking away with his hands on his pockets.

Until he felt Izuku grab his shoulder.

"..."

He glanced back at him, "What is it?"

Izuku had an innocent, closed-eyed smile.

"The train isn't that way. That's a building."

"Oh, it is? How foolish of me."

"Yeah, that's pretty funny. It's almost as if you were planning to jump up there and travel by rooftop rather than taking the train like a good citizen."

"Yes, that would've been unfortunate."

"..."

"..."

"Can I -?"

"No." Izuku didn't even let him finish.

Enso sighed in defeat, then walking over to the station while grumbling.

"No good transportations... *grumble* Just taking money when people have the ability to travel on their own..."

Izuku sighed as he watched Enso stop in front of Shinso, who was struggling to even hold his briefcase as his body shivered in pain.

"Did you take two pills last night and this morning?" Enso asked the indigo hair-ed boy.

"Y-Yeah..." Shinso twitched.

"Good, then your bones should start feeling better and the soreness should go away by the time you get to your agency."

"You make it sounds like it excuses you from making me go through hell... I still feel the pain..." Shinso grumbled as his legs looked as if they were going to give way.

"Poor Shinso." Izuku chuckled as he watched Enso finally head towards the train.

"Hey..."

"Hm?"

Izuku turned around and saw Jiro holding her hero costume briefcase behind. Ever since he had talked to the girl about her issues with his nickname four days ago, they hadn't spoken until now. He remembered occasionally glancing at the girl, always seeing her deep in thought each time he saw her.

"Um... Hey Jiro. Aren't you gonna head over to your internship already?"

"In a moment, I just wanted to say... good luck."

"Eh? With what?"

"With controlling your quirk, I know it'll be simple for you. You just gotta figure out how to start bringing it out yourself and you'll be good from there." She grinned.

"O-Oh, thanks. I'll do my best." Izuku returned her smile with his.

Jiro then turned around, pausing for a moment.

"See you around... Greeny."

"Eh?"

Jiro then quickly took off running, leaving Izuku behind with new thoughts of what he was just addressed as.

_"Greeny?"_

He thought about the name, thought about Jiro, and then put on a small smile.

_"It's cute."_

"Goodbye Midoriya-chan. I hope you learn many new things, kero." Tsu waved to him.

"I will Tsu! Thank you!" Izuku waved as he saw her getting onto the station platform.

"See ya Midori!" Both Mina and Toru waved at him as they took off running energetically.

"Good luck Deku, I'll be hoping for you!" Ochako gleamed, then running off.

Momo went up to Izuku and gave him a polite bow, then giving him a big smile.

"I know you'll be even more amazing when we get back. I can't wait to see what you learn."

Izuku became flustered, "E-Eh? I-I mean, I-I don't think I'll change that much... B-But I'll make sure to get a handle on Ikari!"

Momo giggled, "That you will Izuku."

She then went on her own path away from the boy, waving at him as she left.

"Now then..." Izuku glanced down at the address given to him by All Might. "Let's get going."

"Midoriya-sensei!" Mineta and Kaminarii both suddenly appeared beside him.

"Eh!? S-Sensei!?"

Mineta and Kaminari both bowed.

"When we get back, teach us your ways for charming women!" Both shouted.

"..."

Izuku stared down at them with a blank expression.

* * *

**~{Yamanashi Prefecture- 12:35AM}~**

"Gran Torino… I've never heard of him until All Might told me." Izuku muttered as he walked along the sidewalk to his intended location.

"But I'm sure that he's an amazing person… He even made All Might scared... If what he said was true, then Gran Torino might be able to help me not only understand One For All better, but can also offer insight on controlling Ikari..."

He finally came upon an old looking brick building. He glanced down at the address in his hand and then glanced at the address on the side of the building. Izuku honestly didn't feel too sure about this place, but nonetheless, he still walked up the steps and to the double doors.

He knocked on the door. "Hello? I'm here from U.A High?"

He received silence as a response.

He knocked again, "My name is Izuku M-Midoriya! A-All Might told me about you! I'm here for the internship?"

He still didn't hear anyone giving a response.

"U-Um..."

Out of curiosity, he grabbed the handle and pulled the door, surprisingly finding it open.

"O-Okay?"

He pulled the door open all the way and stuck his head into a dark-toned room, his eyes peeking around the area.

"U-Um. Nice to... meet..." His voice trailed off as, at that moment, Izuku saw something in the center of the room.

His eyes widened as he saw an old, small looking man wearing a hero costume, laying on his stomach. But what really caught Izuku's eyes, was the small red puddle right beneath the man.

Izuku felt fear and despair take over, as both his eyes and mouth were opened up all the way.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! HE'S DEAD!"

Suddenly, the small man on the ground lifted his head with a derpy smile.

"I'm alive."

Izuku just deadpanned.

_"He's alive?"_

* * *

**~{Post-Author's Notes}~**

**Just wanna say thanks for reading and letting you know that Kendo will call Izuku later, so that's why she didn't wait with the rest of the girls. See ya next time! **


	43. Gran Torino

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Phew... Finishing finals and moving back home is a pain. But hey, at least _now_ I'm on break so I might be able to work on chapters more. Doesn't really mean that I might bring them out faster. Anyways, happy reading!**

**Answering comments:**

_S1Ayer4fun:_ **Izuku's hero costume is just the one he has in canon. He just keeps the vest and braces underneath his costume so people don't go asking when they see it.**

_Nightspirit152: _**Yeah, I like pokemon and sometimes did look at pokemon move names for inspiration. Lol.**

_blue grimmoire, fpinheiro96, Nick4speed, Draconic King, tinkertoy3264: _**Thank you for all the praise! It really means a lot and always keeps me going to writing these!**

* * *

Izuku stood at the doorway with a blank face as he stared down at an extremely short elderly man on the floor.

He had short gray spiky hair, a gray beard, and was wearing his hero costume of yellow and white colors. His look consisted of a full-body monochrome suit along with a yellow cape, a belt with the letter "G" on it, thick yellow gloves and boots, and a dark domino mask that resembled two diamonds.

The elderly stood back on his feet with a brown cane to support him, standing over the red liquid with a plate of sausages underneath him.

"Man... When I was carrying a string of sausages with ketchup on them, I fell!" Gran Torino said as he dusted himself off with a cheerful-looking expression.

Izuku sighed, _"Why do I feel like he did that on purpose?"_

The elderly man scratched his head as he stared at Izuku with a blank smile.

"Who are you?"

"Eh? O-Oh, um... I'm Izuku Midoriya from U.A!" Izuku responded as he placed his arms to his sides and stood up straight.

"What?" Gran Torino asked as he used his hand to cup his ear.

_"He didn't hear me?"_

"I-I'm Izuku Midoriya!" Izuku responded a little louder.

Gran Torino stood silent for a few seconds.

"Who are you?" He asked once more.

"You're messing with me, aren't you?" Izuku asked with a blank expression.

Gran Torino was silent with a comedic blank smile.

"I wanna eat something."

"Eat?!" Izuku repeated in confusion.

"Toshinori?"

"That's not me!" Izuku responded with some irritation, even putting down his hero case.

"..."

"..."

"Who are you?"

Izuku facepalmed, _"I can't tell if his age is genuinely affecting him or if he's just messing with me... I think I'll ask All Might to let him know the state of this guy."_

"Excuse me, I have to make a call." He turned around and pulled out his phone, proceeding to walk towards the door.

But he didn't even take two steps before he heard some rustling behind him, making Izuku turn around with his eyes widened.

"Wh-What are you doing!? Don't touch that-!"

"Fire off a One For All at me." Gran Torino responded in a completely different tone than before.

"Huh?" Izuku's face changed from worry to confusion.

"I wanna know how well you can handle it." Gran Torino said as he looked through Izuku's costume.

_"What's with this guy? Suddenly changing like that..." _Izuku wondered, frozen in place.

"This is a good costume, wear it." Gran Torino stood up, turning to Izuku with a glare.

"U-Um…"

Both remained in momentary silence as Izuku wondered what was up with Gran Torino.

But the elder suddenly tilted his head with the same comedic smile Izuku first saw. "Who are you?"

_"Do I take him seriously or not!?"_

Izuku took a deep breath to calm down.

"I don't know why you suddenly seem to be changing in behavior... But I came to you believing that I would learn to control not only One For All, but also my own quirk. I have to hurry up because All Might doesn't have much time left as a hero... And _you_ should know that too. That's why… If you don't take this seriously, then I can't waste any time messing around with you, sir."

Gran Torino suddenly formed a menacing grin. "Quite a serious lad? Well, in that case..."

Izuku flinched, suddenly feeling a chill in his spine from how Gran Torino's demeanor changed entirely.

The elder tossed his cane to the side before bending his knees, then suddenly blasting off into the air.

"Wha-!?" Izuku looked around and saw him bounce all around the room. From the ceiling, walls, and floor, just circling around him with blasts of wind coming out of his feet.

This sight made Izuku's eyes widen as he felt a source of familiarity in these movements.

_"This is just like Ricocheting Bullet!"_

Soon, Gran Torino landed on top of the door frame, the walls cracking as he did so. Izuku looked up at him in some shock at the demonstration of speed the Gran Torino suddenly showed despite his old age.

Gran Torino then looked down at Izuku with a smug grin.

"In that case, there's even more of a reason to fire one off! You zygote!"

Izuku continued to stare at Gran Torino with a look of awe as the elder kept speaking.

"I watched the sports festival, you seemed to have gotten the hang of using some of One For All, but why haven't you even learned how to control your _own _quirk!"

"E-Er, I just recently learned that I even had a quirk at the beginning of the school year!"

"Excuses, excuses! He's called the Symbol Of Peace and the Number One Hero, but that justice obsessed All Might is worse than a novice when it comes to teaching! So much that he would have someone _else_ teach you how to improve your own abilities!"

Izuku flinched, "I-I mean... I can't say that you're wrong..."

"Hmph, your movements from the festival aren't anything like All Might's has ever done. That idiot's never been good at teaching anything besides how to save someone. But to think he had to have _another_ student be the one to teach you!"

Gran Torino narrowed his eyes with a glare.

"Tell me about this Ureshi fellow... once you put on your costume and show me _exactly_ how much of One For All you can use!"

Izuku formed an intrigued smile.

"I look forward to working with you!"

* * *

**~{Kamui's Agency-12:35 PM}~**

Enso sat on the edge of a building staring out at the clear blue skies and thousands of tiny specs of people down below. He was in a familiar place, the place that gave him his very first impression of the superpowered society he was in.

He heard an alarm ringing below him, but he didn't bother running away or hiding as he listened to the shouts of people in the building he was on. He waited until he heard the alarm shut off with the sounds of running footsteps be what replaced it. These footsteps got louder and louder, hinting him that someone was running up the stairs to meet up with him.

He stood up and got away from the edge of the building while dusting himself off, then turning to the door that was the only entrance to the roof.

It slammed open, revealing a panting pro hero with an eye twitching.

"I knew it! It was you!"

Kamui Woods glared at Enso from afar as the boy just put his hands in his pockets while approaching the wooden hero.

"Hello. I'm here for the internship."

Cross-veins emerged on Kamui's head. "Are you an idiot!? Why did you come all the way up here?! Do you know how panicked my agency became when the alarms went off!? They thought a villain came up here to demolish the place from the top!"

Enso just tilted his head, "But the last time I was here, no alarms went off-"

"That was different! You appeared through whatever '_that_' portal thingy was and disrupted the electricity of the building! So there were no alarms to go off at that time!"

Enso turned his head away.

"Whoops."

"Be more apologetic!"

Enso turned back to him, "Does it really matter? No one got hurt."

"That's not the issue! You need to be more aware of these things!" Kamui scolded him.

Enso sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "So annoying..."

"I should be the one saying that..." Kamui sweatdropped.

He then took notice of Enso's appearance. He wore a black suit with his inner white dress shirt along with his red tie and black shoes. This was odd on its own, since he wasn't wearing the U.A uniform, but Kamui was also wondering why he wasn't holding any hero case.

"Hey... Where is your hero costume?"

Enso presented himself, "I'm wearing it."

"..." Kamui eyed him. "Hold on now, you can't possibly be thinking of fighting in that?"

"I've fought in it all my life, it's not made the same as ordinary suits. This one is special to me. It's the only thing I wear."

"And what happens if it rips up or burns?"

"Then I restore it back just from a single piece of it."

"What, like magic?"

"I prefer the term 'sorcery.'"

"What?"

"What?" Enso repeated.

Both remained silent for a few seconds before Kamui sighed, deciding not bother understanding it.

"Well... It's good to have you here Ureshi-"

"Enso." The boy insisted.

Kamui paused for a moment, "Do you just let everyone call you by your first name?"

"I try to tell them to."

"I see..." Kamui turned to gaze at the view of the city. "Well, to start off your time here, I want to ask you something."

Enso focused his gaze on the tall structures full of people.

"When you look out there, what do you see?" Kamui asked him.

"Buildings, cars, people, windows-"

"Not what I meant!" Kamui shouted.

"Then be more specific."

Kamui took a deep breath, "Tsk..."

There was a moment of silence between the two before Kamui spoke again.

"Here's a different question then. When you think of what makes a hero and what makes a villain, what comes to mind?"

"A hero is someone with the spirit of self-sacrifice, someone willing to throw themselves in the front of the innocent to save them. And villains are criminals with selfish desires that they achieve by causing pain and destruction to others."

Kamui glanced at Enso, waiting a few seconds before muttering, "That's it?"

"..." Enso didn't respond, which brought out a chuckle from Kamui.

"It appears there many things you don't understand about both the hero and villain worlds. What you said technically isn't wrong, but there is much more to it than that. This relates to what type of hero _you_ wish to become."

"..." Enso turned his head away with his eyes narrowed. "A... hero?"

Kamui picked up on this and looked confused. "What?"

Enso looked down at the ground below, gaze full of thought.

"Hm..." Kamui eyed the boy. _"Just what is he thinking?"_

The wooden hero decided that he'll find out in due time.

"Tomorrow, we're going to get up bright and early to patrol the streets. Then we're going to meet up with two other hero friends of mine. It seems that I've got a lot to show you, so I'm looking forward to working with you... Enso."

"..." Enso gazed at Kamui's confident look towards him.

But he turned his head away.

"I'm not."

"SO COLD!"

* * *

**~{Gran Torino's Apartment- 12:42 PM}~**

Izuku dug through his case and started taking out the contents of his costume, such as the protective knee pads, new green color, and then...

The vest and braces.

Izuku gulped as he remembered Enso's words.

_"And about the area these needles will insert, they won't leave permanent marks and will actually heal rather quickly. This is just until you can get a grip on Ikari, then you can just remove them."_

He shivered. _"S-Still... Just the thought of piercing myself..."_

He thought about putting them on right there with his costume but decided to leave them out for now and just put on the basic essentials. He slipped on the pants, knee pads, and zipped up his suit. He then did some stretches to see if his hero suit was secure enough and got into a determined stance.

"Preparations are complete!"

Gran Torino sat bored on the doorframe, "Then let's do this, you zygote!"

"Eh!? I-Is this really okay?!" Izuku started fidgeting with his fingers. "I-In all honesty, I-I haven't actually used this suit yet... It was modified recently, and if there isn't more space, then if I fire at 100% by accident, I might heavily injure you sir-"

Gran Torino rolled his eyes. "Good grief, you're such a chatterbox…"

He suddenly blasted off the doorframe and all around the room, but Izuku wasn't even bothering trying to turn his head to keep up. The boy just instinctively activating One For All throughout his body at 10%, listening to the movements of the older hero.

Gran Torino blasted at Izuku from behind with the intent on kicking him, "I'm losing patience!"

Izuku's eyes flashed, the boy then spinning to avoid the flying hero while also managing to grab his arm.

_"What!? He didn't even look back!" _Gran Torino thought in shock as he suddenly felt forced to the ground with Izuku on top of him.

The boy had a menacing demeanor that included a cold look in his eyes, but when he blinked, the timid look returned to him as he realized what he just did.

"A-Ah! I-I'm sorry! Are you okay!?" He got off the hero and stepped back.

Gran Torino just chuckled as he pushed himself up, _"What the hell kind of monster did you find, Toshinori?"_

He glanced the corner of his eye back to Izuku.

"Hey kid, what the hell kind of bloody trainer is that friend of yours?"

"E-Eh? W-Well... Despite being a student, he's a serious person that actually has a lot of experience in fighting. He's blunt, pretty emotionless, and isn't really good at interacting with others... B-But he's still trying to understand new things and genuinely wants to help me get stronger."

"But _why_ did he really want to help you and All Might?"

Izuku flinched, "W-Well..."

Izuku didn't know if he should tell the elderly hero that Enso was preparing him to fight a horrifying villain or also tell him that it was so Enso could try remembering something about his past, as both would require speaking about his otherworldly origins.

"It's... complicated."

"Hm?" Gran Torino raised an eyebrow, "Hmph, well if you and that big oaf trust him, then I'm sure he's okay. But to think he trained you well enough to react to my movements even though we just met."

Izuku awkwardly chuckled, "O-Oh, the only reason I was able to react so well is because he has a fighting style that moves similarly to your quirk just now! He's been using that form to help improve my reaction times."

Gran Torino grinned, "Oh? So you're already somewhat accustomed to speeds like that?"

"Y-Yes, somewhat..."

"Am I faster, or slower than him?" Gran Torino asked him.

"E-Eh? W-Well... I-If I had to be honest, a-a little slower..."

Gran Torino grinned. "Well, that's because I wasn't serious."

"Eh?"

Two blasts of air came out of his freet and sent the elder flying. In the next few seconds, Izuku couldn't comprehend where he was even at, only seeing blurs pass him every split second.

_"He's faster now!? Just how much-!?"_

He felt a kick on his cheek, "Gah!"

Then another on his back, "Nngh!"

Izuku stumbled forward and fell to one knee, where he was suddenly uppercut back to his feet.

_"The sound of his movements keep overlapping with each other! I can't tell where he is even if I listen!"_

Gran Torino jumped off the wall ahead of Izuku and tried to swipe at the boy's feet, to which the boy noticed just in time and jumped back to avoid the attack. Izuku then ducked under the hero's flying overhead kick but failed to prevent another kick that came from behind, hitting the back of his left knee.

_"I have to find a moment to grab him!"_

"Even at these speeds, you're holding out pretty well!" Gran Torino laughed.

Izuku ducked and jumped over two more passes by the elder, even jumping with a twirl to avoid another attempt from Gran Torino to ram into him.

"Neat dancing! But can you counter-act!?" Gran Torino continued yelling as he blasted all over the room.

_"He's purposely keeping too low or high to keep me from effectively grab him... But from what I can see, he's moving in consecutive straight lines form surface to surface just like Enso!"_

"Analyzing me, are ya?" Gran Torino chuckled as he saw the look on Izuku's face.

Izuku just continued thinking, _"If he's just moving in one direction at a time, then I can intercept him when he's flying! I just need to see him for a second!"_

And Izuku got this second as he saw Gran Torino land on the doorframe before blasting straight at him.

_"THERE!"_

Izuku jumped forward with One For All's speed, reaching out to intercept the elder.

But Gran Torino grinned as he unleashed multiple fast blasts of air to suddenly swerved around to get above Izuku.

Izuku's eyes widened.

_"He can change directions midair!?"_

Izuku didn't have time to comprehend this new discovery as Gran Torino blasted more air and flipped before dropkicking Izuku right on his back.

"Gah!" Izuku was slammed to the ground with Gran Torino standing on his back, who then slowly clapped his hands.

"Heh, you're not bad, kid."

"Th-Thank you..." Izuku groaned on the floor.

The elder than casually sat in a cross-legged manner on Izuku's back.

"Good to see you're not just trying to copy all of All Might's moves. Your own movements are pretty good. But tell me, how much of One For All _can_ you actually use?"

Izuku lifted his head so his face wasn't on the floor.

"Um... Ever since the sports festival, I-I can use a little above 10% just fine..."

"Oh? Your friend seems to know what he's doing then. Tell me more about him."

"Erm... I-I've known Enso for more than a year. W-We actually met the same day All Might chose me as his successor... H-He overheard us talking about All Might passing his quirk to me."

"What kind of idiots are you two to let someone listen in!?" Gran Torino knocked Izuku on the head repeatedly.

"Ow, ow, ow! I didn't even know that All Might was going to tell me such a delicate secret right there!"

"Hmph." Gran Torino stopped bashing him. "Go on."

Izuku rubbed the red bump on his head. "A-After listening in, Enso offered to help me get stronger with All Might."

"But why?" Gran Torino asked once again.

"Erm..." Izuku was sweating nervously. "I-I don't know if-"

Gran Torino knocked him on the head again. "Oh, come on! I'm gonna talk to him sooner or later and get the information out of him or Toshinori! So save me the trouble by telling me!"

_"I-I guess that makes sense... And Enso did say he was going to tell Gran Torino about it himself if he did come with me..."_

Izuku took a deep breath.

"H-He's actually not of this world."

"..."

"..."

Gran Torino grabbed Izuku's leg and yanked it up as hard as he could.

"OW, OW, OW, OW! Why!?"

"Since you're pulling my leg, then _I'm_ pulling yours!" The elder shouted.

"No, no, no, I'm not! He's really of another world and came here because he's trying to see if interacting with me brings back any of his memories!" Izuku shouted in one breath.

Gran Torino stopped pulling, "What the hell? You're actually serious?"

Izuku furiously nodded.

Gran Torino sighed, letting go of Izuku's leg and jumping off of him.

"It sounds like there's a lot more to this guy than I thought, so tell me everything you know. About him, what you guys have done so far, and..." He turned his head back to Izuku with a glare, "Just how much you understand your _own_ quirk."

Izuku flinched. "Y-Yes, sir..."

* * *

**~{At The Same Time- Edgeshot's Agency}~**

"They're really into the whole 'ninja' thing, aren't they?"

Shinso stood in the middle of a large room that resembled a Japanese dojo. The floor was made out of tatami, the walls and pillars of the room were made of wood, and the doors were even in a panel-like fashion. There were artifacts such as swords and paintings hung on the walls, Japanese lanterns lighting up the room, and a small area in the corner of the room where different ninja weapons were organized.

Despite the lanterns lighting up the room, there were many shadowy areas perfect for hiding, which one hero in the room took advantage of.

"Hitoshi Shinso." A voice echoed in the shadows.

Shinso raised an eyebrow and glanced around the area.

_"Is that Edgeshot?"_

"The first thing I'll say is this, if you use your quirk anytime without my approval, then there will be _very_ painful consequences. Understood?"

Shinso's eyes went all over the place, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Um, sure thing."

"Yes, master."

"Huh?" Shinso blinked in confusion.

"Always respond with 'Yes master.' We're keeping formalities here."

_"Ooooooooh boy, we really are going with the theme."_ Shinso sweatdropped.

"Er... Yes, master..."

"Don't half-ass it."

_"Didn't you just say we were only using formal words!?"_ Shinso thought after hearing him curse.

"Yes, master!" Shinso said a little louder and clearer.

"Good, now then..."

Shinso felt a tap behind him, making him flinch and turn around while backing up.

_"Wha-!? I didn't even notice him!"_

There was a slim male with gray hair made into three sharp points covering the right side of his face. As true to his alias, the hero had an overall ninja-like appearance consisting of dark red and blue colors. He was wearing a blue mask over his mouth, wore a red shinobi shozoku underneath a blue robe, and his arms are covered in a thin dark cloth that tucks into his white forearm sleeves.

"It's nice to meet you, Hitoshi Shinso. I'm sure you know this, but allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Shinya Kamihara, alias, the Ninja Hero: Edgeshot, the current Number 5 hero and voted the hero most likely to get a girlfriend three years straight."

_"Was that last part really necessary?" _Shinso thought.

"Um, Edge- *ahem* master? But _do _you have a girlfriend?"

"..."

"..."

"Moving on." Edgeshot answered calmly.

_"So obvious..." _Shinso thought with a blank expression.

"Now, allow me to ask _you_ a question, Hitoshi Shinso." Edgeshot put his hands together in a ninja form. "Why do you think I invited you here?"

Shinso grinned, "Because you thought I was cool?"

"No."

_"No hesitation!?"_

Shinso sighed, deciding to take this more seriously.

"Then... because of my quirk?"

Edgeshot nodded. "Yes, it may hurt you, but I believe your quirk to be highly useful. A quirk with the potential for stopping villains on the spot, no matter who they are. It is something that is rather prioritized to me as a Shinobi."

Shinso raised an eyebrow, "You mean a ninja?"

"I prefer the term, 'Shinobi.'"

Shinso scratched his hair, "Alright... But you really invited me here just because of my quirk?"

Edgeshot put his arms behind his back.

"Don't be mistaken, it's not like I think everything else about you is worthless. In fact, I know nothing about you besides your quirk. It is a quirk that goes along with what I prioritize, preventing conflict in the first place, and stopping already occurring conflict instantly even in the worst of scenarios. So, of course, that's one of the only reasons why I invited you. To see if the wielder of this quirk can take advantage of it to the best of his abilities, to see just how far he's willing to grow. After all, any quirk can be useless if the wielder isn't suitable for it."

"Hm, okay. I see what you mean, but there's one thing confusing me. I thought ninjas weren't supposed to be heard in the first place. My quirk involves people needing to respond to something I say, so wouldn't a ninja talking while sneaking around kind of defeat the purpose?"

Edgeshot nodded. "Perhaps, but it's also this expectation that people have for a Shinobi that would benefit you and your quirk. After all, if someone hides in the shadows and calls to a person, wouldn't their first instincts be to panic and ask 'who is there?' or something of the nature?"

Shinso's eyes lit up.

"Oh! That does sound great. But... You're actually gonna teach me how to become a ninja?"

"Not exactly. While I am going to teach you some stealth techniques and attacks of the Shinobi, I won't officially turn you into one unless you desire it."

"Oh, that's good. Because I didn't want to become one."

"I feel oddly offended by that..." Edgeshot calmly sighed.

_"Does he always keep his composure? Even when he gets triggered?"_ Shinso wondered.

"Hitoshi Shinso, tell me, how is the state of your body right now?"

Shinso turned black and white with his soul seeming to start leaving his body.

Edgeshot had a question mark form on his head.

"Heh... Heh..." Shinso weakly chuckled with no life in his eyes. "For the past four days straight, I've been through hell... My bones made weird cracking noises, my muscles tore, and everything turned sore and too painful to move... Yet _he_ somehow kept getting my body back up to keep on going..."

Edgeshot raised an eyebrow, _"What on Earth has he been through?"_

"So when you ask how the state of my body is... I guess it's pretty fit and a little more flexible now..." Shinso finished with a sigh deeper than the depth of the ocean.

"I... see." Edgeshot responded. "Then I guess this works out in our favor. If what you're saying is true, you should be ready to learn a few things... Providing that you have the discipline to remain calm no matter the situation you face."

Shinso chuckled, regaining his color back. "Well... After all that shit-"

"_Language."_

"-after all that _training_ I went through before coming here... I think I can keep pretty calm."

"Excellent, in that case..."

Edgeshot took out a few shurikens.

"First, let's test out your reflexes."

Shinso just weakly chuckled.

"Yeah... I should've known..."

_"Hm... Most people would say, 'Wait, what!?' or something like that, but I guess whatever he went through made him less vulnerable to getting fazed..."_

Edgeshot then switched his shurikens to marbles between his fingers.

"Of course, I wouldn't start off with using such dangerous items on a student. But to keep your calm in the presence of the threat by laughing it off... You would make a fine shinobi."

"No thanks, master."

A marble rammed right into his forehead.

"ACK!"

* * *

**~{Back To Gran Torino's Apartment}~**

Gran Torino was sitting on his couch with Izuku across from him, the elder maintaining an expression that had a mixture of seriousness and suspicion. He listened intensely to Izuku explaining all of Enso's circumstances, ranging from coming from another world, to the lives he's taken to see what memories he could regain. He explained that Enso had a device that detected abnormal energy of some sort in a person. And when Enso killed that person, he would absorb their energy while also remembering something small about himself.

Then he moved on to explain that when Enso did arrive on their world, he decided to take a different approach to Izuku as the source of mysterious energy. He decided to help him grow stronger to see if helping Izuku use whatever power he had would have any effects on Enso.

Gran Torino remained silent with the same expression throughout the entire story, even when hearing that some sort of terrifying villain named 'Lynch' would be arriving in their world just to inflict chaos and terror to everyone, especially for Enso.

When Izuku did finish, the elder just scoffed.

"What the hell? It sounds like ya just made up a plot for some kind of lame story

Izuku flinched, "I-I... mean..."

Gran Torino shifted his position on the couch, glaring at the boy.

"But that lad is actually an experienced warrior? Even experienced in the actions of murder?" His voice sounded hostile.

"Y-Yes... B-But he hasn't committed any sort of villainous acts while he's been here-!"

"And you think that means that it's easy to _forget_ what he's done then?" Gran Torino scowled.

Izuku looked down at the ground as a trail of sweat went down the side of his head.

"A life is a life. No matter who it is, when it is, or _where_ it is. Taking a life sets you on a dangerous path, where you'll end up finding the thought of taking another life, and then another, it shapes your mind. It distorts your thinking and causes conflict in a person. And, depending on the person, it can leave them numb to killing, or to even enjoy it... By looking at that boy's eyes from the festival and based on listening to what you've said about him, he seems to be the type of guy that wouldn't hesitate to cut someone down if he deems it the best option. So what makes ya think that he's miraculously stopped?"

Izuku gazed back at Gran Torino, "W-Well... I'm alive now, aren't I? When we first met, he could've easily cut me down since it seemed to be the easiest option for him, but... H-He actually wanted to stop doing what he's done before."

"Hmph! I doubt it was out of concern for your life, though. He seems to be the type of youngster who thinks more with his brain than his feelings. You said that he _thought_ letting you live and helping you get stronger would benefit him, so if he were to decide that killing you would be simpler, wouldn't he?"

"No!" Izuku immediately answered. "He-He's not like how he said he was before! He's been learning! For once, he actually tried to make friends!"

"Friends? Or pawns to help him take care of the problems that he can't handle himself?"

"Friends!" Izuku didn't hesitate to shout back.

"Oh? You have so much faith in your 'friend?' Then tell me, kid, do you actually _know_ this Ureshi's backstory? From the moment he woke up without his memories? How did he know his name? Why did he start his journey of traveling different worlds? And did he ever tell you what brought about this 'Lynch' in the first place?"

"Th-That's..."

"It seems like he hasn't told you everything, has he?" Gran Torino grumbled. "If ya trust him, then ya trust him. But you have to understand _exactly_ what it is you're involving yourself into. If you're placing this much trust in him, then you deserve to know _everything_ about him."

He jumped off his couch and started walking towards the fridge while Izuku shook nervously, realizing that he never did ask Enso more about Lynch's origins.

_"H-He... He hasn't been purposely keeping secrets from me... has he?"_

Gran Torino opened the fridge door. "Changing the subject, tell me about your other quirk. It's the 'energy source' you mentioned that brought Ureshi to you in the first place, right?"

"Eh? Oh, yeah..." Izuku mumbled, a sick feeling in his stomach.

Gran Torino dug around the fridge. "You clearly don't have any control over it whatsoever. Why is that? You said that you actually learned about it recently this year, right?"

"W-Well, first, I decided to name it Ikari, since the primary aspect is that it's powered by my anger. But I've never gotten too angry growing up, so I guess my quirk never had the 'power' to activate... And because of this, I was thought to be quirkless for most of my life. Up until... receiving One For All."

"Oh?" Gran Torino closed the fridge door with a carton of milk in hand. "What changed afterward?"

Izuku rubbed his hands together. "Um, I-It turns out, that with the energy of One For All I received... I-I may have somehow received all the anger of the previous predecessors with it..."

"Huh? Elaborate?" Gran Torino told him.

Izuku remembered what he saw during his fight with Enso.

"I-I saw... All For One... I saw him at several different moments. With different previous holders of One For All in each of these moments. I felt the anger of each of these holders, their pain, their despair... I-I felt it fueling me... That was when my power suddenly burst."

The carton of milk fell to the floor, and Gran Torino had turned to Izuku with a look of shock.

"What did you say?"

Izuku looked surprised to see the elder look so... worried.

"Y-Yeah. So now I have about eight people's worth of anger in me. At least, I think so. I-I may not have All Might's anger since he's still alive... B-But it's basically what fuels Ikari."

Gran Torino marched over to Izuku, ignoring the spilled milk on the floor.

"Do you know just how dangerous that is!? If your quirk suddenly has the same amount of stockpiled power that One For All has, then losing control of it would bloody hell lead to chaos!"

Izuku flinched, "D-Does Ikari have that much potential power!?"

"There's no way to tell for sure, and you should know since it's _your_ quirk! But like One For All, your quirk... Ikari, was it? It seems to have formed through a manner of energy cultivated over many generations. One For All stockpiled energy through the strength and hopes of the previous holders, while you said that Ikari seems to have stockpiled energy through the anger and despair of these same people... So it's not much a stretch to say that it may have the same destructive capabilities."

Izuku gulped nervously, "Did... Did the previous holders really end up suffering that much? For that much power to be in me... It would mean that they've been filled with anger, right?"

Gran Torino sighed. "Well, what I said may have been a bit of a stretch... But they did go through a lot. All For One did all he could to make the lives of the previous holders miserable... Finding anyone close to them to kill, harming the innocent..."

He paced around the room.

"All the previous holders were too weak to hold a candle to All For One... So none of them were able to face him and properly avenge the loved ones they lost. In the end, they always thought about just getting stronger and passing One For All to future generations. But... The thought of not being able to do anything else and the thought of All For One still being alive must've left them with _some_ unsatisfied rage."

He turned to Izuku with a glare.

"So you shouldn't lose hold of your quirk, no matter what."

Izuku gulped nervously. "Y-Yes, sir... I-I'm still in the process of coming into contact with Ikari so that it doesn't happen..."

"Yeah, focus on doing that- Wait a second, contact?" Gran Torino turned to Izuku with a blank look.

Izuku blinked, "A-Ah! I forgot to mention! I-Ikari-! Um... Manifested into a separate consciousness in me. S-So, you can say that _he's_ my quirk, and I get that dark energy from him."

Gran Torino suddenly landed on Izuku's head and jumped up and down on him.

"Why didn't ya tell me sooner!?"

"Ow! Ow! Ow! I'm sorry!"

He jumped off Izuku and growled, "So... You said you were trying to come into contact with him? So he's the one making you go haywire?"

Izuku rubbed the red bump on his head. "N-Not exactly. H-He acts out based on my desires, but it turns out that even _he_ gets influence by my anger, most likely because he is my embodiment of it. This causes him to lose control of himself while taking control of me, which leads him to try and solve things with violence... B-But he really isn't an evil entity!"

"Can you really be sure of that?" Gran Torino raised an eyebrow.

"W-Well, I-I mean... I don't see what benefit he would have to make me go rampant like before... Because if I get hurt, then he gets hurt. If I die, then he'll also die."

Gran Torino eyed the boy.

"Well, I can't really judge him since I haven't met him, but I hope you know what you're doing..." He sighed. "So, you mentioned that you have a plan for getting into contact with him, right? What is it?"

Izuku slowly turned his head over to his open hero case, where it only contained the vest and braces.

"W-Well I have some equipment meant to... s-s-s-stick needles into my skin to help escalate my anger... Th-That way, i-it should be easier to manually bring out Ikari so I could control him..."

Gran Torino didn't look so happy about it.

"And did you think how your quirk would feel if he came out with the feeling of getting stabbed!?"

Izuku flinched, "I-I did think about it... And I'll feel awful to use that method, but Enso thought it was the best way to bring him out..."

A cane flung right onto Izuku's head. "ACK!"

"Are ya an idiot!? How do you think you're gonna come to an understanding like that!?" Gran Torino fumed.

Izuku got up from the ground, wincing, "Wh-What?"

"Are you really considering your quirk's feelings!? From that thinking causing him pain is okay, to thinking that he's something for you to _control_!? You said that your quirk is a separate consciousness from yours, right!? Then is it really okay for him to be something for you to only think about _using_!?"

Izuku was silent as he stared at the elder, confused.

Gran Torino walked past Izuku, picked up his cane from the ground, and headed towards the front door.

"You want to bring Ikari out and come to an understanding? Then figure out what is he to you!"

He left the room, leaving Izuku sitting on the ground, looking somewhat confused.

_"What is he... to me?"_

* * *

**~{Outside Musutafu's city outskirts-1:05 PM}~**

**_"There has to be a place somewhere... But where?"_**

After finding that he couldn't find a suitable place to remain, Lynch flew out of the city, deciding to look outside for a place away from the general public. He was currently in a boney bird form with green fluids dripping from him as he flew through the air.

**_"A place to set everything up... I don't have much time left before Reapy finds out I'm here. Maybe I shouldn't have left that old man alive even if his mind was left a little broken?"_**

The sun was beginning to set as he flew passed some trees and into a dense forest several miles outside of the city, a forest full of tall lush trees as he kept flying deeper.

**_"If I can't find a building, then I'll just go as deep as I can go into this forest and make a place from scratch..."_**

He suddenly flapped his wings hard, flew straight upward, escaped the dense trees, and arrived at a clear green area of the bushy trees underneath him. In the distance, he could see some mountains and birds flying around, the sun still high above the horizon for a good margin.

**_"Okay... Let's try this then."_**

The open red eyes of his bird-like form turned to bright yellow, to which a wave of yellow spread all around him, traveling over the trees and over the landscape.

After a few seconds of waiting, he detected something.

**_"Oh? So there really is a building deep out here after all?"_**

He started rapidly flying forward towards the area he detected. From the power he used, he was able to identify any structures over the landscape, structures that he would make out to be buildings.

**_"Hm..."_** He flew down into the trees and once again kept flying through the darkness caused by the shadowing of the tall trees, which he passed maneuvered around.

After a few minutes later, he came out into an open area that was entirely out of place from the forest, an area that shocked Lynch to see.

It was as if he came across a whole new land formation.

The area he saw was about over a mile long with no life in sight, the ground was flat without any trees. There were dead leaves, dead grass, and a dirt path that seemed to lead off somewhere in the distance along the ground. The sky above was somehow cloudy and creepily yellowish from the sun's colors peaking through them, the small amount of light faintly lit up the area ahead of him. From this light, Lynch was able to see remains of lampposts spread out along the dirt path.

Lynch landed onto the ground before his body abnormally deformed and cracked while growing until he got back to his first form, to which he stood up straight and gazed around at the area.

**_"What... is this place?"_**

He crouched to the ground and took a look at the dirt of the path.

**_"No sign of footprints, so no one should be anywhere near here... unless someone here purposely avoided following the path to give the idea that there's no one around... But there's also no sign of any electricity in these lamps here, so that's further evidence that there shouldn't be anyone..."_**

He stood back up and started marching along the dirt path, his large feet crunching on the few dead leaves scattered on the trail. As he followed this path, he saw the silhouette of a structure far off in the distance, not noticeable at first because of how dark the area was up ahead.

As he got closer, he stuck a palm out and sent a few balls of green flames floating around the building, emitting light so that he could get a better look at the structure.

It was an old brick building with a large structure with one central body and a more extended part coming out on the side. In addition to this, the building had two towers with long pyramid tops on both. The windows of the place were mostly arch-shaped, and there was no light source coming from the building. In front of the building was a plaza, and surrounding the entire area was a long gate fence.

He even saw a few telephone poles on the side, but that had been visibly cut, representing how deserted off this area seemed to be from the rest of the world.

This nearly seven-floor building was most likely abandoned, given from all the signs of desertion around it. Lynch passed by the open gates surrounding the area and made his way to the front of the building, where he came face to face with a double-doored entrance.

He reached out and pushed them open, revealing a main dark area that had a receptionist desk and an unlit chandelier hanging above.

Lynch felt his excitement growing.

**_"This will do. This will do just fine."_**

*Rustle!*

**_"Hm?"_**

Lynch glanced back and saw something that he didn't really expect to see, a black wolf limping across the dead field and towards the building he was at. Lynch noticed that the wolf had wounds in the forms of bites on its body with the addition of one eye bloodied to the point where you knew it wouldn't be able to see again.

The wolf made its way to the door before noticing Lynch, then crouching into a fighting stance while violently growling. The wolf's one emerald green eye glared menacingly at Lynch as its teeth showed to be covered in blood.

Lynch stared at the wolf with a newfound interest, rubbing his chin as his red eyes brightened.

**_"That's rather bizarre... a Black Wolf? Here in 'this' Japan? Does this world's Japan have slightly different geography where these wolves can have habitats? Or is this one just a special case? And for it to be alone rather than in a pack, do its wounds have something to do with it? Did it get them from a fight from another pack of the sort? This one seems to be a female, and from how naturally it's putting on a stance of dominance, it might've been an alpha of the pack..."_**

He mumbled as he watched the wolf still maintaining its threatening position.

**_"Ah, whoops. I'm getting carried away. I got to stop getting so curious..."_**

He walked towards the wolf, who started backing up while letting out more ferocious growls.

**_"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" _**He chuckled as he reached his large hand for her.

As if to answer his question, the wolf jumped forward with a roar and clamped her jaw right into Lynch's hand, sinking her teeth into his skin and trying to rip a chunk of flesh out.

Instead of getting angry, Lynch just chuckled and lifted the wolf up, the fighter not budging to let go.

**_"Heh, I like you. I think you'll do just fine."_**

Lynch's other hand then had many small holes open on it, where a green, radioactive-like liquid came out and covered his palm.

**_"You'll be the first one here to serve me."_**

He stuck his hand forward and splattered the substance onto the wolf, getting an instant response of pain from her.

The wolf opened her mouth and released Lynch, falling to the ground and twitching in pain. She let out growls and whimpers as her body began to grotesquely deform and changed in shape.

Lynch stepped back as the animal started growing more massive, and change to look even more menacing than before. Her snout grew much more significant than before, her strands of fur started growing larger and sharper almost like needles, and her legs all grew longer as she slowly stood back up.

More changed of the wolf as her teeth grew more substantial and sharper into jagged metal-like teeth, her wounds healed with new skin and fur forming over them, and she felt her bones become tougher and denser,

Bone-like spikes seem to come out around her neck, pointing back, almost as if forming some sort of mane around her. Her claws also grew longer and sharper, digging them into the dirt ground as her facial features changed last. Finally, the bloody eye the wolf had healed up with her blood almost seeming to evaporate, leaving behind a scar and pupil with a new red color compared to the other green one.

The wolf then raised her head and let out a mighty howl, even created a small blast of air to scatter around.

Lynch proudly chuckled as his new work, casually walking forward and petting her.

**_"A much better look. I think I'm going to name you… Havoc."_**

He started chuckling.

**_"Because that's exactly what you'll be causing."_**

He then turned to the inside of the building with the creature behind him violently growling.

**_"Now... It's finally time to start checking this place out."_**

He started marching inside.

**_"Just you wait, Reapy... I'll 'meet' with your new friend soon enough."_**


	44. First Night Of Internships

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Hey everyone back at it again with another chapter of green cinnamon roll and his expressionless teacher. Now I'm sure many of you are wondering why this chapter and the chapter of my other fic, Galar's Secret Miracle, took longer to bring out, and that's because I wanted to post them both on the same day, which is today. But the reason for that? Well...**

**IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!**

**(Shoots cannon of confetti)**

**FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFREAK YEAH! 19 years old! One more year closer to death! So to celebrate with you guys, I released a chapter of this AND of my other fanfiction, Galar's Secret Miracle! (Should be out in a moment after this) Check it out if you're a fan of Pokemon Sword and Shield, it's a harem fic with the main character of the games, Victor, and the lovable girls of Galar! I just wanted to mention just how much I appreciate everyone reading this fic and leaving comments, it makes me feel better about myself. I honestly always end up comparing my fic to other fics and feeling bad that it's not doing as good as them, but everyone's feedback constantly reminds me that there are still so many people who enjoy my writing, and many that genuinely love it. So I get my mind off my bad thoughts and just keep writing for the people, and for myself. So thank you to all you readers out there. And I hope for another year of writing and positivity despite the times we're in. But enough about that, I know why you're here right now, to enjoy another chapter of dank comedy and exposition!**

**Btw, might be a while for my next chapter because I might watch some things that I've been meaning to take a look. One such show is Star VS The Forces of evil. Heard nice things and a friend joked about a guy basically having a harem, and that I might like it enough to make a fic lol.**

**Anyway, Happy Birthday to me and happy reading to all of you! (Dives out the window)**

**~{Pikaboo73- July 3, 2020}~**

Answered Comments:

_RainMAKER464, Nick4Speed: _**Yeah, I never really thought I'd be rewriting all of these chapters. But after looking through my original chapters myself, I thought they were so cringy I just HAD to change them. Thanks for reading them though!**

_SaturnNights, blue grimmoire, fpinheiro96: _**Thanks for the praise!**

_DarkestLight234: _**Huh, well then. Um... The more you know?**

* * *

**~{Hosu City-2:12 PM}~**

Iida marched down the city streets in his hero costume, the same city where the infamous Hero Killer Stain had been reportedly seen several times. Hosu City was where he chose to intern for this very reason, searching everywhere for any sight of the bloodthirsty murderer.

In front of him was the Normal Hero Manuel, a man wearing a blue and white skintight long sleeve shirt that tucked into his large yellow gloves and his dark gray pants. In addition to this, he wore both white boots and a helmet with a fish-like fin and visor design on it. Manuel smiled as he showed the area around to Iida, with the student trailing behind him as he paid close attention to his surroundings, even more serious than he usually was.

"Normally, we're mostly just waiting for calls from clients, but recently, you know, Hosu's been kind of hectic."

"And these street patrols help suppress crime while also reassuring the public..." Iida deduced as he glared into dark alleyways he came across.

"That's right, it helps ease everyone, even if just a little bit." Manuel smiled as he waved at a few kids waving at him.

After a few seconds of silence, Manuel chuckled.

"But man, to think that Ingenium's little brother actually decided to intern at my agency, I'm so lucky! I'm sure you had so many better offers from other heroes, but I'm more than glad that you decided to come to my agency." Manuel said cheerfully.

Iida walked silently as he went deep within his thoughts.

_"Hero killer…"_

Images of the rumored villain flashed through his mind. An intimidating muscular man with rather long and black messy hair with a headband and mask covering his face.

_"So elusive, that he can't even be caught by the net of modern society..."_

Iida clenched his hands tightly into fists.

_"I know this might be in vain. Even so…"_

He had flashbacks of his older brother. He remembered the bandages wrapped around his head and lower body, remembered the tubes and blood on him, and the painful look in his eyes as he forced a smile to his little brother.

Things only got worse for Iida when he learned that his brother would never be able to return as a hero ever again, having been paralyzed from the waist down.

_"Even so, I can't just stand around... He took my brother's career away, he took away the smile he gave to civilians... How is he supposed to smile at them now!? From a chair where he'll no longer be able to protect them!?"_

Each of Iida's footsteps echoed as all other sources of sound faded from his head.

_"I… I cannot forgive him!"_

Underneath his helmet, Iida had a look of pure hatred.

_"Hero Killer... I will STOP YOU!"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile, League Of Villains Hideout}~**

The first thing Hero Killer Stain saw when he stepped out of the dark portal was a room of red. His eyes adjusted to the slightly dimmed room and discovered it to be a bar of the sort, with the counter and drinks on the shelves behind the counter.

He eyed the room rather unamused before staring forward at an odd man sitting at the bar counter with a severed hand on his face. Behind him was a small, television screen that was turned on but only displayed the words, **Sound Only**. The dark portal behind him then changed and gathered behind the counter, where a villain wearing a vest and white dress shirt formed.

He instantly recognized Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

"I see... You're the ones who attacked U.A?" Stain said, yet not sounding very impressed.

Kurogiri politely bowed. "Indeed we are. I'm sure you've heard of us Hero Killer Stain, but we are the League of Villains."

Stain scoffed, "What's left of you guys anyway..."

"Oi, that's mean..." Shigaraki growled.

_"Now, now, even with our small size, we still have a lot of power needed to make an... 'impression' on the world."_ A smug voice behind Shigaraki said.

Stain narrowed his eyes at the television screen behind the man-child. "Who are you supposed to be?"

_"Oh, I'm just an observer for Tomura. Pay me no mind."_ He chuckled.

Stain didn't know why, but he could sense a dangerous feeling coming from the voice.

"So... Since you've taken the trouble to find and invite me here, I'm assuming you wish to add me to your numbers?"

Shigaraki nodded.

"Yeah. You've got so much more experience as a villain... sir."

Stain stared suspiciously at Shigaraki.

"Answer me this question first... What are you after?"

Shigaraki tilted his head with a sigh.

"For now, I just want to kill All Might... I want to break everything I hate, including..." He pulled up a few pictures between his fingers, two of which, were Izuku and Enso. "Damn kids like this too... Everything."

He tossed the pictures to the floor, where they scattered to reveal several other students of Class 1-A.

Stain reached down and picked up the picture of Izuku, a look of disgust forming as he thought about such mindless murder.

_"Now, now Tomura. What did I say before?"_

Shigaraki scratched his neck in irritation. "Tsk! But why...? I hate those brats the most for stopping me from venting out my anger... And you want me to let them _live_? To let _that_ green brat live?"

_"Tomura."_

Shigaraki flinched and his eyes dilated behind his hand mask, actually picking up a rare sense of hostility from his sensei.

_"Why...? Why...!? WHY!?"_

Shigaraki balled his hands into fists, but only lowered his head.

"Sorry... Sensei..."

_"Good. Now carry on discussing what you've intended."_

Stain dropped the picture of Izuku and scowled at the other villains.

"There's no need to continue discussing anything."

"Hm?" Kurogiri stopped cleaning a cup and stared at the Hero Killer.

"I was foolish to be interested..." Stain glared daggers at Shigaraki. "You're the type of person I hate the most."

"Huh?" Shigaraki tilted his head, puzzled.

Stain reached for two daggers from each of his sides.

"All you're doing is throwing a tantrum... No, much worse than a tantrum... You're messing with lives out of a fit of childish anger!"

Stain pulled out two daggers and shouted.

"To kill those 'brats' just because you don't like them, how stupid! What kind of meaning is there in killing without conviction!?"

Kurogiri stared intensely at Stain and could feel an intense aura coming from him.

_"Hero Killer Stain... The man brought in by Master in order to help Shigaraki grow... The man that is meant to help Shigaraki learn to destroy for reasons rather than just for the sake of destruction..."_

He turned to the television screen, wondering what _he _was thinking about this.

"Master! Is this all right to let this continue!?" Kurogiri asked him, knowing that things might get violent.

The man on the call just laughed.

_"Of course! There'll be no point in bringing Stain if we just stop and tell Tomura the answer to his predicament. He still has to think about where he has to mature. Spur on his growth!"_

The man grinned on the other side of the call.

_"That's what it means to educate. Hehe..."_

_"I have a bad feeling about this..." _Kurogiri thought.

* * *

**~{Meanwhile, Center Of Tokyo, Best Jeanist Agency}~**

"What..." Bakugo grit his teeth.

"What the hell..." His hands were clenched into fists.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"

The blonde teen was still wearing his U.A uniform, but was currently tied down onto a chaise longue from threads of fabric holding him down. The source of these threads was a man standing beside him with an arm up, Best Jeanist, holding the boy down with his quirk.

"Just precautions." The Fiber Hero said, holding a clipboard in his other arm as he sat down on a chair in front of the boy.

Both Bakugo and Best Jeanist were alone in a private room with the pro hero writing onto his clipboard with his right hand, while using his left hand hold onto the threads of his clothes that held Bakugo in place.

"Huh!? Precautions!? For what!?" Bakugo demanded to know.

"To keep you from moving in case your anger reaches a certain point."

_"What the hell is with this guy!?" _Bakugo glared angrily at him.

"You only chose my agency because I'm one of the five most popular heroes, correct?"

"Huh?"

"I knew that out of the low amount of offers you must've gotten, you would of course choose mine. I'm sure you've expected me to teach you ways to grow stronger and improve your quirk or something along the line, didn't you?"

Bakugo's eyes narrowed. "So you just baited me!?"

"I figured gaining more strength was what you wished for... Well, I hate to break it to you, but that won't be the case while you're here."

"Then let me get out of here so you can stop wasting my time, then!" Bakugo snapped.

"If you leave, then I get the feeling U.A. won't be too happy with you. And besides, I still invited you here to help you, although, it's more about doing society a favor..."

"What the hell do you mean?" Bakugo growled.

Best Jeanist gently straightened his own hair, "Recently, I've only been getting good little kids to work with me, but when I heard what was exposed at the festival, you really struck me... To hear a student of U.A. be a tormentor and has even encouraged suicide on his classmate... You didn't just strike a chord, you struck a _nerve_."

Bakugo glared at the professional hero while the hero glared back.

"I saw your abilities, you were able to manipulate and use your quirk with such high potential, having a good grasp on it and fighting marvelously with it. I would even say you already have enough talent to be recruited as a sidekick."

He closed his eyes. "But... You have a fatal flaw. A devastating flaw."

He opened them again while pointing at Bakugo.

"Your belief to be the best."

He then picked his pen back up with his right hand and wrote on the clipboard on his lap.

"All you seem to think about is yourself. You desire to portray yourself as the strongest among everyone and this results in you getting violent when you believe that someone is looking down at you. Tell me..." He glanced up, "Did _Midoriya _ever look at you the same way I currently am?"

Bakugo's pupils shrunk at Best Jeanist's eyes of disgust. "You shut it! Did you bring me here just to give me a damn lecture!?"

The pro hero combed his hair, "Hmph, much more than that. You don't care about how others view you as long as you can prove yourself to be the strongest, you have a ferocious nature that's rather disturbing to look at, and you're the most inconsiderate person I've ever met. It is part of my work as a hero to correct people like you..."

He put his comb in his pocket and went back to writing.

"After all, heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin. One person can easily flip from one side to the other, and I don't wish for anyone to flip to the darker side... So I'll show those hateful eyes of yours that strength alone doesn't, and _won't, _make you into the 'strongest' hero. How you speak, controlling your emotions, enforcing morals, and so much more are concepts that I must teach to you..."

Bakugo scoffed, "And how the hell do you plan to do that?"

Best Jeanist glanced up to the boy, "Well... Before learning just how serious the problem you have was, I had planned to change your looks and teach you to be more reassuring to the public by taking strolls. But I've seen there's a lot deeper, infuriating anger behind all of your problems. So what I want to focus on bringing out the source of it all, especially the reasons as to what caused you to torment that young boy Midoriya in the first place."

"Huh?" Bakugo growled.

"I heard enough from the festival to get an idea about the problem...You believe that Midoriya 'looked down' on you the most, correct? Even though that Ureshi fellow claimed that was most likely not the case. So for now, I'm going to act as a therapist for you and have ourselves a session in order to address the root of your problems to fix them. I'm actually a talented youth counselor and have helped straighten out many kids during my career."

Bakugo's eyes widened, "You mean...?"

"Yup, you're gonna have to talk about your life."

Bakugo started struggling like his life depended on it.

"NOOOO GOD!"

Best Jeanist raised an eyebrow.

"NO GOD, PLEASE NO!"

Bakugo pulled and tugged, squirmed and wiggled, did anything to get out of his bindings.

"No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!"

_"This might be difficult..." _Best Jeanist sweatdropped.

* * *

**~{Endeavor's Agency-}~**

In the entirety of the top floor that was the tall building of the Endeavor Agency, Shoto Todoroki stood in a room that only had a large carpet in the middle, two couches facing each other, a table, Endeavor's desk near the back, and a chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

_"Why does this floor have so few things?" _Todoroki wondered as he carried his hero case through the room, approaching his father at his desk.

"I have been waiting for you, Shoto." The number two hero grinned at his son.

"I know, that's why I took so long to get here."

Cross-veins emerged on Endeavor's head as his grin was instantly wiped away.

"Do you know how much precious time you've wasted already!? If you're so reluctant to comply with me, it will only hinder your ability to grow!"

"I know, I was just joking. I was late because the trains were halted for a while." Todoroki said with no emotion on his face.

Endeavor slammed his desk. "Stop messing with me!"

His son sighed. "Fine..."

Endeavor grumbled before getting back on track. "It seems that you are finally ready to take the path of the mighty with me, huh?"

"Well, All Might can't invite students to intern with him since he's a teacher, so now I'm here."

"You little-!" Endeavor's flames burst up for a second before he forced himself to calm down. "Ugh! You just do whatever you can to infuriate me, don't you!?"

"You should've expected this, old man." Todoroki narrowed his eyes.

Endeavor growled. "Hmph, I did, but it still annoys me to no end... So let me bring up a matter that you'll _have_ to take seriously then." He leaned forward on his desk and folded his hands together. "Would you like to be taught in the art of combat under the instruction of someone?"

"What?" Todoroki asked suspiciously, never expecting anything like this from his father.

Endeavor grinned at him, "I have deemed someone with the skills and abilities to help ripen your own. Especially since you are still reluctant to learn from _me_."

Todoroki just glared at him.

"What is it?" His father noticed.

"Well., sorry if I don't seem... 'excited' about this. But I don't think I'd trust someone _you_ asked to teach me."

"Good then." Endeavor grinned again, "Because I wish for _you_ to be the one to ask this person."

That just made the half n half user more suspicious than ever. "What do you mean?"

"I've spoken to one of your classmates, Enso Ureshi, about the matter."

Todoroki's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"He has expressed his willingness to teach you the same skills that he's taught to Izuku Midoriya. I'm sure you've noticed, just as I did, the way they both fought at the festival."

Todoroki felt irritated, "Did you buy him off, old man?"

"He wasn't swayed by money. If anything..." He stood up, eyeing Todoroki. "He may have just been considerate to help you."

He walked around his desk and in front of Todoroki.

"So when you get back from here, I wish for you to accept his assistance."

"Is there even a point? With my quirk, I'm more of a ranged fighter anyway."

"You need more than that. Every hero has to be able to adjust to any situation. Whether it's fighting someone from afar, or..."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Countering someone that managed to get up close."

"..."

Todoroki turned away. "Why would I go to him? And how would _you_ even know that he'd be right for me?"

"You'd go to him for your own benefit, Shoto. And as for why I'm confident in him, it's clear to me that he's unlike anyone in U.A. His eyes... His eyes weren't of that of a student..." Endeavor's flames seem to grow as he evilly grinned, remembering the conversation he had with the cold boy. "There seems to be much more to him."

Todoroki couldn't exactly disagree with his father in terms of there being a lot more to Enso that meets the eye. He had always wondered about him hanging around Izuku and All Might. But he was even more curious about how he and principal Nezu seemed to 'get along.' From how carefree the principal seemed to act around Enso, the way Enso rudely and boldly refereed to Nezu as a 'rodent' sometimes, to even catching Enso carrying the principal around one time.

_"I wonder... Could he be..."_

Todoroki's eyes widened.

_"Nezu's secret love child or something?"_

"I hope you'll see that this way will heavily benefit you." Endeavor said, snapping Todoroki out of his thoughts.

The hero walked passed him, "But for now, get changed, we're going out."

The boy turned back to his father, "To where?"

Endeavor just grinned again.

"To show you what a hero is."

* * *

**~{Gran Torino's Apartment- 8:39 PM}~**

Izuku stared at a sleeping Gran Torino, unable to believe that the elder hero went to sleep _this_ early rather than teach Izuku more or take him to do any hero work.

"Z! Z! Z!" Gran Torino muttered with a sleep bubble coming out of his nose.

_"He's actually saying the letter!?" _Izuku deadpanned.

Izuku was still in his hero costume, having not taken it off from earlier. He had waited for Gran Torino to come back from whatever he had left to do for the rest of the day, but he had only just gotten back a few minutes ago before immediately plopping on his bed.

_"He didn't even change, brush his teeth or anything... He just went straight to sleep..."_

He sighed in some frustration. _"All he did was test me this morning... We didn't do anything else..."_

Izuku walked out of Gran Torino's room and then sat down on the living room couch, scratching his head as he thought more about the speedy elder.

_"I didn't get any hits when I searched his name… All I know is that he was a U.A. teacher for just one year... He really is a mystery."_

He leaned back and turned to the window to gaze outside at the night sky.

_"Right now... Rather than focus on outputting more power or making my own techniques, I need to focus on bringing out Ikari willingly..."_

Izuku then remembered Gran Torino's words.

_"Are you really considering your quirk's feelings!? From thinking that causing him pain is okay, to thinking that he's something for you to control!? You said that your quirk is a separate consciousness from yours, right!? Then is it really okay for him to be something for you to only think about using!?"_

He glanced at the vest and braces still in his briefcase on the floor.

"..."

Izuku got up from the couch and approached his equipment, crouching down and picking it up.

_"But... This is the only way I can bring him out for now..."_

But then he remembered something Ikari said.

**_"While I remain in your subconscious, I don't feel the pain you go through because I'm not out in the real world, but the moment I do go out there or a part of me goes out there for you to use, then we'll both be vulnerable to each other."_**

"Then... That means he shouldn't be able to feel any pain I get inflicted until he actually comes out! So it should be fine for me to use these needles until then!"

Deciding what to do, Izuku unzipped the top part of his costume and started equipping the vest and braces.

After zipping his costume back up, he stepped outside into the night and quickly ran off to find a private area. He followed a few roads straight until he came upon a small but empty parking lot with full trash cans and tattered empty buildings surrounding the area, clearly, no one was living around the area.

"This place should be good."

He stared down into his hands, remembering the way to activate the needles would be to clap them together.

"The first step to learning how to control my power, is to come into contact with Ikari…"

Izuku gulped nervously as he thought about the pain that would occur, but he remembered Enso's explanation about getting angry.

_"You see Izuku, pain can feed anger, whether it's physical or emotional. Pain won't cause anger, but it can help it grow in a person"_

"So basically..." He muttered aloud. "I have to make myself a little angry first before escalating it with this equipment..."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

_"So... I have to think back to those dark memories I've been forgetting..."_

Despite thinking this, Izuku chuckled.

_"No, I don't have to go too far, because after everything that happened..."_

His eyes shot open.

_"Now I think I'm just permanently angry at Kacchan..."_

Izuku clapped his hands together, each memory him and his childhood tormentor just spinning through his head in just one moment. Truth be told, despite no longer letting these thoughts get in the way of his confidence, they still lingered in the back of his mind. Which in this case, would actually be in his favor to bring them back up just for Ikari.

He instantly felt his skin pierced, feeling several skinny needles digging into him as if he was getting punctured with several syringes.

"NNNNNNNGGHH!" Izuku grit his teeth, forcing himself not to yell despite the pain going through him. His eyes dilated and he lowered his arms, balling his hands into tight fists as he hunched forward in pain.

_"Come out... Come out! Please!"_

He closed his eyes and winced as he felt the needles retract out of his skin, taking deep breaths as sweat began to form and trail down the side of his head.

_"Come... On...!"_

When Izuku slowly opened his eyes, he was shocked to see black.

But only around his right hand.

"I...I did it! Sorta..."

He raised his right hand and examined the black aura around it.

_"This... is this the first time I've actually seen Ikari consciously?"_

He reached with his left hand and tried to touch the aura around his right, feeling some fuzziness upon feeling upon it.

_"It's... so odd..."_

He formed a more serious gaze.

_"I have to be able to bring out Ikari naturally... Kacchan and the others can use their own quirks like breathing. But with Ikari, I seem to be having the same problem I first had with One For All. I can't use him... E-Er not use! 'Bring out,' yeah. I just can't seem to bring out Ikari in a natural or even conscious way."_

Izuku's eyes lit up in realization, "Ah wait! I-I forgot why I was here in the first place! I have to talk to him!"

He closed his eyes and focused, still feeling the warmth of the black aura around his right hand.

He took deep breaths, trying to see if he could somehow, someway, finally speak to his quirk.

_"I-Ikari...? Are you there?"_

Silence.

_"Ikari… Can you hear me at all?"_

More silence.

Izuku opened his eyes and found the black aura on his hand fade away.

"W-Wait!" He grabbed at it with his left hand, clearly not helping as it completely disappeared.

"Damn it!" Izuku groaned as he lowered his hands. "Well... I knew this wouldn't be easy... But I was hoping for a word or something by just activating his power..."

He raised his hands again.

_"Well... Since I know Ikari won't feel any pain until he actually contacts me out here, I can bring out a portion of his power without hurting him, so let's see what I can do with just that."_

He clapped his hands again, gritting the pain as he felt the needles injected once more.

_"Again... Again!"_

He saw the black aura surround his right hand once again.

"There! Now... Nngh!" He felt the needles retract back before he aimed his right arm forward and opened his palm.

_"Focus... Focus!"_

Surprisingly, a small black orb of energy formed.

Izuku's eyes widened, "I-I'm doing it! I'm-!"

All of a sudden, the black sphere exploded in his hand, sending Izuku back in a blast of black.

"GAH!" He crashed into several trash bags that had been grouped together, cushioning his launch but leaving him with his eyes completely open in shock.

_"Wh-What just happened!? Was it because I got excited for a moment? Or was I not able to handle his power? No, that wouldn't make sense for that small amount..."_

Izuku got up, more determined and pissed off.

"I've got to keep trying!"

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

"Hmph, so you want to add me to your numbers? Don't make me laugh."

Stain was on top of Shigaraki with one blade plunged into the man-child's shoulder with the other right by Shigaraki's neck.

"No matter what you or your group wishes to do, nothing will matter unless you have conviction and desire."

He glared down at Shigaraki.

"Those without these key essentials and those without the strength to support them will be weeded out like the rest, that's why..." He leaned his head down closer to Shigaraki, "That's why things turned out like this."

Shigaraki just grumbled while remaining completely still on the floor.

"Ow... That hurts... Too strong." He whined. "Kurogiri, take this guy back."

However, Kurogiri was on the bar counter with a wound on his shoulder, the villain twitching but unable to move anywhere.

"I-I can't move my body... Could it be the Hero Killer's quirk?"

Stain ignored their pain and kept speaking.

"The world we're in has lost its true meaning... It's filled with fake heroes who have selfish goals, with criminals who abuse their powers without any true purpose."

He narrowed his eyes.

"They should all be purged."

Stain brought the blade near Shigaraki's neck closer, but it ended up getting too close to the severed hand on the decaying villain's face.

Shigaraki's eyes widened behind this hand and he suddenly grabbed Stain's blade.

"Hold it." His voice was full of hostility.

Stain's eyes widened.

"Not, that, one." He stressed with each word.

Shigaraki's hand bled, but the blade that made him bleed suddenly deteriorated.

His pupils shrunk. "I'll kill you."

The blade cracked and turned brown.

"You talk too much... Conviction? I don't have anything grand like that."

Shigaraki crushed the dagger and it turned into dust.

"But if I had to say what's the source of my actions... It'd be All Might. I hate the society that has revolved around him... Everyone believes in him... So I want to crush those who worship that trash and every other hero that everyone looks up too..."

Shigaraki was maniacally grinning.

"I just want to destroy everything."

Stain jumped back as Shigaraki swiped a hand on him, the villain landing in a crouching position with his other blade still in hand.

"Damn it... And my wounds were just starting to finish healing... Damn it, damn it, damn it..." Shigaraki limply got up and started scratching his neck.

Stain smirked. "So that's who you are?"

"Huh?" Shigaraki stopped scratching.

"We have different goals in mind, goals that go against each other. However... We both agree on one thing, to destroy this putrid society altogether."

Shigaraki growled, "Stop messing around... Just go home and die already. I'm the type of guy you hate the most, right?"

"Hmph." Stain put away his blade. "I was testing your motives. People show their true colors when they're on the verge of death."

He crossed his arms.

"While I oppose of you just killing those you don't like, you still have a 'desire.' With this desire, there is a sprout of conviction within you, but how will you bud? It may be worth letting you live to find out before I decide."

_"Heh, heh, heh... Indeed."_ The man in the computer screen chuckled.

"So every moment, I'll have a chance to die by you if I'm not how you'll like me? Tsk..." Shigaraki turned to the portal in a man. "I don't want someone this crazy as a party member..."

By this point, Kurogiri was able to move. "But Tomura Shigaraki, he will be a great asset if he joins us. Negotiations seemed to have been successful."

_"Yes, Tomura. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you should always avoid or destroy it. A lot of the things people don't like actually benefits them."_

Shigaraki grumbled in frustration as Stain stepped forward with a murderous look.

"If we're done, then take me back to Hosu."

His red eyes blazed red.

"I still have some unfinished business there."

**~{Internships-Day 2}~**

Gran Torino walked down the stairs with his cane supporting him, happily smiling with a blank face as he saw Izuku in the living room wearing a casual t-shirt and shorts.

"Morning-Hm? What's wrong?" He saw bags under the boy's eyes with the addition of many dirty marks on his face.

Izuku had a blank smile on his face from how tired he was.

"I was training on my own last night to see if I can talk to Ikari, but I got a little too caught up with it…"

He tiredly walked around.

"In the end, I wasn't able to come into any contact with him... But I was actually able to bring out some of his energy into from hand."

"Oh?" Gran Torino narrowed his eyes. "And just _how_ did you bring out this energy? And why is there a washcloth with some bloodstains on it by the sink?"

Izuku flinched, then starting flailing his arms around.

"U-Um well you see, I-I ended up using my equipment to help me escalate my anger, but I-I know it doesn't hurt Ikari! H-He only feels pain with me if he actually comes out of... my 'consciousness' so it should be fine until he actually comes out!"

Gran Torino walked over to Izuku and knocked his head once with his cane.

"Ow!"

"Even if your quirk can't feel it, don't go hurting yourself ya stupid zygote! It makes me cringe just thinking about it!"

Izuku rubbed his head and sighed. "Sorry... I tend to have that effect on people..."

Gran Torino walked over to his couch and hopped onto it.

"So... Did you clean any holes you made in yourself? And did you clean your blood off your equipment?"

"Yes to both." Izuku answered with a yawn.

"Okay, then onto something else. You said you were able to bring out some of your quirk, right? How did that go?"

Izuku looked disappointed in himself, "The best I was able to do was fire a small ball of energy... But it would either blow up in my face or would never fire where I want it to..."

Gran Torino chuckled. "Well, it's not surprising since it seems to be the first time you've actually tried to use Ikari consciously, so it can't be helped. You had to learn from the ground up how to bring out the power of One For All and now you have to do the same for Ikari, compared to All Might who was able to use his power naturally from the start. I ended up having to teach him a different way which involved... 'testing' his body."

Izuku's eyes widened in excitement, "All Might as a student? What was he like?!"

"He took a lot of hits to the gut pretty well. He even got a few concussions but was always able to keep fighting."

Izuku turned pale, _"That's why he was so scared of you!"_

Gran Torino scoffed as he saw the look on the youngster's face, "Don't act like he's been through the worst training in the world. Your friend Ureshi must've put you through hell too, hasn't he? How was combat with him like?"

Izuku thought about his training and fighting with Enso, but for some reason, the first thing that came to mind was their session when Shinso arrived. He remembered being on the floor and nearly crying because of Enso's 'Spirit Breaker' technique.

Izuku instinctively covered his private region and shivered from the memories.

"Wow... That bad, huh?" Gran Torino sweatdropped. "Not even I've ever struck All Might down there."

"H-He couldn't teach me half-heartedly..." Izuku comedically cried.

"Hey, neither could I to All Might either... He was the man entrusted to me by my sworn friend who has passed away…" Gran Torino said as he looked down at the ground.

"What? All Might's predecessor passed away?" Izuku asked in some surprise.

"Eh?" Gran Torino looked up at Izuku in some shock.

"What?" Izuku tilted his head, confused by the elder's look.

"Er... Nothing." He turned his head away. "Today, we'll be sparring again to see if you can catch me... For now, All Might told me that you've been learning to cook, so make me something from the fridge, would ya? I would prefer something with Taiyaki in it."

"Sorry, but there's no way I could fit that into a healthy meal..." Izuku sweatdropped. "But I guess I'll try and make something quick."

Izuku didn't see Gran Torino's face, but the hero looked rather conflicted as he went into his thoughts.

_"Since he saw the previous holders and knew about All For One, I assumed that he'd know. But..."_

He peaked back at Izuku, who was taking out resources from the fridge.

_"You really haven't told him about 'her', Toshinori?"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile- Kamui's Internship}~**

"So boring..."

Enso walked down the sidewalks of the city with both hands stuffed into his suit pockets. He trailed behind Kamui as the hero patrolled the streets, waving at many citizens that excitedly waved back. However, their excitement would turn into a cautious curiosity as they saw Enso and his rather cold appearance that contrasted against the uplifting hero in front of him.

While they patrolled the streets, Kamui made small talk with the boy.

"So tell me, where are you from kid?"

"I don't know."

"...Okay? How old are you?"

"No clue."

Kamui stopped walking and stared back at him.

Enso tilted his head. "What?"

"What do you mean, 'what!?' How can you have no clue!?"

"Special circumstances."

"And... they are?"

"What makes you think I'd tell you?"

Kamui sighed, "Fine... Do you at least have a _clue_ about your age or home?"

Enso looked up in thought, "Well... I do believe to be actually older than every student in my class."

"Wha-really?" Kamui asked, surprised. "What makes you believe that?"

"Just a feeling."

Kamui raised an eyebrow before shrugging and continuing to walk.

"You really are mysterious... But if you really are older than your classmates, then I could understand why you have that look of... experience."

"So many people have said that, but I think they're mistaking it."

"I doubt it. It's an unnatural scary face." Kamui chuckled.

_"Did he just insult me?"_

Kamui waved at some more people.

"Speaking of appearance... Ureshi-"

"Enso." The boy insisted.

"Okay... 'Enso.' Why do you think heroes go patrolling the streets?"

"To search for crime." Enso immediately responded.

"Aha, I was expecting that answer."

"Then don't bother asking the question."

"Hey! There's still a point of asking, you know!?"

"Then just _say_ it." Enso rolled his eyes.

"At least try to be respectful and go along with what I'm saying" He turned ahead, walking ahead and taking a right. "These patrols heroes do are far more important than just to control crime... It's to appeal to the public."

"You mean suck up to them?"

Kamui shook his head, "No... You could give that reason for selfish heroes who desire fame and fortune, but for heroes that genuinely care about the well-being of the public, we use these patrols to raise their spirits."

The wooden hero waved at a group of female students that all squealed when he did, a few hearts flying from the group.

"..."

Kamui turned back and saw a look of suspicion on Enso's face.

"D-Don't give me that look! I'm not rising the people's spirits towards _me _for my own personal gain! I just told you that's not the point!"

Enso pulled his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms. "Then for who is it for?"

Kamui sighed, "I thought you'd understand by now, but I guess you aren't a _people_ person. Heroes don't raise the spirits of the public for themselves, they do it to help give people a sense of hope and freedom from worry. We want them to feel safe and not worry about villains or disasters."

"So you do it to make it seem like everything's fine? Even though there's still crime and bigger events going on in the cities they're living in, you give them a false sense of security?"

Kamui chuckled, "There will always be trouble, make no mistake about that. But it's not that we want people to forget about this. Rather, we want them to be at ease that us heroes will always take care of it. We want them to trust us that we'll always be there for them, to always make things right."

"But... There are times when heroes can't save everyone, right?"

Kamui looked down, "Heroes don't mention anything like that..."

"But?" Enso pushed.

The wooden hero sighed. "But yes, we don't admit it, but the reality is that there are rare cases where heroes aren't able to save someone in time... But we always push the belief that we _can_ save everyone. We make the public feel protected and pass a message that we _will_ be able to save anyone of them."

Enso crossed his arms, "Hmph, but that makes it so when someone falls victim, it turns into a much more serious matter, doesn't it? I've read on headlines before. 'This' hero didn't save a lady in a burning building, 'that' hero didn't notice another victim of a natural disaster, and even 'a' hero caused a structure to collapse on civilians. And aren't things like that what get people riled up? Because they feel like they've been lied to or can't trust you guys?"

Kamui's hands clenched into fists. "Yes... These matters end up becoming criticisms the public has for us, but they don't understand the reality of the situations we heroes have to deal with. It's a reason why heroes always have to make themselves appear able-bodied, so they don't receive backlash from the public. But then again, I suppose the public's expectations for us were formed from us heroes projecting ourselves to be perfect in the first place..."

They arrived in a plaza and Kamui stopped walking, then once more turning back to Enso.

"But at the end of the day, we're always here for the people, even if there are those among the public that don't think highly of us... We want the people to feel safe because we care for them, we want our society to remain stable and calm so the people can live peacefully. If we told people that there would be times we can't save them, if we told them that there may be villains living right near their homes, if we told them that there are heroes that don't care about them... then there would be fear, panic, and especially doubt among everyone."

He turned to the crowds of people in the plaza.

"All of these people are why heroes exist. We're here not just to protect them, but to ease their burdens with just our presence. That's why things such as physical appearance, speech, and actions are all important aspects for heroes. These traits help us give people the peace of mind we wish to implement."

He stared at Enso's emotionless eyes.

"But... I can tell that you aren't particularly here for the public, are you? You have your own reason for being a hero, correct?"

"If I do... then can you even call me a hero?" Enso questioned as a response.

"We don't categorize heroes based their goals for choosing this career, we don't refer to them with different names, it's just an overall title. But if you were to ask me if you were a 'true hero,' then... I'm sorry to say you've got a long way to go."

"It's fine..." Enso muttered as he gazed away.

_"It won't matter anyway..."_

Enso was familiar with travel. Collecting the energy and a memory from the people he's finished off, then traveling to another world, and then repeating the progress. The only thing different about being in this world was that he was helping the source of energy he detected to get stronger and hopefully help him finally finish off the annoying monster following him everywhere.

But he knew that if he didn't remember everything about himself, then he'd just have to leave again when it was time.

"But you do have people you want to protect, don't you? People that you love?"

"Not really."

Kamui flinched by his immediate response.

"Er... Then is it safe to assume you're not a very well-loved person?"

"I don't believe I am."

"Then maybe that's your problem." Kamui patted him on the shoulder. "Find someone you like, make some friends, these kinds of things will help you understand how heroes feel when they wish to protect the innocent."

"But I do have some friends."

"..." Kamui raised an eyebrow. "But... you just said-? Actually, nevermind... Back to your friends, don't you wish to protect them from anything?"

"But the people I know can protect themselves."

"That's not... what I mean..." Kamui stared blankly at Enso.

"..."

"..."

"You're not very good with 'feelings' are you?"

"Was it not obvious?"

Kamui facepalmed and turned away. "Oh god, this is gonna be difficult..."

Enso tilted his head confusingly.

Kamui sat down on a bench in the plaza they were in, rubbing his eyes as he did so.

"Just... try to project yourself to be more friendly for now. You may not know it, actually, I think you do... but you're very intimidating."

"I see it as an advantage."

Kamui glanced back at him. "Oh yeah? Does your hero name go with it? What is it anyway?"

"Reaper."

"What kind of scary name is that!?" Kamui shot up from the bench and pointed at him, "What made you think that was okay!?

"Because I liked it."

_"That was the reason!?"_

He sat back down and hung his head.

"I... need a moment... We'll be waiting here to meet up with two other colleagues to discuss something, so let's just... take a break..."

Enso glanced at the crowds of people and sighed. He saw many of their curious, and sometimes even nervous, gazes were towards him.

_"To appeal to the public... To make myself look less scary just to make them feel a little better... Why should I...? Can I even do that?"_

He suddenly felt a tug from his pants.

"Hm?"

Enso glanced down and saw a boy about 5 years of age. He had dark brown hair and amber eyes, wearing a black shirt and blue shorts while gazing up at Enso with a look of awe.

Enso flinched and suddenly backed up 6 feet away from the boy.

"A gremlin?"

Kamui heard him and turned his gaze, only to get up with cross-veins popping upon his head.

"That's a child, you idiot!"

Enso turned to him and a comedic question mark appeared on his head.

"Aren't they the same thing?"

"NO!" Kamui shouted with a fist raised to Enso.

"Just..." He sighed, calming himself down. "Just let me handle this."

The wooden hero approached the kid and kneeled down to him.

"Hello, young man. Are you perhaps lost?"

The kid nervously shook his head. "No... Mama is right there." He said in a quiet voice, pointing behind him.

Kamui and Enso turned their heads to a woman several yards away talking to another woman in a deep conversation as they sat by a fountain, not even noticing her son so far away.

_"Such an irresponsible mother..." _They both thought with disappointed stares.

Kamui gazed back to the boy.

"Then, did you perhaps come to ask something?"

This time the child nodded.

"Y-Yes!" He approached Enso with stars in his eyes. "I saw you on T.V! You were so cool beating up everyone!"

"Good lord... What is society doing these days for children to be watching and enjoying that kind of violence?" Enso asked with a twitching eye.

"Please don't bring up things like that and just accept the compliment from the child..." Kamui pleaded.

"Fine..." Enso sat in a cross-legged manner to be at the same eye level as the child. "What about me fighting was... 'cool' to you?"

_"I already have a bad feeling about this..."_ Kamui sighed.

The child started mimicking punches with a big smile.

"Just seeing you beat everyone was cool! It makes me think that villains are in big trouble! You can beat any of them up!"

"Thank you? I guess."

The child kept his hands close as he bounced up and down while smiling at Enso. "Can you tell me how I can get really strong like you?"

"..." Enso put a hand on his own chin and started thinking as he maintained his neutral expression. "What's your name?"

The child stood still as he forgot it for a second, "U-Um... Mijitsu Kibo!"

"Okay, Kibo, what's your quirk?"

Kibo stiffened but spoke proudly. "My quirk lets me turn my arms into cannon to shoot out cannonballs!"

"...And the downsides?"

The boy lowered his head. "It hurt my arms a lot after shooting more than two shots..."

"Hm... Show me your arm."

"Huh? O-Okay?"

Enso reached out and gently felt Kibo's right arm, feeling how much muscle there was.

"Hold on, you realize you look _really_ creepy right now, don't you!?" Kamui said behind him. "And his mother is just over there!"

"Relax, since you're beside me, no one will think anything is wrong. Besides, I've already come to a conclusion."

_"I don't think that makes it okay!"_

Enso let go of the child's arm and reached into his own pocket, pulling out a small notepad and pen.

Kamui narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Just making a small plan."

"Eh?"

Enso finished writing and gave the child the paper.

"Your quirk should get stronger and will hurt less using it if you add muscle to your arms and body. Follow this program I wrote, and you'll get strong enough to shoot cannonballs farther and stronger. And also ask to take some sharpshooter classes or something of the sort to help you aim so you can take advantage of your quirk better."

"Eh? Sharp...shooter?" Kibo repeated in confusion.

"Hold on! What do you think you're telling a child!? He looks only 5, don't go influencing him like that!" Kamui bonked Enso on the head.

Enso glanced up and held the spot Kamui hit, yet he looked unfazed.

"But didn't he ask me how to get stronger?"

"What you're doing feels like you're building an army regimen for him!" Kamui fumed.

Kibo was still reading the program Enso had written him with a rather confused look before his mother came running over.

"Mijitsu! Don't go off like that, it's dangerous!"

_"Yet you weren't even paying attention..."_ Enso thought.

The boy's mother took him by the hand and then bowed to Enso and Kamui.

"I'm sorry! Thank you for looking after him!"

"Er, it's no problem ma'am." Kamui replied to her, changing his composure in front of her.

"Let's go now Mijitsu, we have to get groceries." The mother said as she pulled her son.

Kibo smiled and waved his hand, which currently still held the paper from Enso.

"Thank you, mister! Now I can become a hero too! Bye-bye!"

"Um, I don't think-!" Kamui was going to reach out to them, but the woman was already marching off quickly with her child. "Dear lord... Is this really alright?"

Enso tilted his head, "What do you mean?"

"I obviously mean the plan you wrote for that child! What if he ends up taking it too seriously!?"

"Then he'll get stronger, is that all?"

"I'm worried about what the hell you wrote down..."

"Relax, I know he's a child, so I didn't write anything too crazy, just little things for him to do on the daily."

Kamui raised an eyebrow, "So you do have _some_ common sense?"

"How rude, just who do you take me for?"

"To be fair, you jumped out of a window for amusement and somehow came to the roof of my agency without thinking about the obvious consequences..."

"..." Enso turned his head away. "As I said before, I didn't think there would be alarms that would go off. And as for the window thing... Jumping out of them just seems to have turned into a habit of mine."

_"WHAT KIND OF HABIT IS THAT!?"_

Kamui sighed and gave up trying to comprehend it, deciding to change the subject.

"Well... I'm surprised that the child wasn't afraid of you."

"I don't know why he wasn't. I've never interacted with children before, but I assumed they'd be scared of me..."

Kamui tilted his head, "Never?"

"Nope, never even talked to one."

"But... to call one a gremlin?"

"I really thought he was one..." Enso sighed.

_"What kind of gremlins have you seen in your life!?" _Kamui shouted in his head.

The wooden hero sighed, "But I'm actually kind of glad."

"Hm?" Enso turned back to him. "Why?"

Kamui put his hands on his hips. "If that child wasn't afraid of your naturally intimidating looks, then it's clear that you still have the potential to give people the comfort they need."

"..." Enso just raised an eyebrow. "How do I-?"

"EH!? Is that Enso!?" A boy cried out.

Both males turned their heads to the sudden new voice.

"Ah, there they are. About time." Kamui remarked.

Enso saw four people walking towards him and Kamui. He saw Death Arms with Jiro walking beside him, and next to the two was Mt. Lady and Mineta.

"It _is_ you!" Mineta exclaimed.

"Jiro and Mineta… I didn't think I'd see you here..." Enso sighed.

Jiro was rather surprised herself to see him.

"Ureshi? You really chose-"

"Enso."

"Huh?"

"Call me Enso, please." The boy told the group that arrived.

_"He really tells that to everyone?"_ Kamui wondered.

"You still haven't gotten into the habit of calling him that? Nearly our whole class calls him by his first name. They kind of just accepted it." Mineta told the punk girl.

_"That's... so weird."_ Jiro thought. "Um okay, ignoring that, you really chose to intern at with Kamui Woods? I didn't expect that. I thought you had offers from some of the top heroes?"

"Well, Kamui and I have some special... circumstances..." Enso answered as he averted his gaze from the wooden hero.

Mt. Lady finished swallowing some chips and smirked, "Did you blackmail him after all Kamui? How evil~"

"BLACKMAIL!?" Jiro and Mineta both shouted.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't say things people will misunderstand!" Kamui flailed his arms.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd do it..." Death Arms shook his head with disappointment.

"HOLD ON! That's NOT what happened!"

Jiro had a face of disgust while Mineta shivered in fear.

"A-A hero blackmailing a student... Isn't that an abuse of power!?" The Picked Hero uttered.

"What the hell do you even have on Enso anyway?" Jiro glared.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

Despite saying this, Jiro and Death Arms seemed to be chewing out Kamui as Mineta asked even more curious questions while the wooden hero just backed up nervously, trying to explain.

Enso sighed and turned to the silent woman beside him who was staring at the sight with a smug grin.

_"If I remember from the media... This hero is Mt. Lady. Able to change her physical size by will, but can only maintain two sizes."_

"..."

He watched the hero stared at Kamui with a chuckle, being amused by the misunderstanding she created.

_"Why..."_

Enso was feeling confused as he stared at her.

_"Why does something... seem... off?"_

His eye's widened as he felt pain suddenly spike in his head.

"Nngh!"

He clutched his head with both hands and stumbled back, feeling his head burning from the inside.

_"What!? Again!? Why!?" _

Mt. Lady noticed him from the corner of her eye and turned her head with an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, what's up with you? You have a headache or something?"

Enso twitched and tightly dug his fingers into his hair as an image flashed through his mind.

A cabin in a forest.

That was all he saw for a split second before the image and his pain disappeared as fast as it came.

He gasped and put a hand on his face, eyes dilating as he processed what just happened.

_"Again..."_ He panted.

He thought about the same scenario that occurred to him right after his fight with Bakugo.

_"It happened again... Just like at the end of the festival when I breathed in Midnight's quirk... Why?"_

He clutched his own face.

_"Why did another image appear right now? And what was that cabin?"_

He saw a finger snap in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oi? You really alright?"

Enso raised his head and saw Mt. Lady staring at him with her head tilted curiously. The other three, who had been berating Kamui for what they thought he did, had now stopped arguing and were staring at Enso rather concerned.

"Dude, you alright? You were clutching your head really hard." Jiro told him.

"I'm... I'm fine. I just... got a headache." Enso grunted.

"You going to be alright?" Death Arms raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah... It's gone now."

"Well, you can take it easy. We're gathering so Mt. Lady, Death Arms, and I can discuss something going on in the city lately. We're just gonna go somewhere and sit down." Kamui told him.

"Alright..."

The group then started making their way out of the plaza, but Enso constantly rubbed his head while staring at Mt. Lady from behind.

At the same time, Mount Lady peeked back at Enso and took another mouthful of chips, remembering when she had seen the boy at the sports festival.

_"He's weird... But... why does he also look familiar?"_

She turned forward and continued chewing her chips.

_"Oh well, it'll come to mind naturally."_

Enso looked down into his hand as he went into his own thoughts.

_"I don't understand... Why did I suddenly get another vision the moment I saw her? It doesn't make sense..."_

He narrowed his eyes at the cream-haired woman as his thoughts just went rampant.

_"Just... What's going on?"_

* * *

**~{Musutafu Hospital}~**

Naomasa Tsukauchi walked beside a nurse through the hospital hallways, the woman leading the police detective past many rooms while she gave him a few precautions.

"Keep in mind that even though he seems to have calmed down, there is still a chance that a trigger might send him back into shock." The nurse said as the two stopped by the door.

"So he's doing okay?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Well, 'okay' is a strong term here. Although he's no longer shouting, he's suddenly become so... lifeless. All he's done for the last few days is remain still on his bed. He's only started speaking since yesterday, but he hasn't said much."

"I see. Well, thank you for bringing me to him."

"Just be careful." The nurse bowed before sliding the door of the room open. She stepped in first, trying to give a reassuring smile to the man currently laying on a hospital bed. "Good evening sir, you have a visitor."

The man on the bed was the manager and sole survivor from the net cafe massacre. The middle-aged man had a dead-looking gaze staring straight up at the ceiling and hadn't even bothered turning his head when the nurse and detective had walked in.

"Er..." The nurse uttered when she didn't see a reaction from him. "I'll leave you two alone."

She quickly stepped out of the room, leaving just the two men in the room.

Tsukauchi stepped over and placed himself in a chair right beside the man's bed, pulling out a pen and small notepad.

"Good evening. You're Ogawa Tsutomu, correct?"

The man robotically turned his head to the detective, dead expression not changing at all. However, he maintained his silence and stared at him.

"How are you feeling? Your wounds must've been tended by now, right?"

"..." The man continued to stare.

Tsukauchi remained calm and decided to get to the point.

"You're the manager of Net Galaxy, the Net Cafe, correct? I know it may be hard, but I wish to speak to you about the events that have unfolded on... that day."

"..."

_"Well, he didn't freak out at least..."_ Tsukauchi sighed, writing down his current state.

"-nch..."

"Hm?" He raised his head, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

The man on the bed took a deep, lifeless breath. It gave Tsukauchi chills from just how hopeless it sounded.

The man spoke once more, but he said one word. A word that now haunts him, a word that brought about horror, a word that gave chills to a person just by hearing it.

That word... of the monstrosity that would plague the world.

"Lynch..."


	45. Nighttime Of Danger

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Itsa me, amateur author here with another chapter to deliver once again! I don't really have much to say this time, just that this chapter took longer to get out and make because I was kinda thrown off the rhythm of posting them, but I also took a break to play me some good old pokemon. But now let's get this show rolling!**

**Leave some comments on how I'm doing, would really appreciate getting even more feedback!**

Answered comments:

_blue grimmoire, Shadow Joestar, fpinheiro96: _**Thank you for all your praise! Hope I can continue making you all proud.**

_Slumberdork:_ **Ayyyy, share birthdays? Nice man! I hope you enjoyed your birthday too!**

_Wolfy: _**I'm glad that I inspired you to make an account and I hope your writing goes well if you do end up making a fic! And as for class B... I'm already fitting in moments of Class A girls that I haven't even given enough screen time too, and the harem is already pretty big so adding screentime for the other class would be a lot more work for me. Don't think I'd add them anytime soon.**

_SpiceR4: _**I have thought about making another fic or mentioning more of Enso's adventures, but right now I'm focusing on finishing retypes and continuing my other fic before I'm even thinking about making a third fic.**

_Atomic11: _**Updating to 84 will be in quite a while, especially when school starts off again. I can't make promises of updating it soon, but I'm thinking of working more on To Be A Hero to get to that point faster. Sorry if I make you and so many others wait for an actual new chapter. I may work on the side, but it'll still be in quite a while.**

_christoblom9: _**Sorry, but I like randomly adding Japanese moments and those random moments.**

_Guest:_ **I'm glad you like Enso! He was so awkward for me to write out his characteristic even when I based him off of one of my favorite characters. He was basically me just trying to fit him into the My Hero World, lol. Stain is pretty interesting too, and he may get _more_ than just some screentime.**

_PRemington900:_ **Really am glad you left a detailed comment like that, those are the kind I love the most. Just seeing how people view different aspects or changes I've put into the fic compared to the actually world thee fic originates in. And I'm a harem man myself, always found them to be hilarious and even heartwarming when I watch anime or read mangas that do it right and not in a forced way. Thanks for reading!**

_MBS41: _**Sadly, I can't update this as fast as like one or two days, even not for a week. It takes time to write these up and change them around, but I hope you continue staying to read this!**

**Now onto the story!**

* * *

**~{Gran Torino's Apartment-4:13PM}~**

"Oh? So you're trying to catch me this time!?" Gran Torino laughed as he blasted around the room with a green blur trying to chase him.

Izuku looked frustrated as he chased the elder's patterns around the room, keeping 10% of power, and even slowly trying to rise it up as he moved. He followed Gran Torino to the walls, the ceiling, and back to the floor while trying to grab him out of the air.

But of course, with higher speed and mobility in the air, Gran Torino easily blasted around Izuku and swung his leg.

"Too slow!" Gran Torino shouted as he nailed Izuku's side with his foot, sending him straight at the wall.

"Gah!" Izuku bounced off the wall before tumbling on the floor.

Gran Torino didn't even hesitate to blast directly onto Izuku, trying to stomp both of his feet onto the child's back.

Izuku opened his eyes and rolled on the ground just in time to avoid getting stomped on by the hero.

"Nice reflexes!" Gran Torino laughed as he blasted forward at him.

Still on the ground, Izuku quickly used his hands to spin and stuck his legs out in the air, swinging them in a swift clockwise motion as the elder grew near.

Gran Torino blasted upward to avoid getting hit by these spinning legs, finding amusement of how unique these movements were.

He landed right in front of the door as Izuku pushed himself off the ground and landed back to his feet after a flip.

"Isn't that the type of dancing youngsters do these days?" He chuckled.

Izuku panted as he wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth.

"I-I don't really know. I was just taught this to help me with my movements."

"Well, it sure looks it's been helping you a bit. Let's stop for today though, it's clear that your able-bodied with One For All, but now we gotta see if we can bring that dang Ikari out of ya!"

"Huh?" Izuku looked confused. "How are we going to do that?"

Gran Torino grinned, "By moving onto phase two! Change into your costume!"

"Eh?" Izuku wasn't expecting this, watching the elder already opening the door.

"It's time to see if we can 'trigger' your quirk. I'll be waiting outside!" Gran Torino said as he closed the door behind him.

Izuku stared with a contemplating expression.

_"What are we gonna do?"_

He did listen and went to his hero case, pulling out his costume to put it on.

He froze for a moment as he saw his vest and braces still in the case as well.

He stared at this equipment with a sense of uncertainly, thinking about using them when facing against a villain.

_"This doesn't seem like the type of thing I should use while fighting a villain... It'd probably just put me at a disadvantage to be honest, especially since I can't bring out Ikari even when using it..."_

He decided to just rely on Gran Tornio's methods, leaving his vest and braces in his case and putting everything else on.

Once zipping up his costume, he opened the door outside to the waiting elder. "U-Um, Gran Torino? What did you mean by 'phase two?'"

Gran Torino scoffed, "Fighting villains, obviously!"

"What!? All of a sudden?!" Izuku responded in shock.

"Of course! It's clear that your quirk comes out naturally on an emotional level, but there should be more to it than that!" The pro responded as he started leading Izuku on the sidewalk. "After all, each time you used your quirk, it was because you were angry, correct?"

"W-Well, of course." Izuku followed.

Gran Torino pointed at him, "But do you remember _why_ you got angry each time? Tell me about each moment your quirk activated and what got you angry."

Izuku looked down with a hand on his chin as he thought about it. "W-Well... The first time my quirk came out was against my friend..." Izuku paused with uncertainty at that last word. "E-Er was against m-my classmate during our first combat class. He nearly killed me by accident... That's when Ikari came out."

"Hold on, your classmate nearly _killed_ you?" Gran Torino raised an eyebrow.

Izuku held his hands up as if surrendering, "I-It was an accident!"

Grand Torino stared at him suspiciously but didn't want to go off track. "Alright... Continue."

Izuku lowered his hands and went back to his thoughts. "Ikari came out for the second time at the USJ incident when... I-I was about to die again. He formed a barrier in front of my head right before it was gonna be crushed, protecting it. B-But I don't actually remember these instances. It was my classmates who told me that these things happened."

_"Just what the hell is up with this kid and nearly dying?"_ Gran Torino sweatdropped as Izuku continued.

"Th-Then... Based on what my friends said, Ikari came out _again_ at the festival, but for short moments, moments where I didn't even _know_ he had come out. Once during the obstacle course race with Enso, when I thought he was going to pass me. Then during the cavalry battle, when I wanted to get my team's points back. And finally... during the one on one battles, where he came out when I fought against Shoto, Er-Todoroki, and Enso."

"But were _you_ thinking of something ya wanted to do in each of these moments?"

Izuku stopped walking for a moment as his mind traveled back to all of these instances.

"I... When I fought Kacchan, I got angry thinking about dying there and needing to prove to everyone that I can be the best hero... At USJ, I-I just thought about not dying again, refusing to do so... During the obstacle course race, I just thought about not letting Enso pass me so I could win, in the Calvary Battle I wanted to my team's points back so we could win, during my fight against Todoroki I just wanted him to realize that his quirk is his own, no one else's... And in my fight against Enso... I just wanted to beat him, I wanted to win."

"So a lot of winning, not dying, and helping." Gran Torino chuckled. "Then what I'm thinking should make sense then. You know what each of those moments had in common?" He asked as they started walking again.

"Erm..." Izuku couldn't think of anything on the spot.

"These scenarios each had your emotional level increase because of a goal that _you_ wanted badly! But not just that, but each of those scenarios had something, _someone_, at stake!"

His cane clinked on the sidewalk with each step. "And yesterday, you told me that when you tried to activate your quirk by just thinking of bad things and inflicting pain to yourself, it didn't work out, right?"

"Y-Yes?" Izuku answered.

"Well, of course it didn't work the way you wanted it, it's different from any of your previous situations! There wasn't anything at stake! Because of this, there ain't any actually frantic emotional increase for your quirk to come out automatically! So that's why we need to get you out there to help some people, maybe fight some villains, _then_ maybe there will be a situation to escalate your emotions naturally for your dang quirk to come out!"

Izuku put a hand on his chin and thought about it.

"I-I guess that does make sense... But fighting villains? I feel nervous just thinking about it..."

"But you've already experienced combat against villains, right? Besides, we're not gonna touch anything that big. We're going on a little trip." Gran Torino said as he raised his hand to get the attention of a taxi.

They hopped inside, and Gran Torino leaned to the driver, "The train station, please."

"Eh? W-We'll be leaving the city?" Izuku stammered as he got in after.

Gran Torino clicked on his seatbelt as the driver started taking them to their destination.

"Of course. Because of the low population in this area, the crime rate is also low, we won't find much action here. It's a reason there's a lot of hero agencies in urban areas."

Izuku glanced out the window at the somewhat small number of people passing.

"I see... That makes sense. The higher the population density, the more crime that will appear."

"Yup, so that's why we're heading to Shibuya, they always have small fights breaking out daily."

"Eh!? Shibuya!? You mean the one in Tokyo!?" Izuku cried out in surprise as he turned to him. "Th-That really is a big city... I-I didn't think I'd be wearing my hero costume in such as fashionable town…"

"Hehe! Appreciate the chance I'm giving you to show off!"

"Erm... Then that means we'll be taking the bullet train from Kofu heading towards Shinjuku?"

"Yup, so prepare for a short trip." Gran Torino told him as he leaned back in his seat.

Izuku then looked outside of the window, getting rather serious within his thoughts.

"_If we take that train, then we'll pass Hosu City…"_

He couldn't help but think of a particular engine-legged friend in that city.

_"I wonder how Iida's doing…?"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile- Hosu City}~**

Manuel and Iida patrolled the city once again on their own, the Normal Hero remaining cheerful as he led the student through the afternoon streets.

"We'll be patrolling Kyoto today too. Sorry, it's so monotonous." Manuel chuckled to Iida.

"It's fine, it's actually better this way…" Iida responded in a serious tone.

Manuel glimpsed back to Iida with a look of concern, knowing something was wrong with the boy. He already had a feeling of what was wrong with him, why he seemed so serious, why he was _here_. So he knew he had to ask him something.

"Hey…"

Hearing his change in tone, Iida turned to Manuel.

"I know that this may be wrong to ask, but... by any chance, are you here to chase after the Hero Killer?" he asked, stopping his walking.

Iida stopped walking as well, surprised to have been quickly found out. "I..."

Manuel scratched his chin awkwardly, "I couldn't think of any other reason you'd come to my agency… As I said, you _must've_ had better offers from heroes. Oh, but I'm really glad you came! It's just that..."

He looked rather serious now.

"You should _never_ act out on a personal grudge. We heroes are here to protect and fight for the people, not to arrest or punish criminals. If the police need our help stopping villains, then we're called in to help. The use of quirks has been allowed through the regulations of the government to only be for the sake of others, not for oneself. If anyone used their quirks for their own selfish desires, then it would be a serious crime..."

Those final words, _'it would be a serious crime'_ echoed throughout Iida's head. He then looked down in some shame, but at the same time, anger. Thinking that he would just have to sit by while the Hero Killer roams free.

"Ah! I-It's not that I'm saying that the Hero Killer isn't guilty! Of course, he is! It's just because you seem like the type of person to focus on something, but then ignore everything else! It makes me think you're trying to hunt down the Hero Killer down, not just by yourself, but _for_ yourself..." Manuel told him out of genuine concern.

After remaining silent for a few seconds, Iida just bowed, "Thank you for the warning..."

Manuel seemed surprised by how easy the young hero took it.

"Um... It's fine as long as you understand. Let's just forget about the subject and keep patrolling, shall we?"

Manuel started walking again, with Iida following him.

However, Iida's hands balled into tight fists, with the boy glaring daggers behind his mask.

_"But… I know he's going to appear here again... In the seven places he's appeared, he killed so many heroes. But my brother... He only injured him when they met. I know he's going to appear somewhere around here, and I'm supposed to just sit around!?"_

His hands trembled.

_"To do nothing!? Nothing at all!?"_

* * *

**~{Edgeshot's Agency-4:23PM}~**

"Hm, you're doing really well for just recently starting." Edgeshot pointed out as he stood atop of two bamboo pokes in perfect balance while holding marbles between his fingers.

"*Huff* *wheeze* You're _really_ making this hard- Whoa!"

Shinso walked from the tops of several bamboo poles, keeping his balance as he desperately avoided marbles thrown at him by the ninja hero himself.

"One of the most important assets for a shinobi is balance. If you lose your balance even for a second in the field, then it can be over for you."

Edgeshot used his quirk to fold his body and extend his limbs as Shinso got near, suddenly pulling himself away to a new area of bamboo poles several yards away.

Shinso panted as he kept both feet on two separate poles, balancing himself tiredly while staring straight ahead at Edgeshot.

"Damn it... Why do you keep moving around!?"

"Because you're supposed to catch me, remember?" Edgeshot chuckled as he tossed three marbles rather fast at the student.

Shinso jumped to the side to avoid them but started to lose balance.

"Whoa! Ah! No, no!" He said with each stumbling step.

Because he lost his focus on Edgeshot for a moment, a marble nailed him right on his forehead.

"Gah!"

He then fell back between the poles and started falling down below, where a net covering the area between all the poles caught Shinso.

"Ugh..." He rubbed his forehead where the marble had struck.

Edgeshot suddenly appeared beside him, looking wholly balanced on the net despite the bounciness.

"Let's try this again..." Shinso grumbled as he sat up immediately.

"Oh? A determined one, are we? Then this time..." He held up his hands, which held four marbles in both. "Let's use a lot more of these."

_"How many does he even have on him!?"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile- Best Jeanist's Agency}~**

"Grrrrrr!"

_"He's growling like a beast?"_ Best Jeanist sighed.

He tapped his clipboard with his pen as he stared at the tied up Bakugo that was on a chair this time.

"Bakugo... Refusing to tell me anything will just waste the time of _both_ of us."

"THEN LET ME GO YOU BLUE FASHION DISASTER!"

Best Jeanist's eyes twitched as he gripped the threads of his quirk tighter.

_"I've been trying to get him to cooperate since yesterday, but he just refuses to share anything... He's too proud and vicious, so calmly talking to him in a relaxed environment doesn't seem to be working..."_

The pro hero then remembered Bakugo and Enso at the sports festival, where Enso had been fighting against the explosive boy and escalating his anger throughout their battle. Then after reaching a point and repeatedly asking about his situation with his former friend, the boy had 'blown up' and shouted his honest thoughts about Izuku.

"I see... I guess it'll have to be _that_ way."

He stood up from his seat before all the threads of his clothes retracted back, untying Bakugo from his chair.

The explosive hero hadn't expected to be released, putting on an expression of surprise, before then forming it into a glare of suspicion as he stood up.

"What? Realized that there's no point to this shit?"

"On the contrary, I believe that this just isn't the right method. Come with me, Bakugo." Best Jeanist left his clipboard to the side and put both of his hands behind his back as he started walking to the door.

"Tsk! Just so you can tie me up to something else!? Like hell!" Bakugo shouted as he rubbed his wrists where the threads had been tied before.

"No, I won't be tying you to anything this time. Instead, I think I'll be giving you what you want..."

"Hah?" Bakugo growled.

Best Jeanist stopped by the door and glimpsed back at Bakugo, a serious and even hostile glare on his face.

"Do you wish to fight?"

Bakugo's eyes lit up before he narrowed them once more.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, just follow me." Best Jeanist told him as he swung the door open and walked out.

Bakugo was hesitant at first, but then ran after him with a pissed-off look.

_"He's thinking of something... I fucking know it."_

He soon caught up and followed Best Jeanist through a few halls where many people wearing tight jeans passed him, making Bakugo's eyes twitch.

_"He'd better not THINK about putting one of those on me!"_

Bakugo received many looks from these people passing by, all of them recognizing the infamous student from U.A that had spent his life tormenting another without any sign of remorse even now.

The blonde just sent challenging glares to each of them until he and Best Jeanist went into a large room with many poles in it. They all appeared to be made of metal, six inches in diameter, and were spaced out all across the room.

Best Jeanist rose an arm, and the threads of his clothes suddenly extended several yards in an instant, wrapping around a pole and yanking himself across the room.

Bakugo stopped walking and stared in some surprised by the sudden movement, glaring at the fiber hero as he flew.

When he landed, Best Jeanist gazed back to Bakugo with one arm raised.

"It seemed that being 'nice' around you weren't producing any quality results. So... I guess we'll have to do it this way."

Bakugo grinned evilly, "What, you think you're gonna beat something out of me? I don't know what the hell makes you think that, but..."

His palms exploded behind him and he blasted towards the hero ahead.

"I'M FEELING TICKED OFF AFTER SITTING IN THAT DAMN CHAIR!"

Best Jeanist narrowed his eyes as he waved an arm.

Everything happened in a split second, Bakugo felt thread wrap around his arms and waist, forcing them to be tied together.

"What the-!?"

He was suddenly yanked to the side by the threads and was pulled until his back rammed right onto one of the poles, where he bounced off in pain and slammed onto the ground before the threads unraveled off of him.

"Nngh..." He felt as if his spine was split in half, putting a hand to his back while using his other arm to push himself off the floor.

"You have an altered sense of reality, you believe that strength is all that matters in the world, and you believe that you're the 'best' in this reality of yours. Or at least, the best of your grade. If what I've heard is accurate, then you've tormented that boy, Midorya, since childhood, If this is the case, then he must've interfered or threatened your altered sense of reality. And he did this by supposedly 'looking down' on you, correct?"

Bakugo's pupils shrunk, and his teeth tightly pressed together.

"You shut up about _damn _Deku!"

Best Jeanist raised an eyebrow, "Deku? As in useless? Hm... If you've even designated such a horrid nickname for the poor boy, then your ties must run deep. Ureshi mentioned something about Midoriya helping you at a creek, didn't he?"

Bakugo shakily got back to his feet and blasted towards the pro once more.

"SHI-NE!"

_"Die?"_ Best Jeanist repeated with a blank expression.

As he got close, Bakugo swung his palm to unleash an explosion at Best Jeanist, but the hero used his clothing fibers to pull himself towards another pole and away from the blast.

He swung around the poles and twirled before stopping in a pose consisting of a hand over his face. "As I've mentioned before, I will have you realize your own problems and find out where all this hatred looms."

Bakugo landed to the ground in a crouching position, panting as he glared at the hero from afar.

Best Jeanist straightened his back and raised both of his arms, in which the threads of his clothing wrapped around the different poles around him.

"I will split your reality like splitting the threads of my clothing."

* * *

**~{U.A High School- 6:03PM}~**

The sun was starting to set on the horizon, many adults were leaving their daily jobs with breaths of relief, many teachers remained in their schools to finish grading assignments, and then there were adults just having fun on the streets in any way they see fit.

However, Toshinori wasn't doing any of these things and was instead sitting by himself in the teacher's lounge, waiting for a particular person to arrive. He hung his head with a look of concern, wondering what this person wished to tell him.

A knock on the door signaled him that he was here, making him turn his head to the door.

"Come in."

The door slid open to reveal a trustworthy friend of Toshniori, Naomasa Tsukauchi, the police detective. He wasn't wearing the same overcoat or matching hat that he had on when investigating the crime scene at the net cafe, having taken it off in his car.

"Sorry to intrude so suddenly, All Might, but this is important." The detective said as he approached the hero and sat down on a stool in front of the table.

Toshinori chuckled. "It's all right, Tsukauchi, you can visit anytime. Oh, and while in this form, call me by my name, even by my first is fine."

He poured him a cup of tea, "But I'm assuming that there is something heavily important for me to know? You don't usually like sharing police matters."

Tsukachi accepted the cup presented to him but maintained a stern expression as he answered.

"I'll go over the most important things first... It's about the villains that attacked the students at USJ, or most notably, about the Nomu that was sliced apart."

"Oh... That large guy? So you learned something about him?"

Tsukauchi nodded. "Yeah, we did some tests on its DNA."

"DNA tests? I guess to get a proper identity?" Toshinori deduced.

The detective took a sip of his tea, "Yeah... But what we found was something that I just had to tell you, even if it'd be leaking information since the force isn't asking for your help on the investigation."

"That serious?" Toshinori felt nervous by that.

"Yes... What we found may be- no... it _is_ a clue to lead us to the mastermind of this 'League Of Villains.' After investigating this so-called 'Nomu' at a specialized institution and doing several tests on its corpse, we did manage to find an identity." Tsukauchi pulled out a photo from a folder and presented it to Toshinori on the table. "He was only a thug with a criminal record of assault and extortion."

"Is this thug's identity a lead to the mastermind?" Toshinori muttered as he picked up the picture and stared at the big-lipped man in it.

Tsukauchi leaned a little forward with a small frown, "No, it's not this guy specifically, but after more tests... Look, this is where it gets worrying as to 'who' the mastermind is, so listen carefully. According to the report from the DNA test... there's DNA from at least four completely different people combined with this thug's body."

Toshinori's became bug-eyed. "Four people!? How!? Why?"

"Well... For the 'how,' his body seems to have been tampered with drugs as a start. But then it seems to have changed through other methods that can't be explained well. So basically, it might have been a quirk that did this. As for 'why' his body was changed this way... it appears that it may have been so he can handle _multiple _quirks into his body."

Toshinori felt instant dread. "Multiple... quirks?"

Tsukauchi stared down into his notes, "Yes... But taking all these quirks appears to have caused a huge amount of stress and has burdened this guy's brain, thus, turning him into that monster. So what we're concerned about is 'how' this guy was given these quirks... We suspect that there's someone with a quirk that can give others quirks..."

Toshinori's hands balled into fists, "Don't tell me..."

"This is why I felt the need to tell you... Based on all the circumstances, I knew you had to know."

The number one hero stood up from his seat and walked to the window, buffing up into his hero form as he tightly clenched his hands into fists.

**_"So... he really is alive... I didn't finish him after all..."_**

All Might's blue eyes shined rather menacingly.

**_"So, he was just building his strength back up? All this time?"_**

Tsukauchi waited patiently for All Might to calm down, still having much to talk about.

After a few more seconds, All Might took a deep breath and debuffed back to his skinny form.

"Sorry about that, Tsukauchi..."

"Don't be, I understand that you must be frustrated. But I do have more to talk about."

Toshinori sat back down in his seat, picking up his drink and taking a sip as Tsukauchi continued.

"I don't know if this is connected, but there's been a rather... 'disturbing' event that's occurred recently. It seemed too brutal to just treat like any other case, and... not to mention that it was done by just one person, and most likely one with multiple quirks."

"What!?" Toshinori's cup shook in his hands. _"Don't tell me he's already causing terror despite just moving again!? Does he want to spite me that much?"_

"I've already got a name, er- of the sort, of the villain who did it." Tsukauchi told Toshinori. "But let me start from the beginning."

He flipped through his notes.

"On the day of the sports festival, seventeen people were trapped inside a net cafe in Musutafu. Of these seventeen people, all but one were murdered, with the manager of the cafe being the one left alive. I interrogated him about what happened. Supposedly, everyone was trapped inside by _one_ person and were all forced to... kill one another for the right to live. A battle royale, one where if they refused, the villain would've just killed them all himself. To prove this, he made an example out of one of those people..."

Toshinori looked furious, tightly gripping his cup, _"Why... Why would he do this? This sounds unnecessary for him, why would he go through this trouble? Unless... It wasn't 'him' who did this?_

"I know you're confused, but let me finish. This 'person,' if you can even call him that based on his description, used multiple quirks to one, trap everyone in the room with a metal-like barrier, and two, create multiple outdated weapons from his body such as maces, swords, and more. He's even able to sprout tentacles out of his body, who knows what more he has..."

"B-But, for what reason would he have for committing such a... massacre!?" Toshinori slammed his cup on the table in anger, some tea spilling out.

Tsukauchi's eyebrows furrowed as he read the reason.

"Supposedly... he 'just didn't like how people called heroes for them.' That was what the manager recalled hearing him say."

Toshinori froze, "That sounds like... Are you sure it wasn't Shigaraki?"

Tsukauchi sighed, "I know, it sounds just like something he'd say based on what your students described after his attack on USJ... Just someone killing what they don't like. But the witness reassured me that this 'monster,' in his terms, didn't look anything like Shigaraki.

"Then... Who was it? Who committed such a crime? What kind of being would do something like that?" Toshinori growled, his cup shaking in anger within his hands. He expected to hear the name of his lifelong nemesis, yet he also found himself thinking otherwise.

"Getting there. The manager said the guy's name was... Lynch."

Toshinori felt his blood turn cold, his mouth became dry, and his cup of tea tumbled onto the table. The whole world seemed to turn dark beside him and Tsukauchi, the number one hero trembling as memories of what Enso said about this villain came back to him.

_"Well, Toshinori, I don't know exactly how strong this 'villain' is, but..." _Enso had started, referring to the villain All Might told him about. _"But this 'monster' we'll have to face in the future... it may be even worse." _He remembered when they first met.

_"Someone who treats life as his own personal playground, someone who has the ability to travel to other worlds too, with only the intention of shaping it into chaos with his own hands." _He remembered at the nurse's office of the sport's festival.

_"Lynch is a villain who's only joy in life is to inflict fear and suffering to others... He enjoys manipulating people into situations where they're forced to follow whatever he says, he enjoys tormenting the minds of others due to their 'own' actions. He focuses his attention on the strongest-willed individuals he can find."_

Toshinori's pupils shrunk in fear and concern.

_"No... H-He can't be... He's already here!?"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile- Train Station}~**

Izuku was beside Gran Torino on the train, the sun already disappeared in the horizon to turn the sky dark. They had been riding on the bullet train towards Shibuya for a small amount of time, with Izuku looking concerned.

"Er... We'll be arriving until it gets pretty dark, is that really okay?" He asked, turning to the elder.

Gran Torino just grinned and stuck his wooden cane in the air.

"That's why it's good! There'll be more chances of bad guys going out thinking that the darkness is their ally! But they merely adopted the dark! I was born in it, _molded_ by it!"

"..." Izuku tilted his head with a blank look. "Eh?"

Seeing a lack of a reaction, Gran Torino lowered his cane and shook his head in disappointment.

"How'd you not get that? Hmph, you youngsters have no culture..."

Izuku stared blankly at the hero, then looking away as he pulled out his phone.

_"I don't know what kind of joke he was going for, but I do understand what he's saying about going at night..."_

"Even using his smartphone with someone right next to him too!? Dear lord, what has this generation come to?" Gran Torino sighed.

Izuku seemed to ignore him as he checked his messages to Iida, which he had sent right as he had started the day.

What he saw made him look rather worried, _"He read my messages but didn't reply…?"_ He then gazed out the window, watching the landscape pass by him. _"We should be arriving at Hosu soon..."_

He then felt his phone vibrate in his hand, surprising him.

_"Could it be-!?"_

He glanced down at the screen but was surprised to see that it wasn't Iida who texted him, but of all people, Kendo.

Kendo: _Hey Midoriya, you doing alright? You free to talk?_

"Erm..." Izuku turned to his right to ask Gran Torino if it would be alright to call her, but...

"Z! Z! Z!" The elder snored with a sign on his chest saying, **"Wake me when we get there."**

_"WHERE'D HE EVEN GET THAT!?"_

Izuku's mouth was agape for a second before he turned back to his phone and texted the girl back.

Izuku: _I'm on a train right now, but there aren't too many people around me, so it should be fine if we call._

He sent that message and waited a few seconds before his phone started vibrating, making him smile.

He lowered the volume quick before answering the call.

He raised the phone nervously to his ear.

"Erm... Hi."

He heard a laugh on the other side.

"Do you answer all your calls sounding that stiff Midoriya?" The ginger-haired girl on the line giggled.

Izuku felt pretty embarrassed now, "N-Not really... I-I just didn't expect to get in a call with you... D-Did you need something?"

"What? Can't I call a friend just to see how he's doing in his internship?"

Izuku flinched, "Um... I guess so. I just thought everyone would be too busy to call anyone."

"Actually, I think Yaoyorozu and I have all the time in the world here..." He heard Kendo sigh.

Izuku blinked in confusion, "Huh? You and Momo are at the same internship?"

"Yeah, we both went to Uwabami. It's... not what we expected. To be honest, the most we've learned is that heroes can have side jobs despite some controversy over it... Oh, and how to style our hair in a few new ways."

Izuku sweatdropped. "Erm... Do you guys do any hero work?"

"No, just working around the set of commercials..."

Izuku sighed as well, "Yeah, Uwabami is mostly known for being celebrity-like... Being in commercials, shows, and more. Did she mention why she even choose you two to intern with her?"

"Because... she said we're cute."

Izuku had a black and white deadpanned look. _"THAT'S IT!?"_

He shook his head in some disappointment before continuing to speak, "Well... I can't really say she's wrong, but I hope she actually gives you some decent hero knowledge while you're both there with her."

He heard Kendo giggle on the other side, "Aw, Midoriya, I'm flattered."

"Eh?" Izuku took a moment to realized what he had implied, then turning slightly red as he fidgeted in his seat, "A-Ah! I didn't mean it, Itsuka! Er, I mean I did _mean_ it, b-but... I- Um-Deja Vu!?" He suddenly uttered, getting a familiar feeling from this situation.

"Heh, using my first name too? You don't hold back at all, do you~?"

"N-No! I-Um! I just- I still haven't got that in check! I'm sorry, I-I won't say it again!" Izuku's face turned completely red at this point, the boy hiding himself with his arms despite no one looking at him.

He heard Kendo start laughing on the other side, "Breathe Midoriya, breathe! I'm just teasing you! Now I see why Ashido seems to enjoy this so much, even from here I can picture what kind of red face you've got."

"I-I... Er- M-Moving on! M-Momo's with you at Uwabami's right!? H-How is she doing?" Izuku stammered quickly, not wanting to feel more embarrassed than he already felt.

"Oh, she's um..."

There was a slight pause.

A question mark appeared over Izuku as he wondered what was wrong.

"She's kinda... Okay, she's sulking in the corner of the room because she feels foolish for trying to convince herself that she'll learn something valuable here... Ah, and she feels embarrassed that we're both in a commercial that's gonna be aired in a month or two."

That thought had Izuku smile, "Can you put me on speaker for a moment?"

"Oh?" He could tell Kendo was smiling on the other side by the tone, "Alrighty then."

He heard her tap her phone, then hearing the sounds of footsteps and murmuring in the background.

Using that as his cue, Izuku spoke.

"Momo, I'll look forward to your commercial! Knowing Uwabami, she made sure you look really pretty!"

He heard the sound of a sputter, "I-Izuku!? Is that you!? No! I can't let him see me looking so foolish! I-I can't! Where's Uwabami!?"

Izuku heard Kendo and a few others in the background start laughing before she switched him off speakerphone.

"That was great, Midoirya! But now I think I gotta go after Momo to calm her down before she speaking a storm to Uwabami."

Izuku couldn't help but laugh too, "Alright, it was nice talking to you, Itsuka."

Kendo just giggled that he used her first name again, but didn't point it out.

"Me too Midorya, I hope you're doing well at your internship."

"Oh, Itsuka?"

"Yeah?"

Izuku turned slightly red, but spoke with a smile, "I'm looking forward to seeing you in the commercial too."

There was a slight pause.

"U-Um, thanks... See you back at school then!"

Then she abruptly hung up.

Izuku lowered his phone and stared at it with bulging eyes while shaking.

_"D-Didn't I just say some weird things?"_

He leaned back in his seat and took deep breaths.

_"Am I... getting better around girls? Even if it's just a bit?"_

"Hmph, about time ya finished yapping."

"GYAH!" Izuku turned right to Gran Torino, who was tapping his armrest looking rather irritated. "Y-You're awake!? But didn't you fall asleep just a few minutes ago!?"

"Meh, I got bored."

"You got bored with sleeping?" Izuku deadpanned.

"When you're old, you find a lot of things boring." Gran Torino rolled his eyes.

**"We are now nearing the Hosu Station."** Someone on the intercome spoke.

Izuku blinked as he glanced outside at Hosu City, remembering one of his precious friends over there.

_"Iida..."_

He stared at the view in silence, watching the peaceful city worked itself while Izuku had more worrying thoughts about Iida.

But then the city had one of its buildings explode in the distance.

Izuku's eyes instantly widened as he pressed his face closer against the glass.

_"What in the world!?"_

The explosion caught the attention of everyone on the train.

"Look, an explosion!" A man shouted.

"Is it a villain!?" Another shouted.

"Everyone, please remain in your seats!" A conductor told everyone.

Izuku turned his head back to Gran Torino. "Could it be a fire?"

Gran Torino frowned, "Gee, I don't know, do you see the orangy wavy stuff coming out?"

Before Izuku retorted to the sarcastic remark, something came flying from the city and busted right into the train right in front of him.

"Gah!" Izuku covered his face as some rubble got on him and kept hold of his seat as the train momentarily shook, suddenly coming to an emergency stop. Clouds of dust covered the inside of the train that kept everyone from seeing what had crashed into them.

_"What in the world!? Was something thrown at us!?"_ Izuku wondered as he closed his eyes so dust wouldn't get into them.

When the dust cleared, Izuku partially opened one eye before both widened in shock.

Right in front of him was a large hole in the train's side, but more importantly, there was a hero dressed in white trying to get up from the floor, with his head slightly bleeding.

"Nngh... What the hell is with that monst-?" Before the hero could finish, something came right inside the train, startling everyone.

"Roaoaoaaaaaaaaaa!" A light greenish, grayish figure had landed in the train and immediately grabbed the man by his face, then slamming him hard against the ground.

Izuku's pupils shrunk as he took into account the emotionless looking creature with four eyes place in his exposed brain, making loud shrieks and grunts as he bashed the hero onto the floor.

"A NOMU!" Izuku cried out as he got to his feet, already ready to fight.

Gran Torino was already ahead of him, "Kid, sit down and stay put!"

He used his quirk to blast himself at the Nomu, first slamming a swinging leg right into its face to make it let go of the injured hero. Then he blasted around before using his body to ram into the Nomu's chest, launching the two of them out of the train and towards Hosu City.

"Gran Torino!" Izuku shouted as he ran to the opening of the train and looked out.

He saw the elder with the Nomu moving at fast speeds together until they both crashed into a building in the distance. Izuku couldn't see more of where either was, but what he did see made him form a look of terror.

Fire, large fires were within Hosu city. Fires mixed in with occurring explosions that expanded the flames.

"What... What the hell is going on!?" He stuffed his phone tightly into his pocket as conductors came around.

"Everyone calm down! Please return to your seats! The villain is not here anymore!" One said as he kneeled over to check on the hero that was beaten up by the Nomu. "Please wait calmly for the heroes!"

Izuku wasn't having any of that waiting, especially when he knew that one of his most trusted friends was in the city.

"Excuse me, I'm getting out!" He activated One For All at 10%, then leaping off the train and out towards the city.

"Hey, wait! Are you crazy!?"

"Apparently!" Izuku shouted as he started falling.

He landed on the roof just below the train bridge and quickly ran along it, getting deep into his worrying thoughts.

_"That Nomu looked different than the one at USJ! It was smaller and with wings! Nor did it seem to have the same shock absorption quirk that the large one had!"_

He leaped off a building and landed onto the roof of a shorter one, heading towards the flames.

_"I have to move quickly! Gran Torino could be in trouble! Not to mention..." _The thought of Iida came into Izuku's mind once again, making him tightly press his teeth together. He leaped down to another shorter building, then jumping down to the wall of another before finally landing onto the ground of the city.

With One For All's speed, it didn't take long for Izuku to start coming across crowds of panicking people running towards him, of course, to get away from the fire and explosions farther behind them.

_"Over there is where all the trouble is... But since there was one Nomu that came into the train, doesn't that mean there's more? How many of them are there!? Do they have multiple quirks like the Nomu that Enso took down!? If they do, then everyone is in even greater danger than I thought!"_

He panted as he ran.

_"Iida... Iida! Please be alright!"_

Izuku then came into an orange filled area, making him stop in place with a look of fear in his eyes. There were flames everywhere, but a truck was also sent flying in the air, landing a little far from him but creating a tremendous explosion of light that had Izuku close his eyes.

_"What the hell was that!?"_

"Tenya! Tenya, where are you!" He heard someone yell.

Hearing the first name of his friend, Izuku's head snapped into the direction he heard it. He saw three Nomu's in the area, one of them was the one that had crashed into the train, another was a Nomu resembling the one at U.S.J with its black color, but it had less muscle mass, and the last one had a pale color with wings on its back and what seemed to be a respirator in its mouth.

Around these Nomu's were several heroes that looked beat up and were struggling to face off against these monsters. Some on the floor, while others helped to protect them.

"What... is... this?" Izuku muttered as the flames shined brightly in the area.

"Manuel put out the fire!" One of the hero's cried out.

"R-Right!" Manuel shouted as he pointed his hand to redirect water from a fire hydrant towards the flames.

Izuku's attention was aimed at Manuel. _"He's the one who called to Iida!? The pro hero Manuel! He's who Iida decided to go for his internship!?"_

He was about to run towards the hero to ask about his friend, but the pro spoke before he could move.

"Why do you choose a time like this to run off, Tenya!?" Manuel shouted in frustration.

Izuku froze, _"What? Iida ran off somewhere!? But where!? He's too diligent to suddenly leave his internship, so why-!?"_

He remembered the Hero Killer, making his eye widen.

_"No way... He wouldn't-!"_

"Hey, you're in the way! Get back!" a female hero shouted to Izuku as she got in front of him.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry!"

Izuku then bolted off with One For All's speed, _"That's right... This is Hosu City, where the Hero Killer is! No... No Iida! Don't tell me you really went after for him!? B-But the Nomus, and this destruction!?"_

He gulped nervously.

_"There's no doubt about it... This is from the League Of Villains!"_

He jumped into an alleyway and started exploring them, his teeth pressed together.

_"I'll find you, Iida..." _His hands tightened into fists as he blazed past many trash cans.

_"I'LL SAVE YOU!"_

His eyes flashed red for a moment.

* * *

**~{At ?}~**

Lynch and his newly acquired but childishly named Havoc explored the asylum-like building he had recently found. The contents of the building were somewhat surprising to him, as there were signs of some sort of massacre that had previously occurred.

There were stains of old, dried up blood scattered all over the place with even plenty of imprints of people on the floor. He estimated that the blood had been there for a few years and deemed that as evidence to why the entire building seemed abandoned.

He explored the halls with Havoc growling around as she took sniffs at the blood, but it was clear that there was no one alive in the place. He raised his hand as green balls of flames floated around him, lighting up the area that didn't have a hint of electricity.

They both came upon on an elevator that looked somewhat too small for either Lynch or his mutated wolf to go in.

**_"Well, I don't want to break anything if I'll be staying here. Stairs it is then. Wait here, Havoc."_**

He shrunk in size and opened the door to the stairwell while Havoc sniffed at the area around her.

He glanced over the edge and stared down at how far the stairs went, suddenly growing curious as he saw how far down it went.

**_"Wait... Does this place go deeper?"_**

He leaped off the edge and fell down several stairs before landing on his feet with a powerful impact, cracking the ground underneath him.

He then went out through a door and saw what he could only call a facility of white. There was lab equipment, thick bullet-proof glass separating some rooms, more dried-up blood all over the place, computers, rolling chairs, and much more.

The corners of Lynch's mask almost looked as if they had moved upward, and the openings of his eyes and mouth seemed to blaze in an excited flaring red.

**_"This place is perfect... More perfect than all the other places I've held up in before! But... Does it have what I think it should have?"_**

He explored the area, going from room to room until he found what he was looking for.

He came into what he assumed was the control room, one with large screens of advanced looking computers.

**_"Yes! Now I can finally start! I can start building, I can start creating! But first..."_**

Lynch stuck both arms out, and they extended several tentacles to the computers all over the room, morphing the tips to plug themselves into outlets and into the computers.

**_"Let's light this candle."_** He chuckled.

His whole body suddenly became shocked with electricity traveling through all of his limbs. He focused it into the computers and outlets, which then sent power throughout the entire building. All the lights turned on, some generators in other rooms roared in the distance, and all the screens lit up in white.

He laughed as he pulled his limbs back, circling around and gazing at many screens of the control room that displayed the many places within the facility from the perspectives of cameras.

He went to the most significant computer screen and started typing on the keyboard, creating multiple tabs and powering up the devices more to gain access to the web even from all the way out here.

**_"Now, just what WAS this place?"_**

He typed away with two arms growing from his back and typing on two other computers besides the one he was at. Many tabs were open, many files were opened, yet in these files, nearly everything had been cleared out.

**_"Hm, the only thing I can get out of any of this is a thing called, 'Project Walrider.' Oh well, I can't find anything about now, so I guess it isn't important. Now let's see what's happening in this superpower world so far."_**

Multiple screens showed breaking news in a city called 'Hosu,' making Lynch tilt his head curiously as he watched a live feed from a helicopter. He saw fires and explosions, but what intrigued him more were the monsters he saw causing all of this chaos. Monsters that had their brains showing with dead gazes in their eyes.

**_"Oh? What the hell are those things?"_** He read in some passing text and listened to the reporter calling these things called 'Nomu' that had appeared for the second time in the world.

**_"Hm..." _**Out of curiosity, he searched up both Nomus and Hosu City, wondering if this was where those creatures came from and wondering who made them. He learned that these 'Nomu' came from a group called the League of Villains, that had little known about them besides being a group to cause crime with someone named Tomura Shigaraki leading them. As for the results of searching up Hosu, besides the current crisis happening, the only thing that popped up was someone called the 'Hero Killer.' He read a bit about him, from his murdering spree to how many heroes he targeted. He then started to watch the Nomu's in the city this person resided in.

**_"So much to study, so much to learn... But- Huh? Wait a second..."_**

Lynch tried to pause the screen of the live feed in Hosu City, only to realize he couldn't. He grumbled before searching up several different sights playing the same event, rewinding each one he could and looking through them to find what it was he had seen. Finding the right sight, he paused at the moment he needed, zooming in on a spec of green.

**_"Isn't that...?"_**

He saw someone with a bush of green hair, wearing a dark green costume and running away from the area. Lynch's eyes flared in excitement as he stared at the person with his face nearly pressing the screen.

He recognized him from the festival, remembering him to be the one Enso had spoken about while fighting the blonde time bomb. The one he had searched up a clear image of, someone who was _clearly_ crucial to Enso.

**_"Found~ You~"_**

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

Enso stood outside in another plaza with his hands in his pockets, merely staring at the people walking by.

_"How boring..."_

Both Jiro and Mineta were behind him. They sat at a table as the three pro heroes, Death Arms, Kamui Woods, and Mt. Lady, sat at another table talking about recent kidnappings involving children.

Jiro waited around by staring at her phone rather bored, while Mineta looked at his phone while breathing heavily with a red face.

"..."

She jabbed an earlobe into the side of his head.

"GAH!" Mineta's eyes bulged before he fell back in his chair, twitching.

_"Even in public, this guy's looking at disgusting stuff..."_

She got up and grumbled as she got away from Mineta and approached Enso, noticing him stare up at the moon.

"Yo, Enso. How's it going?"

The boy glimpsed back at Jiro coming beside him. "I suppose I'm doing fine. Just wondering if Izuku is doing something more productive than me on this internship..."

"Speaking of which, did you really choose to be with Kamui Woods because you were forced to?"

"Of course not. Kamui was just recommended to me by that rodent of a principal..."

_"He said that so casually!?" _Jiro thought in shock, knowing how dangerous the principal of her school has been reported to be.

"Alright... Do you know where Greeny went?"

Enso turned to the girl with an eyebrow raised, "Greeny?"

Jiro flinched as she remembered that she had only told Izuku that she was calling him differently.

"Er... I-!" She became flustered and turned away.

"..." Enso stared as she fumbled for a moment before he closed his eyes with a sigh. "I see... You refuse to call him the same thing that Bakugo calls him, don't you?"

Jiro turned to him rather shocked.

"So I was right on the money? Hmph, it's to be expected that you wouldn't want to say the same thing that constantly comes out of that time bomb's mouth."

The rock girl let out a breath of relief, "I... I kind of thought you'd say that I'm petty or stupid for doing that..."

"No, it's understandable. But just don't go and actively antagonize Bakugo."

"Sure thing. I want nothing to do with him anyway..." Jiro growled with an eye twitching.

"..."

The two then remained silent, just staring out at the city while waiting for the adults to finish speaking.

"Oh, that's right." Enso remembered, turning his head back to his classmate. "Jiro, do you recall the conversation we had in that karaoke bar?"

"Huh? Enlighten me." She answered as she tried to remember.

"We agreed that you'd teach Izuku how to play the guitar and maybe a few more instruments if I were to buy you a guitar in return. It happened twenty-five chapters ago, remember?"

"Eh?"

"Do you remember?"

"Wait, was what that last part-?"

"Remember?" Enso asked once more, a neutral expression showing no signs of acknowledgment of what Jiro was referring too.

Jiro was dumbfounded with Enso but guessed he wouldn't address what he said, so she just thought about the promise they made. It didn't take long before a look of realization formed on her. "Oh yeah! I forgot all about that after so long! Why didn't you ever bring it up again!?"

Enso scratched the back of his head, "I mean, many things happened and _are_ happening now. There was the attack on USJ, then preparing and participating in the sports festival, and now we're doing these internships. There weren't really many chances where I could fit in Izuku's schedule."

"You have a schedule for Greeny, what are you, his secretary?" Jiro sweatdropped.

"If anything, he'd be a secretary for me, but that's not important. I'm just asking if you'd be willing to teach him after these internships are over?"

Jiro looked down and scratched her head with a sense of uncertainty.

"Well... After these internships are done, then we'll have to worry about final exams. But... I think..." She turned slightly red, thinking about teaching Izuku alone. "I-I'd be up f-for it..."

"Good, then I'll be sure to get back to you on it and tell Izuku later."

Jiro could help but twirl her earlobes in anticipation while forming a small smile.

"I-I'll look forward to it... J-Just don't hold off on reminding either of us again."

"Alright." Enso gazed back to the moon, maintaining silence.

He started thinking about many things, from Izuku being alone and having him as his only friend, to his current position now where the boy has already connected to so many people.

_"Especially the females..." _Enso sweatdropped, remembering so many situations involving them. However, despite believing that the girls were partially nuisances, he did have to be that they've still had a positive effect on Izuku. From having them as friends to just being the people that kept the emerald boy going, that kept him fighting.

_"I guess... I should be somewhat grateful to them."_

Then suddenly, Enso's watch vibrated.

"Hm?" He raised it towards his face while Jiro felt her phone vibrate at the same time. They both checked their messages, and both found the same thing.

Just a location sent by Izuku... _Hosu City_.

"What's this?" Jiro asked aloud.

Enso narrowed his eyes suspiciously. _"This... Why just a location?"_

His watch suddenly started beeping, surprising both the two of them.

"Um...?" Jiro started, wondering what it meant.

"Erm, I have to take a call." Enso answered before she could ask.

"That thing's a phone!?"

Enso checked the unique code on the small screen of his watch that let him know who was calling him.

_"All Might?"_

"I'll be done in a moment." Enso told Jiro as he started walking a reasonable distance away.

"Okay then..." Jiro muttered, watching him walk.

She turned to walk back to the table, but her sensitive ears heard one thing from Enso.

"I wonder if it's about Izuku...?"

That had Jiro stop for a moment, the girl turning her head back to watch Enso as he leaned his shoulder against a wall and raised the watch to his ear.

"..." She thought about the location sent out by Izuku, thinking about him and why he would send something like that. This had her thoughts start going even more rampant, and the girl becoming even more worried. She walked to the same wall a few yards away from where Enso is, she punctured her earlobe into it, listening in, although nervously.

"What do you need?" Enso sighed.

"Y-Young Enso, there is something that I must tell you! I know nothing has happened with Young Midoriya so far, but you have to know!"

_"Huh, the only one who addresses people with 'young' before their names is All Might! But why does he sound so... different!?" _Jiro wondered in shock.

Enso narrowed his eyes, "Hold on... What do you mean?"

"I-I learned that he's here! Lynch has been here since the festival!"

Enso's pupils shrunk, and the whole world around him seemed to crack.

He recalled the location Izuku sent to everyone, making his eyes completely open and his arm start shaking by what it implied. If he sent just a location, then no doubt he couldn't write a proper message because of being in a situation. If he really sent that message to everyone in his class, then it meant he desperately needed help from anyone.

He knew Izuku was in danger, and if the series of events meant anything, then it could be _him._

Enso's teeth pressed together, "I have to leave!"

"What!? Young Enso, are you telling me that-?"

"Meet me over in Hosu City, now!"

"H-Hosu!? B-But I can't! I've already used up my-!"

Enso ended the call before the hero could finish, partially hearing what he had said and realizing he might be alone on this.

Jiro looked both scared and confused, processing what she just heard was.

"_All Might!? Hosu!? Lynch? Midoriya's in danger!? Wh-What the hell is going on?!"_ She shouted in her head, even forgetting about the nickname she gave the boy due to her frantic worrying.

"Yo, we're heading back now!" Kamui waved to them, having finished talking with his two fellow pro heroes.

When Enso turned back to them, they all instantly felt chills. The boy's eyes looked filled to the brim in red, red that menacingly shined under the moonlight of the night sky.

"I have to leave! Family emergency!"

"Huh!? What are you-?" Before Kamui could finish, Enso formed an intense yellow aura and his eyes matched them, the boy then crouching down.

"Snipe Style- Ricocheting Bullet!" He suddenly blasted at a small building, bouncing off of it and getting onto the roof of another before continuing to bounce off in the distance.

"Wait!" Jiro shouted, desperately wanting to know what was happening.

"Where are you going!?" Mineta shouted in pure confusion.

"HOLD IT! YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT!" Kamui shouted.

Death Arm's glared at the boy fly, looking ready for action. "Kamui, using his quirk like that is against the-"

"I KNOW, I KNOW! He just lacks common sense! Alright!? I'll um- I'm gonna- ARGH!" Kamui grabbed his own head in frustration.

"He said a family emergency though, didn't he? I wonder what happened?" Mt Lady mumbled, still staring off at where Enso left with a look of curiosity but not really caring that he used his quirk without permission.

Jiro's body shook with her mouth agape in fear.

_"What... What's gonna happen to Midoriya!?"_

* * *

**~{Hosu City- A Few Minutes Before}~**

"Who the hell are you?"

Stain growled as he asked this question the young boy currently on his knees after taking a kick. He was just about to finish off another fake pro once again, going to plunge his ideas into the public by plunging his blade into the hero, but this... 'kid' had come out of nowhere rather fast. He had been forced to jump back a few feet before then kicking the kid away, now pointing his blade right at him while glaring threateningly.

"Another wannabe hero? A child wearing a costume?"

The young hero in front of him, no longer wearing his helmet, glared back at Stain with pure anger in his eyes, being none other than Iida.

Iida clenched his hands into fists as he slowly got back up.

"I am the younger brother of the hero you attacked..."

"Tsk, do you know how vague that it?" Stain scoffed.

Iida seemed to get even angrier as he got back to his feet, "I'm the younger brother of the hero you left in shambles! Left to never again live the life of helping others!"

Stain narrowed his eyes, "There was only _one_ hero that I let live... So you're his younger brother?"

His murderous gaze grew, "How about telling me _why_ you're here then?"

Iida panted as he got back to his feet. "I've... I've come to stop you in my brother's place! To continue where he left off! I'll make sure to take you down using my own two hands!"

Stain looked unimpressed as he listened on.

"Remember my name for as long as you live!" Iida's eyes almost looked like they were going to burst, "I AM INGENIUM, THE HERO THAT WILL DEFEAT YOU!"

Stain just held his blades tighter, "I see..." He gave off an aura of killing intent.

"Then you're just like any of the others, using your quirk selfishly for your own desires, which in this case, is revenge..."

His eyes flashed red.

**"Do me a favor and die."**

Iida felt a chill in his spine from the dangerous tone, but that didn't stop him from blasting forward.

"LIKE HELL I WILL!"

He swung his leg right at the Hero Killer, expecting to connect it to him.

"Lashing out like this-"

Stain was suddenly above Iida, having just jumped up.

"-is predictable!" He swung the spikes on his shoe down on the young hero, stabbing him and forcing him down to the ground.

"NNGH!" Iida felt his shoulder bleed as he felt the Hero Killer pin his head down with his foot while examining the boy.

"Oh? That quirk of yours... So you really are Ingenium's brother." He leaned down over him, "I don't know why you're so angry, even if I let him live just to let the news of me spread, he's alive. You should be grateful that I even left him to breathe."

Iida just turned his off from the ground and glared up at Stain, "You ruined his career! Who the hell would be grateful for that!?"

"Hmph." Stain flipped his blade before plunging it down on Iida's shoulder, then stomping his foot onto the boy's head to keep him down.

"GAAAAAH!" Iida shouted in pain.

"You and your brother are both weak, and the reason for this is obvious. You're both fakes. If you fought with a conviction for the sake of others, for the sake of society, then you'd be stronger. But here you are just coming after me with a petty goal."

"SHUT UP!" Iida screamed, "My older brother is paralyzed from the waist down because of you! He'll never be a hero ever again!"

"That was the point. The only reason I didn't kill him was to spread my name, but the least I can do was prevent him from continuing his fake career."

Iida's pupils shrunk, "You bastard... My older brother was an excellent hero who has saved so many people, he's led people on paths of heroism and safety! You... You have no right to take that away from him!"

He trembled in anger.

"My older brother was the one who gave me my dream! My dream to become a hero! I won't forgive you... I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!"

The moment he said that last part, Stain closed his eyes and sighed in disappointment.

"Hmph, and you're calling yourself a hero? Did you even think at all about that guy over there?"

Stain pointed at a bleeding hero shaking with his back leaned against the wall, a hero with a native-like look to him.

"You came after me, but shouldn't you have thought about saving him? What would an actual hero do?"

Iida stopped shaking for a moment, taking in those words. He suddenly saw Izuku go through his mind, the boy never hesitating to jump in to save a person.

"I-I..."

Stain pulled his blade out of Iida's shoulder, making him wince and press his teeth tightly together, "You should've reflected on yourself and saved others. Yet you're here using your powers for yourself. Letting hatred overwhelm you and acting out on your own desires..."

Stain frowned with cold red eyes.

"Aren't those the furthest things for a hero?"

"Sh-Shut up!" Iida tried to push himself off the ground, but Stain grinned and brought his blood-covered blade to his mouth.

"Which is why you'll die here."

He licked the blood on his blade.

Iida felt his body completely stiffen, making his eyes widen.

_"I-I can't move!?"_

Stain brought his blade up and aimed it pointing down.

"Sorry about this. I don't like killing kids, but you're budding into a hero of hatred, you don't belong to this society. So do me a favor and become an offering for a more just world."

_"If you admire me, Tenya, then I might become an amazing hero!"_ Iida remembered his older brother's words and had water coming from his eyes.

"NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY, YOU ARE THE CRIMINAL WHO HURT MY BROTHER!"

"Oh put a sock in it." Stain growled as he plunged his blade down.

But was stopped as a blur of green blasted right at him.

"SMAAAAAAASH!"

Izuku's fist connected in the side of the Hero Killer's face right before his blade could touch Iida's skin, shocking the villain and sending him flying back.

The broccoli-haired boy then landed on his feet while panting, letting out breath after breath of relief that he made it just in time.

"To think you went so far for him... We need to talk after this, Iida!" Izuku shouted.

Iida's eyes widened with tears as he saw Izuku right in front of him.

"Mi...Midoriya?"

Izuku kept his eyes on the Hero Killer. "Are you alright?"

Iida was at a daze, completely flabbergasted as he can only utter, "Wh-Why?"

"What do you mean why!? I came to save you!"

Stain got back up and narrowed his eyes at Izuku.

_"He's the one from Shigaraki's picture… They wanted him alive, didn't they? Someone did, at least... But why?"_

Iida struggled to speak. "H-How did you even-?"

"I knew you'd be here somewhere away from where the chaos is occurring! That's where the Hero Killer usually struck. But that's not important! Can you move?"

Iida struggled, but couldn't move an inch, "N-No... M-My body hasn't responded to me ever since he cut me... I-It might have to do with his quirk."

"Don't worry, I think I can-!" Izuku stopped himself as he saw another hero lying helplessly near Stain. _"There's another person!? Damn, it if was just Iida, then I could've carried him onto my shoulder... But there's someone else!"_

Stain brought both blades out as he glared at Izuku from afar. _"Now... Just what kind of conviction do YOU have?"_

"Midoriya… D-Don't get involved…" Iida struggled to say.

"Huh?" Izuku looked down at Iida with some confusion.

"This has nothing to do with you! S-So leave!" Iida shouted to him with a trembling voice.

Izuku's pupils shrunk, "What... What are you saying!? Don't you know who I am!? There's no way I'd do that!"

Stain glared even more intensely at Iida, "This was exactly what I meant. Your friend came to save you... To save you from a situation that_ you _brought yourself into with your selfish actions. If you continue to live, then you'll keep bringing others into danger."

He then focused his attention on Izuku, looking him straight in the eye.

"Boy... I suggest you don't involve yourself with this fake, I have a duty to kill him." He scraped both of his blades against each other, "If we clash, of course, the weaker of us will be brought down. Are you sure you're up for it?"

Izuku suddenly felt a shiver as he saw the burning eyes of the villain ready for action.

_"This guy... He really is different from any other villain. H-His gaze looks just like one Enso has had before... The eyes of someone who's taken a life before..."_

He gulped nervously and trembled in place, but behind him, he tapped his phone, sending something to several contacts.

_"There's only one thing I can do now... I can't carry both Iida and Native... If I want to make sure both stay safe, then... then..."_

"Now then... just what will you do?" Stain narrowed his eyes.

Izuku took one last breath of air, before then getting into a fighting stance.

Seeing him readying for battle, Iida shouted. "Stop it, Midoriya! Run away from here! I told you, didn't I!? It has nothing to do with you!"

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?" Izuku shouted back, making Iida stunned into silence.

"WHAT KIND OF HERO- NO, WHAT TYPE OF PERSON WOULD I BE IF I LEFT YOU HERE!?" Izuku stomped his foot down and held his hands in front of him. "I-If I'm here getting in the way, then it just proves that I'm doing the right thing."

Stain could swear that he saw a momentary red in the boy's eyes, only to see green again as Izuku continued.

"Th-There's a lot more things I wanna say to you, Iida... Like scold you for once rather than the other way around, but I'll do that later when we're all smiling back in class. Of course I'd get involved! I-It's just like what All Might says..."

Hearing All Might's name, Stain raised an eyebrow.

"Meddling when you don't need to… is the essence of being a hero!" Izuku nervously grinned.

Stain's eyes then changed from eyes of murderous intent, to the eyes of a crazed joy.

"Good... Good!" He started to laugh, startling both Izuku and Iida. "I like you already, kid! Midoriya, correct? Perhaps this is why Shigaraki wants you dead."

Izuku's eyes widened, "Y-You're with the league!?"

That made Stain frown, "I wouldn't say that. I'm fighting for my own interests. But I understand why that child of a man wishes to finish you. Because you're intentions, your convictions, they match up with All Might... And he just doesn't like that. However, I won't follow _his_ goals or desires by _his_ way. If I want to change this world into the way it should be, then I'm doing it my way. By purging the fakes who fight for themselves, but letting worthy heroes like _you_ live!"

He then pointed a blade at Iida, "So I'm gonna have to kill your friend there. I'm sorry to say, but he's nothing close to a true hero. He doesn't have the goal that a true hero should have."

Hearing this, Iida's mind flashed back to the conversation he had at lunch so many weeks ago, the same lunchtime where the alarm for the school went off. He remembered Enso's words about his reasoning for becoming a hero.

_"I mean, could you truly claim that you're aiming to become a 'true hero' when you aren't even thinking about the one thing a true hero would prioritize in for becoming a hero in the first place?"_

Iida thought about his actions with the desire to finish off the Hero Killer. That had been the goal that caused his recent decision, they didn't involve saving anyone, they were just for himself.

The more he thought about it, the more mortified Iida became. _"I'm... Have I really been...?"_

"If you choose to protect him, then you'll mostly get hurt. I would prefer it if you'd just leave." Stain told Izuku.

Izuku actually chuckled as he punched his hand into his own palm.

"Over my dead body!"

Stain grinned, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."


	46. Fighting A Hero Killer

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**So here we are, one of the most iconic fights for Izuku and his two friends. (I really hope I made it good. I don't really think fight scenes are too much of my thing.) I wonder what'll happen? Will anyone show up? Will it be easier or harder? Only one way to find out! Let's not waste any time and get into it!**

Answered Comments:

_blue grimmoire: _**Hope this chapter satisfies you too! **

_Nick4Speed: _**Although Ikari is really strong and probably the most versatile quirk of Izuku's class (Momo's quirk probably more), I still personally think it's still a weaker version of All For One. One reason is that he can only 'mimic' quirks to a degree, like he can't create actual ice like Todoroki, he can only form crystallization at best that isn't cold. Another downside is that when he _does_ bring out Ikari, any attack that collides with Ikari will be one that Izuku receives as well, so he has to be _very_ careful. Because say Ikari just absorbs a bunch of bullets, then _boom_ Izuku receives the wounds for them. And for any projectiles he unleashes, it counts like Ikari's blood, which is also like Izuku losing blood too, so he can't spam moves or risk getting pale and either passing out or maybe even dying from blood loss without the blood.**

_Guest:_ **Ooo! Enso if he had a voice actor? Oh crap, I never once thought about how he would sound. It'd be serious and stoic, but I don't know any English voice actors for any anime, since I watch all my anime in English sub. Hell, I don't even know Japanese voice actors either. Maybe I should look into some of them, but I can't give an answer to how he would sound in English.**

_TQ679: _**Really appreciate this detailed comment on how you felt in several parts of the chapter. Would always like to see how people feel in different parts, hope to hear more from you in the future!**

_Atomic11: _**Ah, yes, I do love my references. **

_Wolfy: _**Yeah, not really gonna post both Galar's Secret Miracle and To Be A Hero around the same time. The one time I did was because it was my birthday, and it did take me time to get writing again. And good luck with your first fic! If you want some advice from my experience, then you could always ask! But I still don't view myself as too much of an experienced writer.**

_S1Ayer4fun:_ **The reason All Might never got hurt when using One For All was that he was able to use it from the start due to how much muscle he managed to accumulate on his body when he obtained it. Or that's what Gran Torino supposedly said about it. All Might did also have to learn that he should course power throughout his entire body like Izuku had to learn, so I doubt he never got hurt using One For All before learning it. That's my speculation at least. And as for why Izuku got hurt, it was because his body was just _barely_ able to contain the quirk, so using it heavily injured him when he didn't spread it around his body. Again, not sure if that's entirely correct, but it's what I think.**

_Shadow Joestar: _**I wouldn't say it's gonna be the toughest fight of his life, especially since it'll be a hell lot easier due to his combat training with Enso.**

* * *

**~{Selkie's Agency- 7:03PM}~**

"Midoriya-chan's... Location?"

Tsu was sitting in a cafeteria on the Oki Mariner ship for her internship, staring at her phone at the message she received.

"What's wrong?" A young woman with blue eyes, blue shoulder-length hair, and wearing a sailor uniform that had bluefins in the hat asked the frog hero. This was Sirius, a trusty hero working under the Sea Rescue Hero, Captain Selkie, the same hero Tsu was interning for.

Tsu turned to Sirius with a tilt of her head, "One of my friends sent me their location, kero."

"A location?" Sirius asked before taking a bite out of some fish.

"Yes, but that's it. There's nothing else with it."

Sirius swallowed her food before answering, "Well, where's the place your friend sent?"

"Hosu City, kero?" Tsu muttered.

That made Sirius freeze and stare at her.

"Er... Tsu? When did he send you that message?"

"A few minutes ago. Why?" Tsu turned to her.

"Oh boy..." Sirius mumbled, looking somewhat serious. "Have you taken a look at the news?"

Tsu grew worried and she shook her head. "No... I haven't, did something happening?"

"More like what _is_ happening. I think you should see for yourself..." Sirius suggested.

Tsu went through her phone and searched the news, feeling her heart drop as she saw the live feed of Nomus terrorizing Hosu City. She saw them throwing cars, causing explosions, and knocking down heroes left and right.

She didn't see Izuku anywhere the chaos, feeling relieved from that at least, but she felt uneasiness grow as she thought about the location sent to her. What did it mean? Was he in trouble? Was he hurt?

She instinctively hugged her phone as a trail of sweat went down the side of her head.

_"Midoriya... Please stay safe..."_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile-Hosu City}~**

_ "I'm in danger..."_

Izuku and Stain glared daggers at one another, one waiting for the other to act.

_"He might be thinking that I came alone without letting anyone know... So I should just keep stalling until someone gets here."_

He narrowed his eyes, _"But if he does move-"_

Stain's eyes seemed to flash red as he dashed forward with his long blade at the ready.

Izuku didn't even hesitate, blasting forward with Full Cowling at 10%. _"-then I have to close the distance!"_

_"He's fast!"_ Stain realized immediately how quick the blur was and swung his sword with one hand.

Izuku suddenly got to his knees while leaning his head back, sliding on his kneepads along the ground as the blade went over him.

Stain didn't hesitate, swinging his weapon back at a lower angle to slash at the kneeling boy, but Izuku jumped a few feet off the ground and right over the incoming blade.

Stain's eyes widened as Izuku seemed to twirl in the air, jumping back and narrowly avoiding an incoming kick from the spinning boy.

_"He knows how to fight..."_ Stain landed on his feet and toss two daggers ahead to try and graze Izuku.

Izuku had already landed before bouncing from the ground to the wall, avoid the daggers while closing the distance between him and the Hero Killer.

Stain swung his blade again as Izuku dashed at him, but the boy performed a side flip, jumping over the villain and even using said villain to push himself for a lift.

_"He's got good reactions!"_ Stain growled.

The villain quickly unsheathed a smaller blade and swung it behind him, only for a midair kick from Izuku to send it flying upward from his hand.

_"Use kicks to space him out!"_ Izuku told himself as he landed and swung another leg at electric speeds.

Stain jumped backwards and managed to actually catch the flying blade, then landing in a crouching position.

_"This kid's being careful..."_

He grinned crazily, "You really are the real deal..."

Izuku just glared at him, "The hell are you saying?"

Stain stood up and stuck the dagger he caught back into his sheathe, then tightly gripping his long blade with both hands.

"You'd got the right mindset and the skill to back it up!" He dashed forward and slashed the air as Izuku jumped back at the same time. Stain chuckled as he saw just another example of precise movement, "Not like any of those **_fakes_**_._" He then hissed with venom.

"And what!? You choose to murder heroes because of that!? Heroes that still give their effort to help the innocent!?" Izuku retorted while dashing forward, managing to collide a punch to Stain's arm and sending him back.

"Those fakesaren't heroes!" Stain shouted as he ran forward and tossed two blades. "They're selfish individuals who use their quirks for themselves! They don't belong in this society!"

Izuku moved forward and short-hopped while turning his body sideways, his body getting right between the blades and letting them pass.

"Who are you to judge who belongs in this world and who doesn't!?" Upon landing, he swung his leg at a trash can and sent its contents flying at the villain.

"No one else is acting upon the problem, I'm the only one willing to do anything about it!" Stain sliced the trash in half with his red eyes burning with fury.

But as it cleared, Izuku was revealed behind it with his fist already coming forward.

"AND THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MURDER INNOCENTS!?"

Stain's eyes widened as his hand gripped a dagger on his belt.

"Detroit-!"Izuku's hand sparked with green. "SMAAAAAAAASH!"

His fist collided with Stain's face, the whole alleyway seeming to light up from the impact.

Stain was sent tumbling back while Izuku landed on the ground, panting hard.

The villain flipped himself off the ground and landed on his feet, the corner of his mouth bleeding.

Izuku put on another fighting stance and backed up, keeping close to the two heroes in need of help.

_"I can take him... He's clearly been fighting for quite a while, and he has fast reaction time like me, but... I'm faster than him!"_

Across from him, Stain lifted the small blade he had pulled out, only for him to narrow his eyes to see not even a spec of blood on it.

_"Tsk! How hard is it to cut a damn kid?"_

Iida was amazed to see his friend go toe-to-toe against the Hero Killer. Both showed skill with their movements, careful precision with their attacks and dodges, and good judgment of their opponent's abilities.

Yet compared to them, Iida felt so powerless on the ground, completely paralyzed while his friend is risking his life defending him.

_"Midoriya... You shouldn't be here... And yet, here you are protecting me..."_

Stain pulled out another long blade and held both weapons in an X shape, grinding them together menacingly as his blood-thirsty aura seemed to grow.

"I'm going end them... No matter what, I have to purge the fakes from this world! It is my duty... My future! MY DESTINY!"

Izuku felt his blood turn cold and his pupils shrunk, feeling overwhelming pressure coming from his opponent.

_"It's as if he's changing by the second! No... That's not it... H-His ambition, his determination, i-it's growing!?"_

Stain took a step forward, the alleyway seeming to turn red around him as his eyes flared up.

He then took off at a full-blown sprint, pointing his blades to his sides.

Izuku raced forward as well, jumping from wall to wall towards Stain.

The world moved slow for a moment as Izuku went passed the villain's side, only to grow fearful when he saw the tiny, but bright red iris following him.

Izuku shuddered but used the wall to jump over a sudden slash. He jumped around before landing behind Stain and running at him.

Stain didn't even have to glance first, he just swung both blades, one low and one high, behind him as Izuku drew near, forcing the boy to front flip over the villain entirely.

But as soon, as he landed, Stain came at him with two separate slashes, to which Izuku backed up and tilted his body to avoid being sliced.

Stain growled as he raised his arms up to perform an X slash at Izuku.

Izuku responded by dashing forward and dropped the ground right before the villain swung his blades, sliding between the Hero Killer's legs.

Stain reacted instantly, swinging a blade behind him and actually cutting a small piece of Izuku hair as he jumped up.

_"His movements are different!?"_ Izuku thought nervously.

The boy landed with his back facing the villain, immediately proceeding to turn around.

Stain was already jumping at him once again, trying to get at least some sort of cut on him.

Luckily, Izuku had some time to breathe as a large torrent of flames erupted from behind and headed right for the Hero Killer.

Stain's eyes widened by the flourishing light but he was close enough to the wall to use his foot, pushing himself to the side and then jumping back to avoid being burnt.

Once he landed, he and Izuku glanced at where the flames came from.

"God damn it... This is really annoying me..." Stain fumed while his grip tightened even more on his weapons.

Izuku on the other hand, felt some joy but also surprise to see who had come out of everyone.

"Todoroki!? Why are you here!? Isn't Endeavor's agency two hours away!?"

Todoroki stood there breathing calmly with his left side producing some flames, but his eyes twitched when he heard Izuku's question.

"What am I doing here?" He reached in his back pocket and pulled out his phone, "Midoriya, you're the one who sent this, aren't you?. You need to give more details in times like this, I almost thought about not coming until I put it together..."

"I-I know I did, b-but like I said, you should be two hours away!"

"Well now I'm here." Todoroki sighed.

Iida was stunned to see the fire and ice hero.

"T-Todoroki! You too?! Why are you here?" His eyes focused on the boy's flames being put out. "A-And your using your left side…"

"Why _I'm_ here? I should be the one asking why _you're _here..." Todoroki said with a stern gaze. "Midoriya here I can understand because he just naturally seems to be asking for trouble, but you? I have no idea how someone as diligent as you would end up here..."

"Hey! That's mean!" Izuku shouted to him.

Todoroki then stomped the ground with his right foot, causing ice to trail across the floor.

Stain saw this and instinctively jumped back a good distance away, his judgment serving him well as jagged spikes came at him. In the process, the ice formed into a small ramp of the sort that slid the stiff Iida and injured hero Native down right to him and Izuku.

"That should do it, as long as these guys are behind us, we just have to worry about facing the Hero Killer."

Izuku actually smiled, "I know we can do it, especially now that you're using your flames again!" he said proudly.

"Thanks for that..." Todoroki muttered, feeling some warmth that wasn't from his left side. "I knew your message must've meant you needed help, so I've let my old man know to bring more pros back here. They should be here soon."

That made Stain grind his teeth together as he intimately swiped his blades to the floor, creating sparks and marking.

"Then for now, let's show him what U.A students can do!" Izuku answered with an expression of determination. The group was all ready to fight, ready to continue giving it all they had.

And due to this, none of them noticed someone watching them from above.

On the rooftop of one of the buildings, peering over the edge and down into the alleyway, a pair of red eyes stared down at everyone.

**_"Well, well, well... It seems that I've come upon something rather interesting."_**

The eyeholes and jagged, open mouth of his trauma-mask dimmed down their red colors, getting rid of their glow as to not attract attention in the darkness.

Lynch stared down at Izuku with his bony fingers grabbing the edge as he let out a chilling breathing.

**_"I didn't expect to find him so easily. Should I just take him now and see how long it takes before he breaks? To finish him and make Reapy let loose again before being done with this world?" _**He put his fingers on his chin as he thought about it.

However, he recalled the boy's crazed state at the footage he looked at from the sports festival. Remembering seeing red eyes on top of the green boy's red eyes.

**_"Actually... No." _**He lowered his hand. **_"This boy's energy isn't like the others in the past. This one seems... different. Ignoring the first state of his green and glowing power that I assume is his 'quirk', that source of black energy of his has behaved in ways I haven't seen yet."_**

He had an echoing chuckle, **_"Oh no, my curiosity is getting the best of me again. But... maybe this is good."_**

He kneeled and peaked at Izuku zig-zagging from wall to wall.

**_"Show it to me... Show me the darkness that's inside of you. Show me what kind of source Reapy found this time."_**

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

_"Even if I'm running full speed, it'll still take me about fifteen minutes to get to Hosu city!"_ Enso thought as he jumped off a building and landed on another. He then bounced up and ran on a clothesline connecting one building to another before leaping up high.

_"I didn't think he was here already, I didn't KNOW he was here since the festival! That's nearly a week ago!_

He slipped into an alleyway and ran through it quickly, thinking about the location Izuku sent.

_"If Lynch gets to him, then there's no telling what he would do, especially since I know Izuku has a strong mind! But how long has he been watching us!? Did he see us split at the train station, does he already have him!?"_

Enso shook his head to get those worst-case scenarios out of it, then leaping high into the air before landing on the bullet train tracks.

Seeing how straight the tracks were and with no train in sight, Enso crouched down as he continued to glow yellow.

"Snipe Style- Piercing Shot!"

He blasted straight ahead and felt the force of the wind against him, but he kept pressing on as he started panting.

_"Izuku... I hope you're alright."_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile- U.A Academy}~**

"So... You're telling me he's already here?" Nezu had his hands folded together on his desk as he maintained an uncommon serious expression.

In front of him was a panting number one hero in his skinny form. Toshinori had run out of the teacher's lounge and rushed to Nezu's office in order to inform him of the current danger that had arrived. He told him everything the detective Tsukauchi had said, from the information about the Nomu, all the way to the arrival of the villain Enso had told them about.

"Y-Yes! He's in our world as we speak and was the one responsible for the cafe massacre on the day of the festival!"

Nezu looked down, surprisingly looking calm but clearly in thought.

"We don't really know if he came here on the day of the festival, but we do know that if he was in a net cafe, then he was most likely there for information... And if he was searching through the web while the festival was going on, then he must know that Enso-kun is attending U.A."

"B-But do you think he knows about his connection to Young Midoriya!? I-Is he in danger!? Should we act now!?" Toshinori stammered, resting a hand on Nezu's desk while the other held his scar.

"That depends..." Nezu muttered as he started rubbing his chin. "If what you told me about this villain is exactly how you described him from Enso-kun's words, then he may have as much destructive capability as 'that man.' But he wouldn't just go destroy everything in sight, just whatever connects to Enso-kun because of his apparent obsession with him. But what we don't know is _why_ he's so obsessed with the boy specifically... And to what extent he'd go to get into his head."

Nezu leaned back in his chair, "If he wants to inflict as much mental pain _as_ the physical pain he wants to inflict to Enso-kun, then this 'Lynch' may go after anyone that he shows a special connection too, which in this case, would be Midoriya..."

Toshinori felt his despair growing as he listened.

"And if he did look through the festival footage, he must've watched Enso-kun's fight against Bakugo. So... he should know that Midoriya is important if he actually listened to what the two said during the fight. From there, it's not hard to figure out who Midoriya is because of the attention the festival gave for him."

"Th-Then Midoriya is clearly in danger..." Toshinori looked down, wishing he could buff up and run after him. However, he already expended his limit earlier after going to save many civilians of Musutafu, so he couldn't change any more.

"Young Enso told me to meet him in Hosu City right after I told him of Lynch's arrival... D-Does that mean...?"

"I don't know nor can I be sure." Nezu answered. "Did you see what's happening in Hosu right now? There are Nomus on the loose, but it's also the same city the Hero Killer is known to lurk in. I'm sorry, but at this point, anything can happen."

Toshinori stared down at the ground, hands tightened into fists as he felt powerless.

"So Enso-kun asked you to meet him in Hosu, correct?" Nezu asked him.

"Yes... But I won't be able to go..."

"But at least we know Enso-kun is going." Nezu said, thinking about the boy with both worry and hope. "He's definitely in trouble for leaving his internship, but even if we called him now, he wouldn't stop until he's reached Midoriya."

Nezu turned his chair to glance out the window, staring out at the night light.

"All we can do is leave it to him..."

* * *

**~{Hosu City}~**

"Todoroki! You can't let this guy see your blood, I think that's how he paralyzes people!" Izuku warned his friend as he jumped away from two attempted slashes from the Hero Killer. "That's what seems to be what happened to Iida and Native!"

"So his blades help synergize with his quirk? Alright, I'll keep him as far as possible." Todoroki said as he pointed his right arm to send barrages of ice forward while Izuku jumped out of the way.

"Yeah!" The broccoli head boy agreed, "Just support me from the back with your flames and ice! Just don't let him get close!"

_"These damn brats!"_ Stain felt his stress building up as he spiraled like a top in the air, spinning his blades and splitting several pieces of ice out of his way.

He tried to jump forward, but Izuku came flying at him with his shoulder ramming into the villain's chest.

"NNGH!" Stain was sent backward and his back hit some remaining ice, yet he was able to balance himself as he landed on his feet.

Izuku jumped upward towards the wall as some flames traveled under him and towards Stain.

Stain jumped and managed to jump from the wall to a peak of ice before tossing a knife at Izuku flying at him from the wall.

Izuku titled his body just enough to let the blade pass him, but now he was off-balance in the air and still heading to Stain.

Stain tried to take advantage of the moment, but more of Todoroki's ice came hurtling at him from the ground, forcing him to jump away. Izuku then landed on the ice that just formed and jumped back to retreat in front of Todoroki.

_"Midoriya is probably our best bet to win…"_ Todoroki thought as he watched Izuku's movements. "_He has way more fighting experience than the rest of us. I just have to support him from here…"_

Stain felt his blood rushing through his body as he quickly jumped on three peaks of ice before diving to the side to avoid flames.

_"I have to do this... It's my duty to take out the trash!"_

He started running as more ice came towards him, swiftly maneuvering left and right to avoid pillars of ice.

_"Die, Die, DIE!"_

Izuku charged power into hand, "10% Detroit Smash!"

He punched a pillar of ice and sent chunks of it flying at the oncoming Hero Killer, the green hero then feeling more sweat develop as he saw Stain jump and split the several pieces with just one slice of his blade.

Iida could only watch with his shrunken pupils, fear and confusion overwhelming him.

"Wh-Why are you two…? P-Please stop!" He desperately tried to move as his tears flowed. "I-I've inherited my brother's name! I-I have to be the one to do this!"

Todoroki peaked back to Iida for a moment, his eyes narrowing before turning back to the battle.

"Hmph, inherited it? Not with that face."

"Wha-?" Iida's eyes widened.

"I've seen your brother before, I've even seen the other heroes in your family... But I've never seen any one of them once make the face that you're making." He sent more flames ahead.

Iida was stunned into silence by learning this information.

"You've got a lot to deal with for your family too, don't you?" Todoroki sighed. "I know, because that look you have is the same look I've always had to my old man..."

He created a wall of ice ahead. "Anger, hatred, rejection. All for ruining my life and my family... It's how you're feeling towards the Hero Killer... isn't it? Haven't you seen where that path got me? Nowhere good."

A bunch of flashes occurred as Stain burst through the wall of ice as a terrifying black silhouette with deadly red eyes.

He landed on the ground and dashed straight ahead, "To block your own view against an opponent faster than you. What a foolish-!"

"Oh no, you don't!" Izuku blazed around the area once again using One For all, ramming himself into Stain's side.

"RAA!" Despite being struck, Stain kept his feet firmly planted and swiped his blade to Izuku.

Izuku managed to jump back right before the blade could even graze him, yet he looked somewhat shook as he saw the even more menacing silhouette of Stain giving off an even more dangerous and crazed look.

_"What the hell?! It's as if his whole aura changed! He must be getting desperate to kill Iida before the pros come!" _Izuku thought as he landed back on the floor.

Stain took the moment of fear Izuku had to move quickly, dashing forward and leaping towards Todoroki and the two fallen heroes.

"I don't think so-!" Todoroki was raising his left arm to create flames, but that's when Stain's eyes flashed red and he flung something down at him, nailing Todoroki in his left arm and causing blood to start coming out.

Todoroki growled and wince in pain, instinctively grabbing his left arm with the other while wondering what just happened.

_"He threw something!? But how!? Both of his hands had swords-!"_

"Enough of this!" Stain's voice howled as he held his _single_ long blade with both hands and fell from the air, aiming to plunge it right into Native's body on the floor.

Todoroki's eyes widened as he realized what he did, _"He threw one of his swords at me!?_

"Get away from them!" Before Stain could land the killing blow, Izuku jumped up right at him and used his body to push the villain against the wall.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" Against the wall, Stain kneed Izuku in his stomach, prompting pain into the boy before he got pushed him off.

Izuku landed in a crouching position as he caught his breath, not taking his eyes off the now grounded Hero Killer while still being concerned for the bleeding arm of the fire and ice hero.

"Todoroki, are you alright!? You're bleeding a lot!"

"You think I don't know?" Todoroki grumbled in pain, reaching for the sword lodged in the upper part of his arm and pulling out. "Damn it... At least my body hasn't become paralyzed though, so I don't think his quirk activates with just my blood being out..."

"Then it must depend on him getting closer! So just keep doing what you're doing! Space him out and let me go ahead until the pros arrive!"

"Got it..." Todoroki grunted as he dropped Stain's blade and raised his bleeding left arm.

Izuku blasted forward towards Stain again while Todoroki took deep breaths to ignore the pain.

Iida looked mortified as he saw the blood going down his friend's arm.

"P-Please stop…" His voice cracked.

Todoroki just fired off more flames from his bleeding arm before turning his head to Iida.

"J-Just-"

"If you want us to stop, then stand up!" Todoroki interrupted with an angry shout. "Iida, I'm sure Midoriya has a lot more to say to you, so the only thing I'll say is this-!"

He created a trail of ice towards a frantically slicing Stain.

"Look properly at what you want to be! What kind of person do you want others to see you as!? Who do you want to BE for them?"

When Todoroki said that, Iida instantly thought of his hero name, remembering what he had told Stain.

_"I AM INGENIUM, THE HERO THAT WILL DEFEAT YOU!"_

He then remembered the conversation he had with his friends as he spoke about his brother in the cafeteria, the day the press had broken into U.A.

_"He is my eldest brother! He is a likable hero who honors the rules and leads people! I set my sights on being a hero because I want to be like my brother!"_

Then Iida recalled what Stain said about _him._

_"Then you're just like any of the others, using your quirk selfishly for your own desires, which in this case, is revenge..."_

_"Hmph, and you're calling yourself a hero? Did you even think at all about that guy over there?"_

_"You came after me, but shouldn't you have thought about saving him? What would an actual hero do?"_

He then recalled what Enso said to him on the day the press trespassed in U.A.

_"I mean, could you truly claim that you're aiming to become a 'true hero' when you aren't even thinking about the one thing a true hero would prioritize for becoming a hero in the first place?"_

_"Do you really think your brother wants you to be a hero just to continue your family name?"_

_"Iida, if your brother really is such an amazing hero as you said, then what do you think he truly wants you to do?"_

Iida felt only his thoughts working now, thinking about everything he's been doing, realizing that everything that was said about him was true.

_"What kind of a hero am I?"_ He thought as he cried the most he ever has. _"Going after the Hero Killer so selfishly, using my quirk selfishly... A-And now my friends are here protecting me because of my selfishness, they're bleeding for me..."_

He watched as Izuku was kicked into a wall, but then ducked to avoid Stain's blade trying to slice at his chest.

_"Hero Killer Stain… I-In order to teach him a lesson, in order to act out revenge, I-I used my brother's name... I only saw what was in front of me…"_

Stain was panting hard as he ran along the wall for a few steps, then jumping off as Izuku came and crashed his feet into it.

Izuku chased after him as the villain landed on the ground, but Stain had nearly enough at that point, actually throwing his large sword straight towards the young hero.

"Wha-!?" Izuku didn't expect Stain to throw his last main weapon, but quickly turned his body to just narrowly avoid being cut. However, this was when he saw Stain pass him in the air, snatching his blade that had clanked off the wall and then jumping right towards Todoroki.

_"Crap! He tricked me!" _Izuku thought as he landed in a sliding motion to recover from his sudden movements in the air.

Todoroki sent another barrage of ice, yet Stain sliced right through with his blade and swung it close to the fire and ice hero, intending to finally slice through some flesh.

_"If I don't stand right here… I-If I don't make things right..." _Iida thought as he forcefully pushed his body off of the ground.

Todoroki's eyes widened in fear as the Hero Killer's silhouette closed in on him with his blade shining brightly.

_"I'll never… be able to catch up to them, or Tensei!"_

Iida's eyes snapped open all the way as his legs burst with power.

"Recipro... BURST!

The next thing Stain and Todoroki knew, Iida's leg had intercepted with the Hero Killer's arm, stopping his blade from moving any closer and stopping the movement of the villain entirely for a second.

"AAAAHH!" With another yell, Iida pushed his leg to send the Hero Killer back sliding against the ground.

_"He's back up again!" _Stain thought in shock.

"SMASH!"

_"From above!?"_ Stain looked up and his eyes widened to Izuku blasting straight down at him.

_"They're both too fast!"_ He jumped back as Izuku's feet crashed into the ground, creating a shockwave that had enough force to send Stain's back flying through a small pillar of ice.

"Irk!" He firmly kept his feet planted as he was dragged deeper into the alleyway, then hunching over as he stopped. He panted as he tightly held his sword in his right hand, glaring ahead at all three students now standing up.

"Iida!" Izuku shouted in some happiness as he then landed beside his friend.

"Thanks for saving me... I guess his quirk has a time limit..." Todoroki sighed in relief from nearly being slice.

Iida took this moment to stand still with his head down, recovering from some of his muscles still tensing up from just standing.

"Todoroki, Midoriya... I'm sorry. This is all because of my own selfish actions... I'm making you fight for me, no... making you _save_ me, when I should be the one saving others."

He raised his head to show the face of someone who knew what he had to do, his eyebrows furrowing as he took a deep breath.

"I know that I'm not a true hero with everything I did selfishly... But even so, I can't just go down here, or the name Ingenium will die!"

His engines started lighting up.

"So I will fight! I will protect both of you and fix this mistake that I've created!"

"Good, with you up and composed again, Midoriya has a lower chance of breaking his arms." Todoroki said with a straight face.

"Would you be quiet about that!?" Izuku shouted.

Stain glanced at his main blade, noticing that it was looking rather dull at this point. He ground his teeth as he glimpsed at how many smaller blades he had on him, but discovered that he barely had any left.

He felt pissed as his chances of finishing off the fakes of society started diminishing.

_"It was difficult enough fighting Endeavor's son and that Midoriya kid, but now I have to deal with the fake too? Even though he's a fake, he can still move quick... What the hell am I supposed to do?"_

Stain growled and his eyes turned red as he tightly gripped his only long blade left with both hands, keeping it pointed at the group.

_"I'm going to finish it, IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"_

While all parties were too engrossed in their battle, they failed to notice a hidden figure looming over them.

**_"How boring..."_**

On the rooftop staring down at them, Lynch stared rather uninterested at the group as Stain dashed at them, but was forced to jump to the side by Todoroki's flames, and then jumped back because Izuku came in his path with his arms swinging.

**_"He was already struggling just facing off against those two kids, but now he has a third to deal with? There's just no chance, he's basically done."_**

He watched as Iida's leg collided with Stain's arm, the murderer fumbling back with his arm in pain.

Lynch glared down at Izuku below.

**_"And you... why haven't you used it yet? Why aren't you using that other power of yours?" _**He snapped.

He didn't see any sign of the darkness he wanted to see from the boy. There were no red eyes, there wasn't any black around him, the only powers he's seen were what he assumed was Izuku's 'quirk' like the others had in this world.

**_"Hm, perhaps he just believes he doesn't need to use it? Fine, then..."_**

He slowly raised his right hand.

**_"Those kids said that the Hero Killer guy might need to be close to their blood to paralyze them, correct?"_**

His eyes and mouth lit up in red.

**_"Then let's give Midoriya some... 'encouragement.'"_**

He snapped his fingers, which then caused Stain's already thrown daggers to vibrate on the ground.

But the group was so busy fighting, they didn't even notice them vanish.

Iida swung his leg and Izuku swung his arm, both of them slamming into Stain's arms as the villain crossed them to block, yet he felt both of their overwhelming attacks and was launched back into the air.

He let out a yell before flipping in the air and landing on a peak of ice, then jumping off and retreating back to make space. Iida panted as he stood in a guarding stance while Todoroki got the flames of his left ready yet again.

_"We have him!" _Izuku thought as he leaped to the railing of a fire escape and then jumped to the ground. _"The three of us are more than enough! We can stop him here!"_

But that hope was slashed, just like his back.

Izuku's pupils shrunk as he felt the tip of a blade slice upward at his back, not going too deep, but still leaving a long mark.

"GNAH!"

Iida and Todoroki glanced back in shock at the scream, "Midoriya, what's wro-!?"

Iida was cut off as he felt his back his slashed as well.

"Wha-!?"

Todoroki's eyes widened as he felt the same slash.

The trio didn't know what happened. They clearly felt something perform clean cuts on their back, but there wasn't anyone behind them.

Stain, on the other hand, was startled as he looked slightly up at his own daggers flying in the air towards him, blood on the tips of each of them. He had seen what happened, but at the same time didn't know what happened. The students were facing him with no one clearly behind them, yet he saw three flashes of slices which caused small drops of blood to fly up along with his three daggers spinning towards him.

It was clear someone did this, someone else was here, but they didn't do anything to hurt him. He didn't know what this meant, what was their goal, but...

He grinned, not wanting to pass up the blood of his opponents just being delivered to him.

"What struck us!?" Izuku glanced in all his surroundings in panic, clearly feeling the wind on his back due to his costume being cut.

"From behind!?" Todoroki was confused and frozen in place as he tried to find out what happened.

"Pay attention! The Hero Killer is-!"

Iida was cut off as he felt his whole body tense up in paralysis once again.

"Wha-!?" He fell right to the ground, his body trembling as he recalled the familiar feeling of Stain's quirk. "M-MIDORIYA, TODOROKI!"

Todoroki turned in confusion, "What the-!?" His words stopped like his body, causing him to fall in fear as he felt everything refuse to move.

Izuku had a look of horror on his face as he saw his friends on the ground, then looking ahead at the sight of the hero killer with his main blade on the floor.

However, the villain had a blood-chilling open mouth smile while holding three blades within his hands.

"NO!" Izuku charged Full Cowling and blasted right towards Stain out of desperation, raising his fist to swing it at him.

Stain's long tongue just seemed to slither from his mouth and lick the blood off the third blade.

Izuku could swear he felt his heart stop for a second as a shock went through his entire body, tensing up as the colors of One For All faded from him.

_"H-He ingested my blood!? That's how his quirk activates!?"_

Since Izuku was still moving towards Stain in the air, the villain jumped up with his tongue still sticking out rather crazily. He swung his shoe and kicked Izuku from the air with the heel of his boot, sending the boy back.

"GACK!" Izuku tumbled on the ground before coming to a stop on the wall, unable to move his body.

Stain landed on the ground panting hard, "It's over..." He breathed out in satisfaction.

"Wh-What happened!? H-How did he-?" Todoroki's words trailed off, thee hero wondering what had happened.

"F-From behind?" Iida cried in fear, knowing that all three of them were down.

Stain grinned, not wanting to waste any time to finish them off, but his grin faded as he remembered that what had happened wasn't him. He snatched his sword from the ground and looked all around him, wondering where the one who intervened was.

"Oi! Show yourself!" He snarled.

Izuku's mind rampaged in panic as he processed what happened and what the Hero Killer just said.

_"We were slashed from behind, but no one was behind us!? How!? And then the H-Hero Killer got a hold of our blood, ingesting it for his quirk to activate!? N-No way...!"_

Stain still looked around and up the alleyway, but didn't get a response to his order, causing him to narrow his eyes.

_"Whoever that was can still be around, but I've wasted enough time here!"_

Stain turned his head to Izuku, the boy feeling his blood go cold at his intense gaze.

_"H-He-!" _Izuku couldn't make out any words as the Hero Killer quickly walked towards him, holding his blade tightly.

_"Get up! Get up Izuku!"_ The boy shouted to himself.

But Stain wasn't heading to Izuku, and instead, walked passed him.

"You've fought well... You were the hardest hero I had to face."

Only Izuku's eyes were able to follow Stain as he walked right to Iida.

"D-Don't… you… touch them!" Izuku shouted.

"Sorry… But I have to purify this world of all the fake heroes that are around! Even if your friend reflected on himself, he's still corrupted at heart." the villain answered as he neared Iida.

"Stop…" Izuku struggled to utter out.

"M-Midoriya! I-It'll be alright! Y-You guys will be fine!" Iida shouted, his voice cracking as tears formed in his eyes.

"Get up... Get up!" Todoroki shouted, frantically hoping that his willpower would overpower this mysterious quirk.

"S-Stop please!" Water formed in the corners of Izuku's eyes.

"Let's not waste any more time!" Stain shouted this as his blood-like aura of intimidation seemed to blaze, producing fear in Iida as he saw the villain quickly raised his blade and pointed it downward, firmly gripping the handle with both hands.

Izuku closed his eyes as he waterfalled with tears. He felt powerless, unable to move as his friends were going to be murdered right in front of him. He remembered all the heroes in the news that were killed by the Hero Killer, he remembered Iida's dream to be a hero just like his brother, but it was going to end right here. He felt his blood boil, he gritted his teeth, and he shouted at the top of lungs;

"STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

"DIE FOR THIS WORLD!" Stain screamed as he thrusted his blade down.

Then all was silent.

* * *

Izuku opened his eyes to find himself standing in a black abyss.

He blinked and looked down at himself to see that he was still wearing his hero costume.

_"Where am I? Wasn't I just-?" _He blinked as he immediately remembered the place, making his eyes widen.

_"Wait! Th-This is my consciousness, isn't it?! So if I'm here, then that means-!"_

Izuku's eyes widened all the way as he turned around and frantically searched all over the area. There wasn't any sign of a black aura trying to envelop him like before, so he just kept looking around for any sign of red.

"Ikari!" He yelled into the darkness, remembering the lives of his friends at stake.

He started running in the darkness, but he couldn't even tell if he was moving due to no sounds of his footsteps or any sign of change in the area.

"IKARI!" He screamed once more as he kept running.

He ran what felt like forever, only stopping to catch his breath and realizing that he was going nowhere.

"I-I need you!" His voice cracked as he shouted, "Th-They're gonna die! Iida, Todoroki, Native! W-We have to save them!"

There was only an eerie silence in the darkness, to which Izuku fell to his knees and put his hands on the ground. He hung his head and closed his eyes tightly, feeling tears forming in the corners of them.

"Please... I-I need help..."

There was another moment of eerie silence, making Izuku press his forehead to the ground and whimper in hopeless cries.

But then he finally heard a voice that wasn't his own.

**"Oh do you?"**

Izuku's eyes snapped open and he immediately raised his head to find a floating black silhouette of himself staring down at him, only his legs were replaced with a wavy tail of the sort that floating ghosts would have.

His eyeholes were completely filled in with bright red and lit up the darkness around them, yet there was nothing within it.

"I-Ikari!" Izuku shouted, feeling a big load of relief as he let out a sniffle.

Yet Ikari just narrowed his eyes at the boy.

**"Or do you just need what I'm made of?"**

Izuku was taken aback by this, sensing some hatred from the entity.

In his confusion, he could only utter a small, "Wh-What?"

**"Do you really need me out there? Or do you just need me to give you power that you can '_use_?'"**

Izuku's pupils shrunk as he could hear Ikari's voice and demeanor appear different than when they had previously met in his consciousness.

_"H-He isn't acting anything like before! H-He seems... hostile!"_

Izuku recalled what the dark being informed him about their connection.

**_"Your mental state affects my mental state! If you can even call it my mental state since it just keeps getting affected by you!" _**

This claim madeby the vessel of anger echoed in the boy's mind.

_"Th-That's right, m-my mental state affects his! So since I-I was intense out there, th-then right now h-he's..."_

Ikari's face suddenly moved to be about an inch away from Izuku's, startling the boy as his red eyes looked as if they were trying to burn a hole through him.

**"Which, is, it?" **He said in what almost sounded like a threat.

The hero was scared of what would happen to him, recalling Enso saying how Ikari actually attacked him in his consciousness. If he did it now, then what would happen? Would he go berserk again? Just lash out at anything that moved?

Whatever it was, Izuku couldn't let that happen.

He took a deep breath, calming himself down despite Ikari actually seeming to grow into a larger, more menacing version of himself in front of him.

He remembered Gran Torino's words on the first day he met him, _"Are you really considering your quirk's feelings!? From that thinking causing him pain is okay, to thinking that he's something for you to control !? You said that your quirk is a separate consciousness from yours, right!? Then is it really okay for him to be something for you to only think about using!?"_

And he remembered the elder's last words on the matter.

_"You want to bring Ikari out and come to an understanding? Then figure out what is he to you!"_

Izuku's pupils seemed to shake as he was sweating intensely.

_"That's right..." _He thought to himself._ "All I've ever done was treat Ikari as just power to use at my disposal... But this power is his, not mine. It IS him... I still don't know exactly what he is, but he's still someone I should be working with, not using. Otherwise, I'd be no better than a villain using others at their disposal for their own goals. Ikari and I... w-we were never working together in the first place, were we? It's always just been my influence bringing him out forcefully and then causing him to lose control..."_

Izuku opened his eyes as he wiped his tears to try calming down, knowing he had to be careful with what he said. _"I can't save Iida or Todoroki right now... I-I need..."_

He raised his head with still a somewhat nervous gaze to the negative being.

"I-Ikari... I have no right to ask you for this... I've caused you so much pain that you shouldn't have gone through. And even when we talked after the festival, I still tried to forcefully bring out your power for my own use..."

Ikari made some small growls as his balled fists opened up to reveal claw-like fingers.

Izuku bowed down to him, "And I'm sorry for that! I wasn't as considerate as I should've been to you! For parts of yourself to be extracted for the use of others without having any say in it, to feel the pain that I cause to myself, and unable to control yourself because of me! I-I'm so sorry!"

Ikari narrowed his eyes, stopping his movements.

"B-But right now... I don't need your power Ikari!"

Izuku raised his head up, staring straight in his red eyes as he couldn't hold any of his tears back. His eyes were red, his face was slightly scrunched up as he sniffled, and his voice kept cracking as he spoke.

"I NEED _YOU_ IKARI!"

Ikari visibly shrunk in size, his eyes widening a bit.

"I-I can't save everyone on my own! I'm out there just watching as my friends are about to be killed right in front of me! I can't do anything, I can't save them! You're the only one who can save me! Who can save _them_! I-I don't want them to die, and I know you don't either!" His drops of tears disappeared in the void of darkness.

Ikari got closer with his eyes burning vigorously.

**"What makes you think that? Why would I care about them?"**

"Because you're just like me!" Izuku shouted to him with no hesitation, "You said so yourself, remember!? Y-You never wanted to hurt anyone! You said you liked All Might, you said you liked my friends, and I know you want to meet them for yourself too!"

Izuku put a hand over his own heart as he trembled, thinking about those he wanted to protect currently in danger.

"I-I want all of us to be smiling together again! I want _you_ to be there with us! Don't you want that?"

**"F...riends?" **Ikari backed up a bit as the illumination of his red eyes partly dimmed down, feeling some warm familiarity and looking somewhat confused by it.

Izuku wiped his eyes and took deep breaths, then glancing back up at Ikari with a big, watery-eyed smile.

"Yes..." He cried. "Friends. I know that's what you want! Deep down, w-we both want the same thing, but... just in different ways."

That piqued Ikari's interest, wondering what he meant by that.

"We both want to save anyone in trouble, we both have power gained from previous heroes for just that. But your power comes with a downside... All the regrets of these same heroes linger in you, you're the manifestation of rage from all of them, those who weren't able to save everyone, those who weren't able to avenge those before them. And because of that, those desires fuel the fury you feel, they cause you to lash out... To destroy anything evil, to use your anger to avenge those who've suffered, and you can't control that because this desire of vengeance was the reason you were formed in the first place. As if... As if it was your purpose."

Ikari stared down at his claw-like hands, thinking deeply about himself.

"B-But _you_ don't want that, right? You want to stop villains, but not like before... You don't want to hurt anyone like that." Izuku put a hand over his heart, "I-I understand wishing to take down villains, to stop them right in their tracks... B-But that won't matter if we can't save the people around them!"

Izuku reached a hand up, shaking in desperation with tears running down his eyes once more.

"H-Help me Ikari... Please."

Ikari raised his head and stared at the offered hand, his body shrinking back down to be the same size as Izuku. He slightly floated back while seemingly starting to shake.

**"I... I don't know what'll happen..." **

Izuku's eyes widened to hear the timid voice that nearly matched his own now, the first voice he heard from Ikari when he first met him.

**"The last times our hands touched, I... _we_ actually tried to kill Enso, w-we broke our, no, _your_ arms to try and win. I-If we do it again, then... I don't know what'll happen to us..."**

He saw the eyes of Ikari seem to lower, showing how he was no longer aggressive and instead worried about the consequences of connecting once again.

Izuku let out a weak chuckled, "I-I mean... Aren't you the one who told me that things have a way of working out? We can do this, I know we can. We can help each other, we can save others in trouble, and we can stop others from doing harm. I think... I think we just have to believe in one another."

He lowered his arm and looked down with a sad expression. "Ever since you first showed up, I thought you were dangerous... I thought you were just trying to destroy anything, or anyone, so I was never confident in believing we could work together... And at the same time, you didn't trust me because it felt like I was only trying to use you, right?"

Ikari looked back up at Izuku, doing a slight nod.

"Yeah, I thought so... Even though I'm so good at analyzing heroes, I really am the worst at getting a clue..." The boy muttered as he slowly pushed himself back to his feet.

He stood up straight, still teary-eyed, but formed a small smile.

"So... Let's start over."

He extended his hand once more.

"Hi, I'm Izuku Midoriya, someone who wishes to save everyone with a smile, and... someone who wants to make everyone smile. I hope we can be friends."

Ikari stared down at the boy's hand once more, then looking at his own open hand.

**"I..." **

He slowly reached it over, stopping it an inch from Izuku's hand. A jagged red line suddenly appeared under his eyes, a smiling mouth revealing itself.

**"I hope so too."**

He took the boy's hand with his own.

The moment the two took each other's hand, Izuku felt an entire shock go around his body, making his eyes widen and pupils shrink.

Ikari suddenly dissolved into just a black mist, the substance circling Izuku and forming a black aura around the boy. Izuku's breathing became harder, his body tensed up, he gripped his fists tightly and clenched his teeth together.

A familiar feeling was starting to envelop his head, an emotion that started to overwhelm him and erase all other feelings.

"Nngh! GRAAAR!" His hands tightly gripped his head as he stepped back, feeling his blood start to boil as multiple images flashed in the darkness around him.

He saw several news articles, broadcast news, and more all relating to the Hero Killer. He saw the faces of every hero that had their lives ended by the villain, he saw their families grieving with the loss of their loved ones.

Izuku's eyes turned blood red as he could feel the anger building up in him. He heard the anger that some of these grieving families had, asking why, why would a villain do this? What kind of monster would go around killing so many heroes and taking them away from those who look up to them?

He fell to his knees in pain as he saw the silhouette of someone ahead of him. He saw two red eyes glowing and giving light to an outline of a woman he didn't know.

Suddenly, six other silhouettes formed behind the woman, all people in different shapes and sizes. All of their red eyes seemed to glare at Izuku as voices started to echo in the abyss around them.

_"Pain…"_

_"Sorrow…"_

_"Loss…"_

_"Fear..."_

_"Vengeance..."_

_"Loneliness..."_

_"Anger..."_

Izuku heard all of this coming from the people ahead, instantly understanding what it was. These emotions, these feelings... it was what the previous holders had all felt several times during their short lifetimes. When they had lived in a world of constant fear and evil, watching friends and family die just as the Hero Killer was doing to innocent heroes, taking them away from the world.

The eyes of the ninth holder shined an ominous red in the darkness, the seven silhouettes in front of him fading away and leaving Izuku in aching agitation.

He let out a grunt and screamed in the darkness, then forcing himself back to his feet as the black aura around him intensified.

The darkness suddenly started forming red cracks in it, the fracturing mysteriously spreading all around Izuku as his black aura flared up. He grinned as the sclera of his eyes turned black, highlighting the red veins and irises that menacingly glowed.

Then the world shattered around him, letting in bright red light that engulfed everything.

* * *

Iida's eyes were looking up in horror as Stain was just getting to bringing his sword down on his head.

"IIDA!" Todoroki shouted.

Iida just closed his eyes, watching his life flash before him. He saw himself sitting beside Izuku and Ochako, with Enso and Momo sitting across from them. Then one by one, more of his classmates came and sat down with them, everyone smiling as they talked to each other brightly.

_"I'm sorry everyone... I guess it was just meant to be..."_

He then heard something pierce through the air and the sounds of clanking metal.

Hearing the sound, Iida opened his eyes and they widened as he saw the Hero Killer looking stunned. His hands were stopped in place and the tip of his blade was only an inch from the boy's head, being held back by something.

A black tendril.

"What!? How-!?" Stain turned his head and saw that the tendril extended all the way to Izuku on the ground. The boy's body was twitching, slowly starting to move as a black aura surrounded him. He hung his head down as the black tendril around Stain's wrists tightened, then suddenly yanking him away from the students on the ground and towards Izuku.

_"What the hell is this!?" _Stain was still holding his blade so he pointed it forward at Izuku as he got pulled close, but the tendril suddenly pulled him up over the boy and tossed him.

Stain was surprised but used the walls to jump off, flipping in the air before he landed a few yards behind Izuku with a small slide.

"M-Midoriya." Todoroki uttered as he saw not only the familiar black aura of Ikari around Izuku, but also saw the boy already starting to rise off the ground with the help of some black tendrils supporting him.

"How are you moving!?" Stain asked him in a mixture of frustration and disbelief.

Izuku took a deep breath and raised his head, turning it back to look Stain right in the eyes, their red and black colors piercing through him.

Stain instantly felt as if his body had frozen all over and swore he saw a vision of himself getting sliced apart in a second.

_"This kid, his whole aura changed... Literally."_ Stain thought as he put up a more defensive stance while still holding his sword. He took a moment to process the situation. Izuku was between him and his goal once again, there wasn't much time left, and for some reason he was already standing up despite having been paralyzed before by the villain's quirk.

_"Is a blood type O? No... Even if it was, he still shouldn't have gotten up that fast!"_

Izuku's breath came out as a black mist as he shakily got all the way back to his feet, the boy then letting out hostile growling as he fully turned himself to the Hero Killer's direction.

Iida and Todoroki were both confused but in awe at what they saw. They were surprised that Izuku had gotten back to his feet, but were now also worried as they the black power around him.

"Midoriya! Are you alright!?" Iida shouted, concerned if his friend was actually 'there' or not.

Their worries grew some more as they saw something start forming from the aura of their friend. It started rising above Izuku's head and started to form a humanoid shape with many features to note. It formed arms and claw-like hands, formed a head with familiar rustled looking hair, and formed two slanted eye holes that were filled to the brim in bright red.

Todoroki instantly recognized those eyes... Those red, slanted eyes. They were the same eyes he had seen at the sports festival, the eyes of the being that had corrupted Izuku.

"So it really is...?"His words trailed off as he suddenly saw the figure open its mouth, revealing to have a red, jagged open smile also filled in red completely.

Then for the first time ever, they heard it breathe.

***Haaaaaaaaaaaa...* **It released a red mist from its mouth instead of the black Izuku breathed out.

"Th-That's-!" Iida could feel his fear building up, being reminded of what this being had done before, and what it could do now.

_"What the hell is up with this kid!?" _Stain wondered as he glared daggers across at Izuku and the... 'thing' above him.

The figure over Izuku's head looked into its own claw-like hands for a moment, then looked at its surroundings, while Izuku just stood still and panting furiously.

**"I'm... here..."**

_"IT SPOKE!?"_ Iida, Todoroki, and even Stain all thought with chills, hearing Izuku's voice but in a more demonic pitch.

It then turned his head back to Todoroki and Iida, illuminating the area near them in red from its eyes.

**"You... can see me..." **Its voice echoed.

"F-Focus Ikari! NNGH!" Izuku shouted in pain, feeling the fury and pain building up in him, feeling himself about the explode right there.

"I-Ikari!? Isn't that your-!?" Iida started saying, trying to comprehend what it was he just witnessed.

"I'LL EXPLAIN LATER!" Izuku cut him off, shouting more aggressively than he should've, but succeeding in shutting Iida up.

Ikari turned back, his head focusing in on Stain.

**"You're right." **He growled, closing his fingers into fists.

Both his and Izuku's menacing red eyes narrowed on Stain like a hunter ready to finish its prey.

**"We have a job to do... Let's get this bastard."**

Stain just scowled as he held his sword with his right hand and pulled out a dagger with his left, holding them both ready to keep going.

Izuku clenched his hands into fists while raising them up in front of him.

"The might of wrath and anger..."

Ikari raised his arms up as well, balling his hands too.

**"Fueled by the regret and pain of those lost..."**

Both of their movements suddenly were in sync with one another, their arms moving into a new fighting stance.

"The power of vengeance..." "**The power of vengeance..."**

Izuku's black aura and Ikari's body suddenly burst with intense power, ready to demonstrate their new abilities as they shouted;

Both Izuku and Ikari's eyes flared up.

"ONRYŌ'S VESSEL!" **"ONRYŌ'S VESSEL!"**

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~**

**-Insert Meme**

**"Oh my god! Okay, it's happening! Everybody stay calm! Everybody stay calm! STAY FUCKING CALM!"**


	47. The Power Of Vengeance

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~  
**

**We're back, and wow did everyone seem to love that previous chapter! I loved it too, but now its t****ime to get to the end of this fight! Just how much will Izuku do against Stain now that he's unlocked the potential to work together with Ikari! Bwahaha!**

...

**Wait, can they actually control their power?**

Answered Comments:

_Ese99: _**Oi, that's not very nice. :( (At least it means you like the fic, lol)**

_SpiceR4: _**Houston Howl wouldn't have been good for fighting against Stain. He's fast and any wrong move would've resulted in Izuku getting cut. He wouldn't risk taking time to charge up and then yell, and even if he does release the attack, breathing out that hard could've made him dizzy and caused Stain to get him. It was mostly about a battle of speed and experience between the two. It would've been used like a last-minute surprise move, but it would've have even taken Stain down, only kinda shock him.**

_Stupid dreams of the betrayed: _**Damn, all 46 chapters in one sitting? Really appreciate actually taking a lot of time out of you day to read the fic! I hope you continue leaving future comments!**

_Guest: _**I would suggest that you'd try searching it up if you didn't know what it meant, but sure, I'll tell you why I chose ****Onryō's Vessel! An '****Onryō' is part of Japanese traditional beliefs and literature. It refers to them as ghosts of spirits that cause harm to the living, whether in the form of natural disasters or injuring/killing those alive. These spirits act out of a desire for vengeance to address the wrongs that happened to them while they were alive. So they are literally 'vengeful' or 'wrathful' spirits. I believed this fit Ikari perfectly because he is an entity of vengeance fueled from the rage of previous holders of One For All. And as for the 'Vessel' part, it just refers to Izuku as being the vessel containing all this hateful power of his, and could also relate to Izuku being a vessel for One For All itself. Hope that gives you a good understanding.**

_ 1: _**I wouldn't say that I'm a 'true' Jojo's fan, but I god damn love all the memes that come from it. Thank's for commenting in not just two words and I'm looking forward to more in the future!**

_Astrogamer: _**Funny thing, I never did base Ikari to be something like a stand. I had no ideas or inspiration from Jojos when I made his power, but it's funny to see a lot of people just call him a stand.**

_TQ679:_ **Love your detailed comment that expresses what you loved about the chapter! _And time to see the power of fury!_**

_magical fan18: _**I hope you do this fight THIS chapter! :D**

_Bonkey1996: _**Heh, it really is a great name, isn't it? I actually stumbled upon ****Onryō by accident and just thought, 'this is it. This is the one.'**

_It1023: _**STAY FUCKING CALM! AAAAHH!**

_blue grimmoier: _**Thank you very much, always glad to hear from you.**

* * *

**~{Uwabami Internship}~**

Momo sat on a chair a good space away from the film set for a commercial featuring the Snake Hero, Uwabami. She had a depressing look of disappointment on her face, having expected to learn some valuable information from the hero about things such as combat or appearance.

Well... She did learn about keeping an appearance, but not the kind she had in mind. After all, Momo didn't think she would take part in matters such as commercials or shows that Uwabami seemed to specialize in, and now, she was regretting coming to the pro's agency.

Kendo was sitting right beside Momo, undoing the twirls of her hair done for the commercial they both starred in earlier. She noticed her friend looking down with a pout on her face, still thinking about the commercial featuring her that would be released in about a month, thinking about how foolish she believed she appeared in it.

"Um, you alright, Yaoyorozu?" Kendo asked her.

"To a degree..." Momo sighed.

Kendo smiled, "What? Are you _that_ worried about being seen in that commercial? You looked great in it!"

Momo buried her head in her hands and groaned. "I know I tried _way _too hard to present myself... you can clearly tell. And I feel foolish because I thought I would benefit by learning something from it..."

"Heh, yeah. I really feel like I'm not learning much here... At least we learned how to curl up our hair in a cute way." Kendo awkwardly chuckled.

"I've never felt more foolish in my entire life..." Momo grumbled from her hands.

_"Oh yeah, she's feeling really bad." _Kendo sighed.

Suddenly, both Kendo and Momo felt their phones vibrate, snapping them out of their self-loathing.

Momo pulled out her phone, and her eyes perked up as she formed a bubbly smile. "Izuku?"

"Huh, you too?" Kendo glanced at her own phone before she heard Momo say that, then turning her head to her.

"Eh?" Momo turned to Kendo with her smile falling into confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I got a message from him too." Kendo confirmed to her as she tapped the notification.

Only her eyebrows raised when she saw the message.

"Hosu City? That's it?"

Momo stared down at her own phone, seeing that she got sent the exact same thing.

"Hosu... Isn't that where...?" Her eyes widened, but her pupils shrunk, knowing fully well _who_ had been terrorizing the city.

She frantically started texting as her heart rate increased, sending Izuku several messages in a span of a minute.

While she did that, Kendo searched up any news about Hosu, immediately finding several reports of Nomu's terrorizing the city.

Kendo's phone trembled hands as she felt an uneasiness creep up on her, eyes glued to her phone screen.

"Oh, no..."

Momo picked up on her tone and turned to her friend, looking frantically worried.

"What is it!?"

Kendo just showed her a live feed of what was going on.

Momo's eyes had fear in them as she watched the Nomus lash out at everything in Hosu, knocking down heroes and causing several explosions around the city.

"W-We have to go!" Momo shot up to her feet.

"Hold it, Yaoyorozu!" Kendo got up and grabbed her by the wrist, keeping her there.

Momo turned to her, "B-But Izuku is-!"

"I know, you're worried. And I am too, but... We're two hours away from Hosu by train! And we'll be in huge trouble if we suddenly leave! Besides, Midoriya can protect himself! Isn't he one of the best in your class?"

Momo still didn't calm down, "B-But, then why did he send just his location without any context!?"

"He probably just needs some help! And isn't Iida interning in Hosu? I'm sure he'll help Midoriya!" Kendo reassured her.

The creating hero took a deep breath before sitting back down, still looking rather tense about the situation. "I-I know Izuku can fight well, and if Iida helps him, then I know they'll be fine. But... I'm more worried... about what he'll do to himself..."

Kendo instantly realized what she meant, recalling Izuku's festival battle against Enso. The fury on his face, his trembling arms, and the purple color with blood leaking from them."

"That's... But you guys made him promise not to hurt himself, right?" Kendo tried to reassure her.

Being reminded that they did, Momo felt herself calm down, even if only a little.

"Yes... we did. But even then, right now, I just have a... bad feeling."

Kendo hugged her friend.

"It'll be fine. Midoriya always makes it through anything... He'll be alright, I can guarantee it."

Momo rested her head on Kendo's shoulder.

"I sure hope so..."

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

Mina held her phone right in front of her. She was on her bed in a room provided to her by her agency, but she had her back to the wall with the lights turned off, her phone being the only thing illuminating the room.

She stared at her phone screen as her eyelids slightly fell, just staring at the message sent by Izuku. She had finished the day doing some hero work and had gone into her room. But this is when she discovered this message from the boy without any explanation.

After five minutes of texting several messages and a dozen more minutes waiting, she never got any responses.

She let her phone fall on the bed and hugged her legs, burying her head in them. She knew what was happening in Hosu, she knew who was there, and Midori wasn't responding to her messages. These were all bad just bad signs.

"Midori... Please be alright..."

* * *

**~{Hosu City}~**

"ONRYŌ'S FURY!" **"ONRYŌ'S FURY!"**

Both Izuku and Ikari's eyes flared up red while their black auras intensely blazed up.

Stain's eyes seemed to flare up in his own blood-red color, giving the look of someone who's about had enough.

"WOULD YOU STOP GETTING IN MY WAY!?" Despite the new sight, he immediately bolted forward with a growl, firmly holding his long sword in his right while his small dagger in his left.

There were no bright colors of One For All around Izuku, just the darkness that was Ikari. The boy started by aiming his palms forward and fired several orbs of dark energy in Stain's path.

Stain jumped to the side, to the wall, and back to the ground, as the new projectiles whisked passed him through the air. He then sped side to side along the floor to get closer to Izuku while avoiding these spheres of hatred.

He managed to get close and jumped over one last sphere, then swinging his blade down while in the air, "IF YOU'RE NEVER GONNA STAY DOWN, THEN DIE!"

"NGAH!" Izuku's voice shrieked as he raised his right arm. The aura around it changed shape, suddenly forming some sort of blade that clashed with Stain's own.

Stain's eyes widened at this newfound ability before feeling himself nailed in the stomach by something.

_"HMMGH! But how!?"_ His eyes looked down to see that a black arm had formed from the aura of Izuku's stomach, shooting up and nailing the villain in a strong uppercut.

Stain's was sent flying backwards as the black arm retracted back, to which Izuku let out another yell before slamming both of his fists into the ground.

There was a moment of rumbling before tall, jagged black spikes erupted violently from the concrete, spreading in a path towards the Hero Killer.

Stain landed just in time to leap out of the way of the jagged deathtrap and landed on the fire escape, gazing down in shock as the tall pillars of black spikes then retracted back into the ground and back to Izuku.

_"What the hell is his quirk!?"_

Izuku aimed his right arm at the Hero Killer and sent a barrage of black flames upward, but missed due to the villain's sharp reflexes having him jump from his spot.

_"He's..."_

Stain landed on the ground in a roll before getting up with a jump to avoid a giant, stretched black fist smashing the ground.

_"He's actually-!?"_

The Hero Killer dropped his small dagger and gripped his sword with both hands, using it to parry several black spikes shot at him, but still ended up taking one in the shoulder.

Stain panted as he backed up, feeling blood trickle where he was hit but staring at the murderous gaze of Izuku across from him.

_"He's actually trying to kill me!?"_

He felt all the intention from Izuku. He saw the look in his eyes, felt the force of his demeanor, and it's clear that his attacks were precise in trying to do extreme damage.

_"Was this his true intention from the start!? To kill me!? No... He isn't like those fakes, I felt it. But... then why...?"_

Stain jumped onto the wall and avoided a path of jagged black crystallization sent at him, the ice-like look resembling someone's quirk, but suddenly evaporating into nothing.

_"He's mimicking the quirk of Endeavor's son!?"_

Stain ran forward to Izuku, only for the boy to stick out his arm and send out a giant, aura-black arm once again. It stretched forward at the villain with its palm opening in an attempt to grab him.

The villains' eyes widened at the large hand, but he flung two daggers forward right at it.

Both daggers pierced right into the palm, causing the large arm to wince and disintegrate, with its aura retracting back into Izuku.

Stain stopped for a second as he saw this, noticing Izuku in pain and his _actual_ hand bleeding by the palm.

_"It's... It's connected to him."_ The Hero Killer realized as he started running forward again.

Izuku grit his teeth as he pointed his other forward, send out a large beam of black energy straight ahead.

Stain was forced to jump high into the air to avoid such a blast, hearing it explode behind him but not bothering to look back.

_"He doesn't even care what he's destroying... This kid's lost it."_

He landed on the wall and jumped to the side, avoiding yet another large, black fist stretching up and punching the spot he jumped off.

Stain threw his last pocketed dagger as he landed, piercing the side of the large black arm.

"NNGH!" Izuku cried in pain as the arm retracted back, then showing his real arm to be bleeding.

Todoroki's body shivered on the floor as he saw blood drip down from Izuku, noticing that he mysteriously started bleeding even when he wasn't close to Stain.

_"He's receiving the same injuries his quirk takes! It's not like Tokoyami's Dark Shadow that can take attacks without much of an effect!"_

He then noticed Izuku breathing hard in obvious pain. But this pain didn't appear to be from his cuts. It appeared to be from his head, indicated by how he was now clutching it with both hands. Izuku looked to be trying to focus on Stain, but was clearly unable to stay composed as he let out more shouts of agony.

"RAAAAAAAAAH!" His screams echoed in the alleyway as he hunched over and got blood from his hands into his hair.

_"He... He's not able to control it completely! It's overwhelming him!"_

Sure enough, even when looking back up and trying to send out flames and other projectiles, Izuku was stumbling back and closing his eyes with a groan.

This gave Stain a small opening as he made a beeline right at him, ducking under another laser blasted before leaping forward and swinging his blade horizontally right at Izuku's neck.

"MIDORIYA!" Iida shouted.

Izuku's eyes snapped open at the warning, then quickly raising a hand with some of Ikari's black aura hardening around it.

This allowed him to catch the blade right in his palm.

_"He grabbed it!?" _Stain felt Izuku firmly hold his sword as the boy used his other arm to reach out and grab the villain by his neck, hoisting him up.

Izuku then twisted his hand, snapping the blade in two.

Stain felt overwhelmed as he struggled to pull out of the boy's grip, feeling Izuku's hand tighten around his neck. But saw plenty of blood on the arm Izuku was holding him with, so his tongue slithered from his mouth in an attempt to lick it.

Only...

**"Die."**

Instead, Stain felt something pierce him underneath, making him completely freeze.

His eyes slowly looked down and saw that a black spike came from the aura around Izuku's stomach, which had impaled him.

_"Wh-What... the hell?" _He already felt his breathing choking up.

Izuku then cocked his right arm back, his eyes blazing in black and red as swung it right into Stain's chest. The moment his fist connected, a black explosion actually occurred that sent the murderer flying back with smoke trailing off him. More black smoke kicked up and obscured the area, hiding Stain as Izuku now backed up, breathing harder than ever.

It only took a few moments for the smoke to clear away, revealing Stain on one knee while gripping the part of his stomach where he had been impaled.

_"He... He actually-!"_

Stain saw Ikari appear like a ghost behind Izuku, forming his body with his red eyes and jagged... _smile _opening.

_"No... It wasn't the kid... It was... that 'thing.'"_

He narrowed his eyes at Ikari's figure, watching as the being opened his claw-like hands to show his sharp finers. Izuku was just below him, panting hard as he didn't even seem to acknowledge what he just did.

Iida and Todoroki both stared in horror, knowing fully well that this was too much for their friend to do.

"Midoriya! Call off your quirk!" Iida shouted.

"Don't let it control you!" Todoorki added, trying to force himself to move.

Stain dropped the remains of his broken blade, then picking up one of his smaller daggers from the ground while his other hand still held the bloody hole in his body.

Although Iida and Todoroki were frightened for their friend, they couldn't help but feel a mixture of impressed but scared that the Hero Killer just kept refusing to go down.

_"He won't back down, even if it... kills... him..." _Iida knew with his pupils shaking, knowing that his death was possible because of their _friend._

Stain tightly gripped his dagger, looking a deep breath. And with one last yell, Stain put everything he had in him and ran forward, ignoring the pain in his left side.

Ikari let out a murderous screech as more arms formed on the being himself. Then more arms formed on _those_ arms, splitting until there were about thirty hands with their palms opening. Then each hand sent black spikes straight at the incoming villain.

Stain moved left to right in a blur while lashing out with his small dagger, somehow actually avoiding or parrying many of the spikes shot at him. However, there was still a good amount that pierced or grazed different parts of his body before fading away, Yet he just kept making his way closer to Izuku as his breathing hardened, the red veins in his eyes popped out clearer.

Ikari's several arms then combined together to form two large ones, holding them both over his head.

**"DIE!"**

He slammed them right onto the ground. The concrete that had been cracked from his previous attacks now shattered from the ground by the force of the attack. The debris was all sent hurtling forward in heaps right at the oncoming target.

Stain ducked and jumped from piece to piece of rubble, ignoring the bleeding of his body as he then disappeared into the dust clouds created by such an attack.

Throughout all of this, Izuku was clutching his heart with one hand and holding his head with the other, gasping for air. He couldn't think straight as all these feelings of pain and resentment clouded his mind.

"E-Enough..." He cried weakly, falling to his knees and now clutching his head with both hands. His hair was catching blood from his hand, Izuku felt his body turn cold and empty, and the boy's skin was now abnormally pale.

Using a decent amount of Ikari's energy _and_ losing his own blood in the process? It was no wonder he was started to feel dizzy. For a moment, Ikari's large figure seemed to disperse, his energy simply surrounding Izuku weakly.

But Stain's eyes flashed red through the clouds of dust before he came out of them, his dagger reaching towards Izuku's head in one final attempt to end this fight.

Feeling the murderous intent seemed to trigger Izuku. The boy rose his head with his eyes filled to the brim in black and red, clear hatred in them.

His black aura flared up one last time and several tendrils shot out from him. They stretched up in blinding speeds and wrapped around different parts of Stain's body, resulting in him being immobile.

"Nggh!" Stain's dagger ended up being only an inch from Izuku's face, the villain just short and now at the mercy of the hero.

In Stain's eyes, he saw Izuku's body replaced as a black silhouette like his quirk, only seeing his bloodlust flaring up as he gazed into the eyes of fury. The next moment, he was slammed into the wall by the tendrils, causing him to let go of his dagger while coughing up blood.

Izuku walked over in an almost zombie-like manner to Stain, his breathing echoing in the alleyway.

Both of his hands tightly gripped into fists as he got close, then raising them as he clenched his teeth together.

Stain took a right hook swing right on his face from Izuku, getting nailed right in the bone area of his nonexistent nose.

"YOU KILLED THEM ALL!"

Izuku then struck Stain's face with another punch, making some blood fly from his mouth.

"ALL THOSE HEROES!"

He repeatedly struck him mercilessly, screaming from the top of his lungs as Ikari formed behind him with his jagged, red open smile there in satisfaction.

"THEY DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE! THEY STILL SAVED PEOPLE! THEY STILL HAD PEOPLE WHO ADMIRED THEM!"

"Midoriya! STOP!" Todoroki shouted, feeling his body twitch.

_"His quirk is wearing off!"_

"That's enough!" Iida shouted as well, already starting to force himself off the ground.

Ikari's eyes narrowed, and Izuku pulled his arm back, stopping for a moment. His dark partner then wrapped himself around it and solidified into a jagged blade.

"NO!" Iida's engines blasted him forward, the boy managing to ram himself into his friend before he could finish his opponent off. The attack was sudden and with enough force to cause Ikari to untangle Stain while retreating back to his host.

Despite being released, Stain's body just fell to the floor, his eyes completely white with his face bloodied. His body was limp, his tongue was sticking out, and it was clear that he was no longer conscious.

Izuku fell to the floor with Iida on top of him, "Midoriya! Snap out of-!"

**"GET OFF!" **Ikari's voice roared from Izuku. His black aura started violently vibrating before suddenly giving off a shockwave that propelled Iida backwards.

The engine hero fell on his back with a grunt but quickly sat up to see Izuku forming black blades around both arms.

"M-Midoriya! It's me!" Iida shouted desperately to him, seeing the pained expression of anger on his friend as he started walking towards him.

Seeing Iida's expression of fear, Izuku stopped, his expression changing from rage to confusion.

"I-Iida?" The black blades around Izuku's arms faded away, he instinctively stepped back, and his eyes were filling to the brim in horror as he then stared down into his bloodied hands.

"H-Huh?" His voice cracked.

"Midoriya!" Todoroki had gotten up and ran beside Iida, both of them staring ahead at their friend while also trying to keep an eye on Stain in case he moved.

"Wh-What was I-?" Izuku whimpered as his hands trembled. The black aura around him weakened and one of his eyes turned back to green.

"I-I... I-I was-? Wh-What?" Izuku felt tears forming in the corners of both eyes, then quickly trailing down his face.

**"Get him... KILL HIM!"** Ikari appeared behind Izuku once more.

The being leaned forward and gripping the boy's shoulders, the being's aura intensifying and making Izuku wince as his pupils shrunk.

"I-Ikari?" Izuku slowly, and cautiously glanced back at his quirk.

"NO! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Iida shouted, pointing at Stain's body. "He's already unconscious! There's no need to do anymore!"

**"SHUT UP! YOU WANTED TO KILL HIM TOO, DIDN'T YOU!?" **Ikari boomed, even creating a small shockwave that sent rocks and trash scattering around.

Iida flinched as he felt intimidated by the quirk, but he then lowered his head and tightly gripped his hands.

"I-I did... I wanted to finish him off myself. B-But... Look what it did to me..."

He raised head back up with a glare, "It nearly got me killed! It put my friends in danger! It turned me into someone I shouldn't be, someone who actually thought that he would be a good hero despite doing the exact _opposite_ of what one would do!"

Ikari narrowed his eyes at Iida and let out growl, but Izuku shook his arms off him and turned to face him.

"N-No more! No more, Ikari! P-Please!" He pleaded, his other eye turning back to green and his scleras turned back to white too. More tears than ever fell as he raised his arms up in a halting stance, not wanting any more pain for anyone.

With his host's emotions clearly being changed out of anger, Ikari's fury quickly faded. His intense black body lost tension, his claw-like fingers turned into the shape of normal human ones, and the red glowing of his eyes dimmed down.

It took a few more moments, but soon, Ikari's shape changed back into the black silhouette of Izuku's upper body.

**"Huh? I-I..." **Even his voice changed from a violent demon, to a squeaking boy that was Izuku himself.

"It's over! I-It's over..." Izuku whimpered, slowly lowering his trembling arms. "I-It's over..."

Ikari stared down at his hands, thinking about what it was he was just doing. He then slowly looked up at Iida and Todoroki, who were both cautiously staring at him, almost as if ready to fire at any moment.

**"..."**

His eyes fell.

**"Sorry..."**

His body then slowly faded away, the remains of him visibly moving to Izuku before disappearing, leaving no sign of himself behind.

All that was left behind was a moody atmosphere among the group. Izuku's breathing was the loudest thing in the area as he turned back to his friends while shaking, almost looking unsure if it was over despite saying so.

"H-He's... He's okay... right?" Izuku asked, almost too scared to even utter the words.

Todoroki cautiously crouched down to Stain and felt his pulse.

"He's alive. Unconscious, but alive. We have to treat these wounds, though." He said, looking at the injuries Stain received when Ikari pierced him several times, especially when he stabbed him in his side. "I can at least stop some of these from bleeding any more." He said, pulling a few medical items off from his belt.

Izuku still didn't look any better. Instead, he looked even more panicked as he stared into his hands, "I-I almost..."

"It's alright, Midoriya! It wasn't your fault!" Iida marched over to his friend and put his hands on his shoulders, making him look him in the eyes. "We're still alive because of you! You saved us!" he said, trying to keep him calm.

"B-But..." Izuku uttered, his head glancing over to Stain's condition.

The villain's face was bloodied up due to Izuku repeatedly bashing him, red and purple bruises were on both his arms and upper chest area after taking so many attacks from the heroes in training, and he had a large batch of blood just left of his stomach. In addition to this were the small patches of blood around him from when some of Ikari's spikes managed to nail them, leaving some holes behind.

"I… I tried to kill him..."

"I wouldn't say it was 'you' specifically." Todoroki said, searching Stain for weapons before starting to treat his large wound to a degree. "Plus, a part of you was still in there, if you weren't, then your quirk might've tried to kill him a _lot_ sooner..."

"I-I tried to kill him... To _kill_ him! I-I can't- I shouldn't have- I mean-!"

"Midoriya!" Iida grabbed Izuku's head this time, forcing him to look at his stern expression. "It's alright, it's over... W-We did it. For now..." Iida sighed and let go, looking down in exhaustion but also uncertainty. "Let's just wait for the pros... Don't act like you're the bad guy here. If anything,

Izuku looked down with guilt still written all over his face, staring down at his gloves covered in blood.

_"B-But… didn't Ikari and I come to an understanding?"_ He thought to himself.

He balled his hands tightly.

_"No, it isn't that we didn't... It's just that in the end, the previous holders still have influence over him... Their anger, their desire for vengeance..."_

Izuku felt his body go limp, and he fell with his back to the wall, his legs shaking after the whole experience he had.

"Midoriya!? Are you alright!?" Iida asked, crouching down to him in concern.

"I-I'm fine, Iida... I-I just think... I'm gonna be sick." Izuku muttered, burying his face in his legs. "I-I feel so cold..."

Iida stared sympathetically to him as he noticed how pale his friend was too.

"You stated that your quirk's energy was like blood... You used up a good amount, but then your own blood was lost too..."

"Y-Yeah..." Izuku muffled from his legs. "I-I think everything's catching up to me... I can't move. I can't feel anything..."

"We'll help you, just... rest for now." Iida said with a weak smile.

"Iida, try to use some of the bandages I've got to at least stop Izuku's arms from bleeding any more." Todoroki called as he continued fixing up Stain... to a degree.

"Alright..." Iida walked over to his friend and took a small role of bandages, then getting back to Izuku and wrapping them around his arm.

There was a moment of silence between the two, where Iida stared down at Izuku while he thought of something, then finding himself asking something.

"Midoirya... Did you mean to bring _him_ out?"

Izuku weakly nodded. "Yeah... B-But... not like this..."

"I... See..."

"Stain should be good for now..." Todoroki said as he stood up and closed the cap for a capsule. "But we need something to tie him up."

"I - Ow... got some rope." Someone called to them.

The trio glanced at the pro hero, Native, slowly rising off the ground, just barely feeling the effects of Stain's quirk wear off.

"May we please use it?" Todoroki asked as he hurried over to help the hero up.

Native just chuckled as Todoroki supported him with his shoulder. "Why do you think I brought it up? To climb out of here?"

The students couldn't help but smile just a bit from his sarcasm.

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

"Why hasn't he texted back...?"

Toru was lying on top of a bed in some cute pink pajamas, her head imprinted on her pillow while her see-through hands held her phone.

"I sent him five texts..."

She turned her body and curled up a bit, knowing that something was clearly wrong. Izuku usually answered back rather quickly, and yes, they did talk sometimes over texts. Other times it took a bit, but he'd get back and say he was doing something. But this was the longest he hadn't answered, he hadn't texted back ever since he sent that message with just his location.

She knew waiting wouldn't help with anything, so she went to the next person to text.

Her best friend.

Toru:_ Hey Mina, you up?_

It wasn't even half a minute before she responded.

Mina: _Toru! So you're awake!_

Mina: _Did you get that message from Midori!?_

Mina: _Why is he in Hosu!? Why did he only send his location!?_

Mina: _I sent him over a dozen texts but he hasn't responded! Did something happen!?_

_"Oh boy..." _Toru sweatdropped, knowing fully well how much the pink hero must be freaking out.

She didn't even get a chance to answer any of the questions because her phone suddenly started to ring.

She sighed before answering, "Hey Mina-"

"TORU! Did you get that message from Midori!? Why is he in Hosu!? I texted him but he hasn't said anything back yet!"

"Mina! Calm down! You literally _just_ asked me those things!" Toru rose her voice, getting her friend quiet for a moment.

Now hearing some silence, Toru took a deep breath as she thought about what to say.

"So...Yeah, I did get that message from him too. I even sent him a few back, but he hasn't responded..."

"Th-Then do you think something bad happened to him!?"

"I don't know Mina, I really don't... I looked at the news in Hosu but didn't see him anywhere there, so at least we know he isn't fighting those... 'things.'"

"But... then why did he send that message?" Mina asked worryingly.

"I... I'm not sure. But I know we're both too late to head over there now. So... we can only hope that everyone else went to help him."

They remained in an eerie silence, thinking about just what kind of terrible events must be going on with the boy.

"Hey... Toru?"

"Yeah, Mina?"

"Do you..."

There was a pause.

"...like Midori?"

Toru flinched and moved her head away from the phone, taking a deep breath to answer how she rehearsed.

She made sure she didn't stutter, "No, Mina! We've talked about this already. I think he's cute, and he's super fun to tease, but nothing beyond that. Plus, you and literally EVERY other girl in our class likes him, I'm not crazy enough to join that, hehe. I mean, how does that even happen!?" She laughed in a fake, cheerful voice.

There was a moment of silence on Mina's side before Toru heard an awkward laugh.

"Y-Yeah, sorry. I really just thought that... I mean, everyone else does, so you know...?"

"Heh! I get it, Mina, but don't worry! I'm even _helping_ you get together with him! And as for Midori himself, I'm sure he's fine! He's one of the strongest guys in our class. He wouldn't just..."

There was a moment of dreadful silence between them, with Toru knowing she shouldn't have said that last part.

"Th-The point is, he can get through anything! So whatever he's facing right now, I know he'll beat it! I'm sure we'll hear from him by tomorrow, so don't worry, Mina!"

He heard a light chuckle from her friend, "I... I hope you're right, Toru... Thanks for talking to me."

"Anytime bestie." The invisible girl chuckled back.

They talked for a few more minutes, said goodbye, and then hung up for the night.

Once doing so, Toru sighed and dropped her phone.

"See Toru... It isn't that hard..."

She slowly brought her arms to hug her legs.

"Not hard at all..."

She buried her head in them.

"Lying... _Isn't_... hard..."

* * *

**~{Back to Hosu}~**

"You can't move?" Todoroki asked Izuku, who still sitting with his back against the wall.

"I can't..." Izuku mumbled, feeling his body not listening to him. "It might because of my exhaustion or losing too much... blood? Energy? I think both... Or it could be another side effect of using Ikari... I don't know since I was knocked out after the other times he came out."

Native walked over to him and crouched down, then lifting Izuku and giving him a piggyback ride.

"Should... you really be carrying me?" Izuku asked in a low tone, his tired eyes still showing some concern for the hero that been injured on the ground for some time.

"I'm okay, at least let me do this for you." Native smiled.

"Thank you... very much…" Izuku said weakly.

"That should be my line. You save my life." Native chuckled. He turned to Iida and Todoroki, "You all did."

"I'm just glad you're okay." Todoroki muttered.

Iida finished tying Stain with the rope Native provided, he and Todoroki then pulling the villain towards the street.

As they pulled him through the alleyway, the group couldn't help but notice all the destruction that had occurred because of their battle, or more because of Ikari. There was char on the floor and walls, cracks and broken concrete all over the ground, and trails of blood scattered around the area.

Izuku looked down, shadowing his eyes.

"I... I'm sorry..."

Iida turned to him, "No, don't apologize. I'm the one that got us into this mess..."

"And even though I'm a pro, I was just in the way..." Native added in some shame.

"No, I don't think you could've done anything one-on-one with the Hero Killer's quirk, he's too strong for one person to take on alone..." Izuku mumbled.

The boy then turned his head to the engine-quirk lad. "Iida, I wanna ask you now... Do you know _exactly _what you want to be?"

Iida stopped walking and formed a sad smile, making the others stop to face him.

"Yes... A hero. One that everyone can look up to... One that can lead others responsibly..."

He weakly bowed down, still feeling his cuts sting.

"Thank you, Midoirya... And you too, Todoroki. You both came to fix what I've caused, you helped me see what I should be..."

Native chuckled, "Sounds like all of you are really close... What are your hero names?"

Iida didn't look so sure about saying it, but Todoroki patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.

He looked down, "In... Ingenium."

Native gave him a kind smile, "So your brother's name-" He stopped himself and shook his head. "No... _Your_ name."

Iida raised his head as he heard that, forming a genuinely happy smile.

"What about you two?" Native asked curiously.

"Thermo." Todoroki answered blankly.

_"So he really went with Enso's suggestion?"_ Iida chuckled.

As for Izuku, he weakly mumbled, "D-Deku...", feeling awkward telling a random pro his name for the first time.

Native seemed surprised to hear this as they finally ended up in the middle of the street, but then that surprise turned into a chuckle.

"I'm gonna guess it's supposed to be ironic."

That made Izuku smile.

"Wha-!? Why are you here!?"

"Eh?" Izuku turned his head and saw a familiar yellow hero, making his eyes widen.

"Gran Torin- ACK!"

The elder's foot was suddenly on his face.

"I thought I told you to stay seated on the train!?" He fumed angrily.

Todoroki tilted his head at the newcomer, "Who's that?"

Gran Torino jumped off Izuku, leaving behind a red imprint of a foot on the boy's face.

"O-Ow... He's the hero that I'm interning with. His name is Gran Torino." Izuku told Todoroki, even ignoring that the elder had just kicked his face.

Native looked down at Gran Torino with a grin, "You've got quite the student with you."

Gran Torino scoffed with his hands on his hips, "Yeah, he's crazy."

Izuku sweatdropped.

"_Anyway... W_hy are you here? Weren't you fighting the Nomus?" He asked him.

"I was told to come here all of a sudden after taking one of those things out. I don't really know what's going on here, but I'm glad you're okay." Gran Torino said with a stern look.

"S-Sorry Gran Torino…" Izuku said in some shame.

"What the hell happened to ya anyway? And why are ya getting carried like a spoiled toddler?" The veteran hero asked, taking note of the boy being carried with all the blood on him.

"Well, we fought... 'him.'"

Gran Torino raised an eyebrow.

"Who-?"

"It's over here!" Someone else yelled.

"Huh?" Everyone turned their heads and saw a small group of heroes running towards the group.

The heroes were surprised to see three students there.

"Endeavor told us there was a request for help here, but… children?" One hero asked.

"Those injuries look serious!" Another said, noticing the blood on the group dripping from their backs. Or in Izuku's case, all over his body, whether his or Stain's. "Let's call an ambulance!"

A blonde, female hero looked down and saw the villain himself tied up on the ground with his head down. "I-Isn't that...the Hero Killer!?"

Gran Torino's eyes shot to the villain on the ground, then back to Izuku as he jumped up and comedically karate chopped him on the head.

"Ow! B-Bu-!?"

"You went off to fight the Hero Killer!? Are you crazy!? Actually, wait, don't answer that, I already did moments ago..." Gran Torino shouted, then sighed.

He turned to the group of heroes that arrived. "One of you bring the police."

"Y-Yes!"

Gran Torino glanced down at Stain, glaring at him as he thought about All Might's successor fighting him.

_"Crazy kids..."_

He then saw the villain's finger twitch.

"Huh? Did he-?"

"Izuku!"

Izuku heard a familiar voice, and his eyes widened.

_"Hold on, was that-!?"_

He turned his head to the right to see out of everyone, a familiar friend in a suit was panting as he stood in place, his yellow aura fading away when his eyes locked on Izuku's.

The group, mostly the U.A students and Gran Torino, were all surprised to see him.

"HUH!? Enso!? What are you doing here!?" Izuku shouted to him in the distance.

Enso slightly calmed down as he started running normally over, seeing that his student was alright.

_"Okay... He hasn't come yet, it wasn't him. He's fine-"_

He then caught sight of something else suddenly diving down from above, something heading right at Izuku.

_"I let my relief hinder me!"_ Enso thought as his eyes widened.

"Get down!"

"Wha-?"

Izuku didn't finish as he felt something sink into his back, making his pupils shrink.

_"Huh!?"_

His fear only grew when he felt his body get pulled from Native and was hoisted up into the air. The corners of his eyes glanced back to see that yellow, talon-like toes had grabbed him and sunk around his waist. And these talons belonged to a pale yellow Nomu with dragon-like wings.

Its wings were already flapping fiercely, creating large gusts of wind as it raised itself and Izuku up into the sky.

"MIDORIYA!" Iida shouted in terror as he looked up.

Many of the group covered their faces due to the intense winds pushing down at them, but they peeked out and saw that Izuku was being carried off.

On a rooftop, watching far away using binoculars, Shigaraki stood with a crazed smile on his face.

"Good Nomu... Bring him to me."

Gran Torino looked shocked as he bent his knees, ready to blast forward. _"Oh no! If he gets too high, then I won't be able to reach him with my qui-!"_

"Snipe Style!"

Gran Torino turned right and saw a yellow blur already running up the walls of one of the buildings.

Enso took deep breaths as he ran up along the wall in a diagonal path, heading towards the very corner of the building as his yellow aura intensified.

"Snipe Style-!" He said as he reached near the top, eyeing his target in the sky.

"-Piercing Shot!"

With a powerful glow coursing in his feet, Enso basically exploded off the side of the building from his jump, leaving a crater behind and shattering windows as he blazed up into the air towards his friend.

His yellow aura then changed to an intense black, his eyes changing to a bloody red as his black dagger formed into his right hand.

"Reaper Of Worlds Style-!"

He held his dagger close in a slashing ready position, sailing closer to the flying Nomu.

"Utter E-!"

He never finished, as from the corner of his eye, he saw a faint glowing red source.

His gaze went to the left, seeing a large figure standing atop one of the buildings.

One with a bony hand aimed at him.

**_"Dark Pulse."_**

A beam of black and purple circles was fired in an instant, Enso's eyes widening in pure shock before he was struck by the attack and exploded in purple.

"ENSO!?" Izuku shouted, seeing a trail of smoke fly from the explosion and crash all the way down into one of the buildings.

He turned his head to face where the attack came from.

But the moment he did... His pupils shrunk, his mouth opened, and he felt whatever blood he had left just freeze. He had never encountered the figure he saw, he had never seen him at all, and yet... The moment Izuku saw his mask, the completely red filled eyeholes, the glowing red jagged smile, and his corpse-like skin, he knew. Izuku just knew. Everything he was training for, everything he was learning, everything he's been fighting, it was all leading him to face the very threat he saw right ahead.

But... he had never expected to see him so soon.

_"No... No way... This isn't right."_

The whole world just seemed to slow down as Izuku's green eyes of fear looked into the empty void that was red eyes, watching as the large figure stared right at him with his palm steaming from his attack on Enso.

_"This can't be him... Right, Enso?"_ Izuku found himself whimpering in his mind.

_"I-It's too soon... H-He's already...? That isn't..."_

Even some water formed in the corners of his eyes, whether it was from keeping them open in the intense blowing or if it due to the sheer despair he felt.

_"L-Lynch?"_

Down below, Todoroki and the others had gasped when they saw Enso get blasted out of nowhere, wondering what the hell just happened.

And someone used this as a chance, indicated by the sound of slicing.

One of the heroes felt chills in her spine as she felt a long tongue lick something off her face.

"What the-!?"

The flying Nomu suddenly felt its entire body get paralyzed.

"Kraoao!?" It shrieked, its wings being forced to stop flapping and resulting in his elevation starting to lower rather quickly.

Even when falling, Izuku's eyes were just glued to the sight of the monster on the building, watching as he and the Nomu fell low enough to where he could no longer see Lynch.

_"W-We have to run-!"_

Izuku then heard someone rushing quickly with a stressful voice, turning his head to see Stain running right at him.

"This society overgrown with fake heroes-!"

The villain leaped into the air, getting close to the two.

"-and the criminals who wave their power idly-!"

His eyes flashed red as he tightly held a small knife right over the Nomu.

"-WILL BE PURGED!" He screamed, plunging his blade right into the Nomu's brain.

The impact of the Hero Killer landing on them resulted in them being forcefully pushed down even faster, but the villain grabbed the back of Izuku's shirt and pulled him up as they all crashed to the ground, allowing the Nomu's body to absorb the fall damage.

Dust kicked up and obscured the area, the crowd of heroes staring with mixed expressions of fear and confusion.

_"Th-The Hero Killer just...?" _Iida thought in awe, processing Stain having saved Izuku.

When the clouds cleared up, Stain was panting hard on top of the Nomu, firmly gripping his blade as some blood dripped from his own mouth. He let go of Izuku and the boy plopped onto the ground, completely unable to move his body. He didn't know if it was still due to the after-effects of using Ikari or if he was so scared that he couldn't move.

He was only able to turn his head, glancing up at Stain, almost as if planning to warn him, to warn _anyone_ about what he had seen. Only...

He found himself unable to speak, just choking on his breath as his eyes witnessed Stain's mask falling off.

"This is all..."

Stain pulled out his blade hard from the Nomu's brain, causing blood to gush up.

"TO CREATE A MORE JUST SOCIETY!"

Stain then slowly stood back up, his breathing hardening as drool dripped from his mouth and blood from his blade.

"Hey... Hey...! HEY!" Shigaraki shouted as his hands shook with the binoculars in hand. "What the hell!? Why did that brat come here!? Why did the Hero Killer kill that Nomu!? Why did it have to die!? And what was that black blast!?"

He turned his binoculars in the direction where the beam that had stuck Enso came from, only to see nothing on the rooftop.

"What's going on!?" Shigaraki growled.

The pro heroes and students watched in a scared silence at the Hero Killer ahead. Several questions went through their minds, like how did he get out of his ropes? Why did he save Izuku? Why was he already awake? They all got into fighting positions while gulping nervously, knowing that Izuku was in trouble and that it may be inevitable to fight.

"Why the hell are you all standing around!?" Someone shouted.

Their attention was then placed on Endeavor running on the scene with a frown.

"The villain should've..."

His voice trailed off as he caught sight of Stain, making his eyes narrow.

"Don't tell me...?"

Hearing him, Stain turned his head back with a murderous glare.

**"Endeavor."** He hissed in a fury.

Endeavor grinned, flames forming on his arm. "Hero Kill-!"

"Don't Endeavor! He has a hostage!" Native shouted to the number two hero.

Endeavor stopped when he indeed saw Izuku on the floor beside the villain, only... he looked absolutely horrified.

Stain's entire face was shown at the group, giving a clear view of his lack of a nose with his bloodthirsty red eyes showing how furious he was.

**"You _fake_!"** His voice echoed, seeming to cause the world to shake.

The heroes all suddenly felt frozen, with Iida and Todororoki realizing that they were feeling pressure coming from Stain that wasn't anything like before. Even though the hatred wasn't directed at them, even though Stain's murderous aura was focused on Endeavor, they all felt the full extent of it.

"I have to fix it..." Stain stepped forward as he firmly held his blade.

"There must be blood... There must be someone to die!" He dragged himself while heavily panting, whether it was due to the booming anger he felt or the feeling of exhaustion catching up to him.

"I must take back what it means..."

His entire silhouette seemed to turn black in a red world, his red eyes piercing through everyone.

**"-to _be_ a hero!"**

His voice sounded like thunder in the sky, just booming with sheer power.

"Come and try to get me... **YOU FAKES!"**

Even Endeavor cautiously backed up as he felt the pressure of the villain getting to him.

"THE ONLY ONE I'LL LET KILL ME IS THE TRUE HERO-!"

His red pupils shook as he took one long, final breath.

**"ALL MIIIIIIIIGHT!"**

His aura seemed to burst around the entire world, turning everything into black and red as the heroes trembled in place. Everyone remained in either stunned or scared silence, with some of the pros even falling down on their bottoms while shaking.

Stain was in terrible condition, he had a large area of blood from his wounds, his face was bloodied and arms bruised, yet he was still standing up. He was still willing to fight for what he believed despite all the odds placed against him, despite how injured he was and all the heroes right in front of him.

It was clear his conviction was the most terrifying part about him.

And everyone was so engrossed in this conviction, that they didn't notice a portal emerge from above.

**_"Well, aren't you something?"_**

"!?" Izuku practically snapped his head by how fast he looked up, seeing a shadow coming from above.

Something crashed right behind him and Stain, the impact sending up chips of the ground while also kicking up strong gusts of wind. Everyone's eyes widened in shock again by a new arrival, one that looked simply like a large silhouette due to the shading the moonlight provided, but with his face illuminating red.

Stain's eyes flashed as he immediately turned around and swung his dagger with all his strength, actually stabbing the figure's arm with his knife sinking all the way to the handle.

**_"So, you actually have some fight left in you?"_**

Stain then felt a punch going right into his chest, some cracking echoing as he basically barfed up more blood.

"UURFF!" Stain only caught a glimpse of the figure that struck him, the monster revealing himself more in the moonlight.

All he picked up on was the sight of a trauma mask.

**_"I like you, but I don't NEED you."_**

Lynch's bony fist pushed on and sent Stain flying to the side, the beat-up villain crashing into a building and continuously smashing through several walls.

_"He punched the Hero Killer!?" _Endeavor thought in shock, understanding that this new arrival wasn't with the wanted criminal.

Iida and Todoroki stared at the large figure as they saw his full body revealed in the light now, their pupils shrinking and mouths opening up as they saw something terrifying. His body wasn't like anything you would ever see, even if in a superhuman world full of quirks, this villain's appearance seemed to be something even more. His body was clearly decomposed, you could see some of his bones through holes in his skin. The blade left behind from Stain was still lodged in the villain's arm, and yet, there wasn't any blood at all.

They knew they were in more danger than ever before, yet they couldn't move at all as they saw the empty void of red in the villain's eyes. They felt as if any move they made, anything they tried to do, would result in something disastrous. This villain didn't give off the same overwhelming pressure like Stain gave off, but he still had an overwhelming appearance and crazed gaze that anyone would shiver just to see it, like they were right now.

"Wh-Who is that!?" Iida uttered out.

"Hell if I know." Todorki narrowed his eyes.

**_"Now then..."_** Lynch's head cracked as he glanced down at a frightened Izuku, his large body looming over the boy.

**_"So, you're the one?"_** He said in more of a statement than a question, not sounding angry nor happy to meet him.

Endeavor's eyes widened as he saw the villain's hand move as if to grab Izuku, making him raise his arm with flames.

But Gran Torino had acted first, already blasting forward right at Lynch, "RUN KID!"

"Snipe Style... Piercing shot!" Another shouted.

Enso came flying out of the building he had crashed into, his suit partially ripped, and blood going down his head from taking the direct blast from before. Yet his eyes flared in yellow as he pointed his fist forward at Lynch, he and Gran Torino's speeds reaching him in a near second.

Lynch raised an arm and a transparent blue dome formed around him, clashing with Enso's and Gran Torino's attacks. A shockwave spread through the area with intense winds coming up, making the other heroes cover their faces and hold their ground.

**_"Hello, Reapy." _**Lynch just chuckled through the barrier, his face a few feet from Enso's eyes of anger.

"Don't you dare-!"

**_"Oh, don't worry."_**

Izuku suddenly felt himself sinking, making him look down to a sludge-like black portal forming under him.

"Wh-What!?"

**_"I'll return him when I'm done." _**If Lynch's mask could use facial muscles, then you'd be able to see the most sadistic of grins on his face.

"E-ENSO! GRAN TORINO!" Izuku shouted in desperation. He tried to do anything to move, trying to force himself to do so, but he just couldn't. He could only watch and whimper as he sank into the portal.

"KID!" Gran Torino blasted around to the other side of the dome closer to Izuku and swung leg, yet it bounced right off the barrier.

_"I can't break through!"_

"LET HIM GO!"

For the first time ever, Izuku heard Enso scream from the top of his lungs, his mentor pulling his fist back as his aura flared into black.

**_"Whoops, this might be bad, so..."_**

Lynch's eyeholes and mouth started intensely glowing.

**_"UNTIL NEXT TIME, REAPY!"_**

The blue barrier then started glowing red, making Enso's eyes widen.

Izuku's head sunk into the portal with a desperate look, tears going down his eyes.

"NO-!" Enso was just starting to swing his fist forward.

But an explosion rang throughout the area, creating a shockwave that caused all the windows in the area to shatter while sending debris flying all over the place.

"ENSO! MIDORIYA!" Iida and Todoroki had just started running forward before this occurred, which then resulted in them being sent flying back and crashing into the other running heroes.

The area was obscured in dust, smoke rose up, and glass from the surrounding buildings was scattered all over the ground. There was dead silence in the air, the smoke rising slowly but surely clearing up the area.

The one to break this silence was Todoroki, the boy groaning as he sat up from the ground and felt his head.

Iida was right beside him, pushing himself up while the left side of his face partially bled from the blast.

"What... What just happened?" Iida groaned.

"I don't... Where's Midoriya?" Todoroki asked instead of answering.

They two of them looked ahead as the smoke cleared up, only for their eyes to widen upon seeing Enso. He was holding his arm while his back was against the building, standing up despite somewhat shaking.

Gran Torino was sitting up and holding his head in some pain, yet already looking around for Izuku.

Endeavor stepped passed Iida and Todoroki, glaring around at the area that had been turned into a charred crater, the spot where Lynch just was. The pale Nomu had been burnt to a crisp, but the large figure and Izuku were nowhere to be seen.

"Tsk!" He turned to Enso as he got up. "YOU!" He started marching towards him. "Ureshi! I know you have something to do with this! What just happened!?"

Enso stared at the charred area in silence, his eyes losing some color in them to show a blank gaze.

Iida was staring right where Izuku had just been, tears going down his eyes as he realized that his friend was gone.

"Mi...doriya? Where... Wh-What?"

"What _was_ that?" Endeavor growled as he approached Enso, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him up to look at him directly in the eyes.

Enso just looked down, shadowing his eyes as his hand tightly gripped hard into a fist.

"I'm sorry, Izuku..."

That was all he could say.

"Kurogiri..."

The portal man flinched when he heard the man child right beside him, catching a new tone that he didn't recognize.

"Y-Yes Tomura!?"

Shigaraki decayed his binoculars into dust. His eyes remaining open as they just stared ahead in the area the heroes were at, even ignoring the sounds of a helicopter flying over them.

"What...? What the hell just happened?"

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~**

***Surprised Patrick face***


	48. First Impressions

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**So... What even happened to our boy!? What's going to happen to him!? How are his friends in the hospital currently handling his capture!? Will he even get back!?**

**Well ladies and gentlemen, let's see what kind of horrors he's facing.**

**Trust me, this is gonna be bad.**

Answered comments:  


_Vidkid: _**Yeah, I did like how I made him, but I also wanted him to be clearly intelligent as well, because the most terrifying psychopaths are the one with intelligence. (or in my opinion) I hope you like how I portray Lynch in this retype! Let me know if you enjoy him like this!**

_yeekit000: _**Thank you very much for taking the time to read my fic. I hope you continue to read and comment! I'll do my best!**

_Atomic11: _**Thanks for looking at the retypes! Oh, and about fanart, I do actually have some lined up from someone named 'Noir' and am considering posting them when I actually post a 'new' chapter on my other sites like Archive Of Our Own and Wattpad. So you will see some art at some point.**

_Nicks4speed:_** *Sweats nervously***

_MBS41: _**Nah, Enso is gonna continue to be older. I don't even think I specified how much older he is. And if I did change his age, then it would mess up some things in later chapters.**

_PasiveNox: _**Thank you for all your comments on all the earlier chapters! Hope you leave more, even if small ones.**

_magical fan18:_ **Yeaaaaah... Things are about to get even more worse... Sorry, not sorry.**

_TQ679:_ **Yeah. I find it the main problem isn't that Izuku can't control his own rage, but that the rage of the previous generations are too much for ONE person to handle. Enso will hopefully have more exercises that can calm Izuku down, such as having him learn to play something with a certain musical girl.**

_blue grimmoire: _**And thank _you_ for reading them.**

_Jonwight: _**Yeah, I've come a long way since like two years ago. I'm really proud of myself for improving this much and writing even better chapters for all of you to look at. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

**~{Hosu Hospital-8:23PM}~**

The room was... moody.

Enso was on a chair with bandages around his arm and a part of his head, caused when Lynch caught him off guard and nailed him with a dark energy blast.

Gran Torino was standing beside him, glaring at the boy suspiciously with his arms crossed and with band-aids on his face.

Both Todoroki and Iida were in beds, wearing hospital gowns with their arms and shoulders wrapped in bandages due to the injuries they received from Stain. However, despite having been treated, their faces stared downward with nearly dead gazes in their eyes. Their classmate, their _friend_, had been taken by someone, by... _something._

While at the scene of the crime, Iida had desperately shaken Enso, begging him to tell him where Izuku was. But the young male just remained silent while looking down, knowing that he couldn't say anything with all the other heroes around.

It didn't take long for an ambulance to come, and for the heroes to calm Iida down while Todoroki stared at the ground, emotionless. And after a short drive to Hosu hospital and getting treated, here they were now, alone in a room.

"It's all my fault... I-If I hadn't brought you all into my mess..." Iida stammered, staring down with his hands tightened into fists.

"It's not your fault Iida. I don't think it would've mattered..." Enso replied, staring down with his eyes narrowed at the ground.

Todoroki raised his eyes and glared at Enso.

"Enso... You _know_ something, don't you?"

"Of course I do..." Enso responded, not even denying anything because it was obvious that he was indeed deeply involved with what recently occurred.

"Then you know what that _thing _was, don't you? You know where Midoriya is, right? And... you knew this would happen." Todoroki said, that last part coming out in more of a statement. "That villain knew you, even calling you... 'Reapy.' and I don't think it was a coincidence that you choose to come all the way to Hosu, even if Midoirya sent that message out."

Enso sighed as he raised his head to him. "There's a lot both of you don't know…"

"And I'm sure there are things you haven't told Midoriya either." Gran Torino included while staring at Enso suspiciously.

Enso turned his head to the elder. "You're... Gran Torino, correct? I wished we'd meet under different circumstances..."

"Well, we're here now, aren't we?" The elder growled.

"Yes... Did Izuku tell you about... My circumstances?"

"All that he knew." Gran Torino folded his arms. "So... Was that _thing_ out there really 'him?'"

"I'm... afraid so."

Gran Torino couldn't help but look worried and nervous, staring down as a trail of sweat went down the side of his head.

"What do you know!?" Iida said, shouting louder than he thought.

"It's... complicated..." Enso frowned.

"Enso... Just what kinds of secrets have you been keeping?" Todoroki asked. He wasn't angry, nor sad, he just genuinely desired to know if it involved the sake of the one who saved him from himself.

"You knew Izuku was keeping secrets too, and both of you must know that if he's keeping them, then it means it's something important that others shouldn't know." Enso told them.

Hearing that, Iida couldn't take it anymore. He removed the covers and forced his sore body to move out of bed, grunting as he did so with a strained expression.

"Iida! You shouldn't move!" Todoroki said from his own bed.

Iida ignored him and continued moving, getting on his feet and standing up straight with a serious look.

"Enso..." He grunted.

Enso narrowed his eyes, standing up from his chair. "Iida, don't do anything rash-"

He stopped himself as he saw the engine boy suddenly bow at a ninety-degree angle, surprising the group.

"Please... I have to know."

There was a moment of silence before Iida continued, maintaining his pose despite his body shaking.

"This is Midoirya we're talking about... Someone beloved by the class, a hero who's helped so many of us already... And even though you say that it's not my fault that he was captured, I know deep down that I played a part of it... If I hadn't selfishly chosen to go to Hosu to track down Stain, then Midoriya wouldn't have gotten worried or looked for me. Then that villain would've never found him... I just know it."

Todoroki shifted in his bed, staring directly at Enso.

"Enso... I feel like I owe it to Midoriya to help him. Even if you don't want to tell us what's your situation is with him, at least tell us what's going to happen to him."

"..." Enso watched as Iida stood up straight, his eyes pleading to Enso to say something.

Enso gazed down at Gran Torino, who just shrugged.

"Your call. This is your secret, but make sure you don't bring in _other's _secrets." The veteran hero said, signaling Enso a hint not to mention anything relating to All Might, One For All, or All For One.

Enso turned back to the two, thinking about it.

_"They do really care about Izuku... Not to mention they're both strong as it is. With some training from me, then maybe... No, not maybe, they WILL be valuable allies to help us. To help Izuku and share the burden... But would they be alright with the risks?"_

He sighed, _"No... For now, they deserve to know what Izuku's going through."_

"Promise that nothing leaves this room." Enso told them.

"Yes!/Of course." Iida and Todoroki both responded.

"..." Enso sat back down. "Fine."

Gran Torino took a seat as well, knowing this might take some to explain.

"For now, I'll tell you what kind of situation Izuku is in... Thevillain who took him, his name is... Lynch. He is a being from another world, as am I."

Iida and Todoroki were both visibly shocked to hear this, but they didn't want to interrupt Enso, so they remained silent.

"Lynch is a powerful being and what I can only describe as a lunatic that has obtained power from several different worlds, using only his own intelligence to reverse-engineer how different powers work and then implements them so that he's able to use them. His main goal... has to do with some sort of crazed obsession he has over me. I believe it's a grudge of some sort on who I was before, but I have no memory of it."

"Hold on... Who you 'were' before?" Todoroki narrowed his eyes.

"For now, I'll say that I have some kind of amnesia."

The two students didn't know what to make of this, but Gran Torino thought of something different to bring up.

"Hold on... Doesn't that mean that _you're_ basically the one who brought that monster in our world?" Gran Torino realized, glaring at him.

"In a way... Yes..." Enso admitted, visibly feeling conflicted over that. "But it wasn't like I had much of a choice... I had no idea who I was, didn't know where to go. The only thing left for me was to follow wherever this watch sent me to get answers..." Enso shook his head, "No, I'll explain that later. Right now, I should explain how Izuku is doing."

He took a deep breath.

"Right now... I believe you won't have to worry about him dying, nor worry about him remaining captured for too long."

Iida felt some relief, but was still obviously worried and skeptical.

But it was Todoroki who asked, "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know the way Lynch operates... And if he really wants to try and... get to _me_. Then he wouldn't do anything devastating to Izuku so soon. Nor would he keep him for too long because he knows that I can detect Izuku with this watch, since the energy he has is what it points to."

Iida took a step forward with his eyes larger, ignoring the stinging in his body.

"If you can detect Midoriya, then we can have pros go and save him right now, can't we!?"

"I'm afraid not..." Enso said, raising it up to show that there wasn't anyone detected. "What this watch points to are individuals with some sort of power, one pertaining around energy. Izuku is one of these individuals so I would normally be able to find him wherever he is, however... Just earlier, he released this power when fighting against Stain, didn't he?"

Todoroki looked down, "Yeah... He unleashed the power of his quirk and it manifested around him. But... he nearly lost control of it, only able to calm down when Iida and I intervened."

"Figures..." Enso sighed. "This watch is able to find individuals depending on how strong their energy level is, or in other words, how much energy they're giving off. While I was on my way, Izuku's location spiked with energy on my watch, indicating that he was giving off an intense amount of it. However..."

"Don't tell me he exhausted all his power and now you can't find him?" Gran Torino assumed.

"Sadly, that's the case... But I wouldn't say that he 'used up' all the energy from his quirk. I doubt he used as much power against Stain as he did against me. But if he ended up losing a decent amount of both blood and energy, then of course his quirk must've retreated back into... wherever it was he came from, in order to recharge and heal. So because of this, the signal on Izuku is the weakest it ever was. I can only find his location if I actually get in a certain radius of where he is, but we don't even know the general area he's at... He can be anywhere at this point."

Hearing that frustrated the group, but they couldn't do anything about it.

"But Lynch knows that Izuku's energy will grow back, and he won't know when nor will he get an indication on when he does. So he knows I'll be able to find him at some point, so he won't wish to keep Izuku for too long."

"Again, what makes you think he won't just..." Iida's words trailed off, thinking about Izuku perishing.

"Because that's not how he does things... He doesn't wish to just kill whoever is close to me as fast as possible. He likes... tormenting them."

"Wait, so he's gonna-!?"

"Not now." Enso cut Iida off. "Right now, he's just formally meeting Izuku for the first time. Understanding what kind of person he is, planning how to... cause pain and anguish in the worst way to him. Basically, finding out what makes him tick and explode. The worst he'll do to him is... leave a mark."

"Hold on... A _mark_?" Gran Torino asked, not liking the sound of that.

Enso looked down, "He did it once when I let one of the individuals li-" He paused, remembering that he hadn't told the two students just what he's done to the unique, energy-filled individuals before. "He's... done it before." He changed his words.

"How bad can it be?" The elder hero asked in a serious tone.

Enso flashed back to images of a girl, watching as she was slashed on her forehead.

"It... can be big..."

Iida and Todoroki saw Enso's eyes remembering something disturbing, making them pipe up.

"Wh-What'll happen-!?"

"Worrying about it won't do anything." Enso interrupted before they could speak. "The best we can do is... just wait..."

"Wait? _Wait!?_ Sit here and do nothing, while Midoriya is out god knows where!?" Todoroki raised his voice.

"I've already said we can't do anything. And even if we could, I have no doubt you two would probably get yourselves killed if you'd try to go out and find him. You'll see Izuku again, I guarantee it."

"I... I still don't understand a few things..." Iida stammered, finally sitting back down on his bed. "You say this... 'Lynch' only wishes to get into your head, so that's why he went for Midoriya... But why were _you_ interested in Midoriya in the first place? You were the one that came here to find him because that... 'watch' on your wrist supposedly can lead you to him, but what have you planned for everyone else like Izuku that you've met? Did you train them to fight like him?"

Enso looked down with his eyes narrowed. "That's... where it becomes troubling to explain..."

"Well... We have time now." Todoroki told him.

"..." Enso rose his head. "That would involve me going into the deeper and darker things, but...

He thought about it for a moment, thinking of telling Todoroki and Iida about his past.

He sighed, _"Well... Maybe they can help us..."_

Enso stared directly at them. "Enso stared What I'm going to tell you may change your opinion of me... But I hope you'll still believe that I'm not doing these things for myself anymore."

That made Iida and Todoroki skeptical, but they remained silent to let Enso speak.

Enso took a deep breath.

"My reasons for finding these individuals... It started the first time I traveled to another world-"

* * *

**~{Gunhead's Agency}~**

Ochako walked out of the bathroom wearing some Thirteen-themed pajamas, staring down at her phone while a towel remained on her head. She had taken a shower after a day of training she had with the Battle Hero, Gunhead, and was now in a room provided for her to sleep in.

But after finishing her training for the day, while she traveled into the room to sleep in, and while she took her shower, she had one thing on her mind.

Hosu City.

Ever since receiving a text from Izuku while taking a momentary break, her mind just went through so much. She lost focus easier while fighting Gunhead, she wasn't as chirpy as she was in the day before getting Izuku's text, and would find herself zoning out a few times.

Gunhead obviously noticed and decided to let the girl off for the day, asking her what was wrong, but it didn't help much since Ochako didn't even know what was wrong with Izuku.

_"Why did he send that message?"_ She wondered as she tossed the towel on the side.

_"Why isn't he responding to my messages?"_ She panicked as she plopped herself down on her bed, staring at the white screen of her phone in her dark room.

_"Is... he alright?"_

She knew he was strong, she knew he could save so many people on his own, but what Ochako really worried about... was if he could save himself. To stop himself from inflicting so much pain, to stay the same boy that everyone loved.

She laid on her stomach and buried her face in her pillow, her phone screen turning dark.

_"You're fine... Right, Deku?"_

* * *

**~{?}~**

Izuku slowly opened his eyes to a sight of blurriness.

_"Ugh... My head... Where... am I?"_

For a moment, Izuku believed that he was back within his subconscious due to the darkness surrounding him, but then he weakly raised his head and saw that a small spotlight was shining down at him.

He instinctively tried to move, his body no longer feeling paralyzed, but he felt something holding him down.

He weakly glanced down at his current situation as his vision became clearer. Izuku's arms and legs were chained on a smooth, metallic chair that he was sitting on. These chains didn't seem normal, as they were black but with a faint purple aura surrounding them.

While gazing at the chains, Izuku took note of the state his body was in. He was still feeling cold due to having used Ikari's energy and bleeding, but he wasn't leaking blood anymore due to Todoroki at least helping to clean his wounds a bit after their battle ended. His hero costume was pretty torn up and bloody, but he could always have that fixed later. Right now, it was clear that he was in a bad situation.

_"What... happened? The last thing I remember is... We beat the Hero Killer... Then I got carried off by a Nomu... Wait, that's right! Enso came running in to save me! Then he got blasted by-!"_

Izuku's eyes widened, remembering just who it was he saw, _what_ was the name he heard. His body tensed up but his head frantically searched around the darkness for any sign of movement.

_"I-I was-!? Am I-!?" _He panicked as he thought about who captured him, thought about everything that Enso told him about the villain, and wondered just what was going to happen to him.

He gulped nervously before attempting to take deep breaths to calm himself down.

_"I-I have to get out of here!"_

Izuku gazed down at his chains, tugging at them first and knowing fully well that he'd have to use one of his quirks.

_"I can probably use One For All to break out of these..."_

**_"Are you sure? Those chains look ominous."_**

_"I know, but-"_

Izuku suddenly processed who he heard.

_"Ikari!? Is that you!?"_

**_"Sure is, surprisingly."_**

Izuku suddenly felt genuine joy go through him, forming a big smile as he looked down.

_"I-I can talk to you now! I can talk to you out here!"_

**_"Um... Is this really the time to be celebrating?"_**

Izuku's smile fell as he remembered his situation.

_"R-Right... It's just that... We can finally communicate without jumping through all those hoops... W-We can work together now."_

**_"Yeah... I guess so." _**Ikari responded, his voice slightly cheerful.

_"But..." _Izuku looked serious now as he gazed around the room. _"We have to get out of here first... Can you use your energy out here to help me?"_

**_"Don't think so... After that battle against Mr. slice and dice, I'm feeling sick... I could probably take shape outside with you, but that's probably about it. Losing any more of my energy or your blood while I'm out there can be risky. So... I'm staying in here."_**

_"Fair enough... I guess I'll have to use One For All to get out of here."_

Izuku took a deep breath as he started spreading power throughout his body.

_"One For All... Full Cow-!"_

Suddenly, the chain's around his arms and legs sparked and sent purple electricity all over his body

"NNNGARGH!" Izuku felt the shock go all throughout him, paralyzing him and causing his muscles to tense up in pain. This electricity lasted for a few seconds before stopping, leaving Izuku steaming with his head down.

**_"Oi! You alright!?"_** Ikari asked him, not feeling the pain due to remaining within Izuku's consciousness.

Izuku panted hard with his body twitching, feeling lingering stinging from the sudden jolt that went through him.

"Wh-What... Th-The hell w-was...?" He muttered aloud in pain.

**_"I wouldn't do that if I were you." _**A new voice called out.

Izuku raised his head in an instant, feeling his blood go cold from hearing this echoing voice.

His pupils dilated in fear as he only saw two red glowing eyes and a jagged glowing red smile in the darkness ahead.

**_"If you try to get out of those, then I'm sure you'll find yourself feeling even more 'shocked.'"_**

Izuku felt himself gulping down air, staring straight ahead and completely frozen.

"Y-You're..." He stammered already knowing who it was.

The red face ahead of him was suddenly put out, letting the villain disappear into the darkness.

**_"It's about time you woke up. I thought I'd have to do it myself so we could introduce ourselves." _**His voice echoed in the room.

Izuku's head shot in all directions he could look, trying to find him.

**_"But it appears that you already know who I am, don't you?"_**

He heard some movement to his left, making Izuku turn and stare deeply into the dark.

**_"I'm sure Reapy's told you aaaaaaaaall about me. Hasn't he?"_** Izuku suddenly heard on his right, turning his head to see nothing there.

"R-Reapy?" Izuku repeated in confusion.

**_"You know, your 'BEST' friend."_**

_"So he means Enso?" _Izuku thought, still looking around the room in a panic.

**_"And I wonder how much he's told you about himself? I'd like to know if he's remembered anything 'interesting' as of late?"_**

Izuku couldn't pinpoint where Lynch was, his head just frantically looking around.

**_"But..."_**

Izuku then felt a presence right behind him, making him just remain completely still in fear.

**_"Right now, I'm more interested in YOU."_**

Izuku felt big, bony hands placed upon his shoulders, making him whimper as he shivered by the touch.

**_"Just what kind of person are you...?"_**

The villain's grip on his shoulder's tightened.

**_"Izuku, Mi~do~ri~ya?"_**

Izuku slowly turned his head and looked up behind him, getting a clear view of Lynch's mask. The eyeholes and mouth carve in it, the faded colors and old scratches on it, listening to his raspy breathing behind it, Izuku didn't feel like he could keep his calm by how creepy it all was.

The rest of Lynch's appearance just added on to the creepiness factor. His large but deformed figure, his corpse-like skin and rag covered body, the noose around his neck, and his hands... his claw-like, bony fingers that could be mistaken as a giant spider crawling if in the dark.

_"Ikari! Can you do anything!?"_ Izuku asked his partner.

**_"Not without both of us getting shocked again..."_**

Izuku couldn't help but feel frustrated, even if he was shivering due to being face to face with the one villain Enso had to fight off.

**_"Now then..." _**Lynch said, releasing Izuku's shoulders and taking steps around the boy. **_"Just what kind of person are you?"_**

He got in front of Izuku and knelt forward, studying him.

**_"Plain face, wimpy if you're staying quiet in fear, and a boring costume with an ugly green... Hm, it's as if someone barfed on it."_**

Izuku thought of his mom, who provided the main fabric and overall design for his costume.

This made him glare hostility at Lynch, eye flashing red for a split second before turning back to green.

**_"Oh? Looks like I hit a nerve." _**Lynch chuckled, examining the look Izuku was giving him. He stood back up and marched around the room, each step giving a loud thud.

**_"But despite looking so boring... You're the complete opposite, aren't you? I've watched your work, quite outstanding I must say."_**

Izuku felt uneasy when he heard him say, 'work.'

**_"Breaking your own arms, using so many different looking powers... Not to mention the look on your face." _**He stepped close and his face got uncomfortably close to Izuku's, clearly excited. **_"Anger, hatred... I know it all too well."_**

Izuku could only assume Lynch meant his anger towards Enso.

**_"We're pretty alike, aren't we?" _**He chuckled.

That just made Izuku pissed as he faced him with his flaring red eyes.

"I'm NOTHING like you!" He shouted.

His voice echoed in the room they were in, giving an indication that it seemed to be pretty large. Lynch still kept staring at Izuku, not moving a muscle as the boy screamed that.

**_"Hmph, how... stupid."_** Izuku swore he heard him sigh. **_"You guys are always like that... You always say the same stupid things about how you're 'nothing like the bad guy.' and all that."_**

He leaned even closer to Izuku, the boy leaning back.

**_"EVERYONE is alike in one way or another, no matter what! Farmers, doctors, warriors, terrorists, office workers, plumbers, EV-ERY-ONE!"_**

Izuku was taken aback, his eyes back to green and shivering by how Lynch suddenly raised his raspy voice.

**_"There is always some sort of similarity among people! Little things like your favorite color or your favorite band, all the way to the greater things that truly define people such as morals and power! Every single individual will always have something similar to another somewhere! But the 'differences' among them are based on the paths those individuals take!"_**

"H-Huh?" Izuku uttered, confused by Lynch's rambling.

**_"The differences people have among one another are based on the paths they take, and the paths they take are what earn them titles, and the titles they earn are what distinguish them from others. But in the end, somehow, somewhere, someway, there will always be something that is similar, or WAS similar, between two people. So you should be able to understand that the 'good' and the 'bad,' or I guess in your world, heroes and villains, aren't excluded from this. They both could've grown up with similar elements such as looking up to the same people, loving the same things, and even having the same dreams, but no matter what, they must've been related to each other at some point in their lives."_**

**_"What the hell is this guy saying?"_** Ikari growled from within Izuku's head.

**_"But the paths that turn these people into 'heroes' or 'villains' are based on their own choices. Choices that separate people into the good or the bad, choices that are always influenced by factors. These people could've been the same kind of person as they grew up, but at one point they choose their paths differently, and there are always reasons behind it."_**

He was sounding disappointed now.

**_"If you're saying that you're NOTHING like me... Then it just proves that you don't understand enough about everyone, especially the bad guys. You don't understand their reasons for 'choosing' their different paths. That just proves to me that you really are just a kid. And kids only know how to love the heroes."_**

Lynch backed up a bit, his breathing hardening.

**_"But it's the ADULTS that can actually understand the villains."_**

Izuku couldn't help but feel dumbfounded by his speech. It felt... so out of nowhere, and not to mention also sounded a bit personal.

_"To understand... the villains? So... Is he saying he saying that even he wanted to be something like everyone else? But then he just chose to be... what he is today? I understand that he must have reasons for going after Enso and feeling so hateful towards him, but turning into a villain just to torment him? I still can't comprehend that... That's still going too far in an unreasonable path..."_

Lynch suddenly got up and shook his head, **_"Argh, look what you've made me do, you got me monologuing. I don't have time for this, I don't know when Reapy is gonna detect you."_**

Izuku's eyes widened, _"Detect me? That's right! Enso can find me with his watch! Can't he!? But... Lynch said, 'when' he'll detect me, so doesn't that mean he isn't detecting me right now?"_

**_"Well here's a question from me." _**Lynch suddenly vanished into the darkness once again, but Izuku heard his harsh breathing around him.

Izuku's eyes wandered around the darkness.

**_"Has Reapy ever told you WHY I'm here from him?"_**

Izuku looked behind him.

**_ Why everything I'm doing is because of him?"_**

Izuku looked up.

**_"Why I want to BREAK him?"_**

Izuku felt shivers and nearly screamed as he felt the tips of Lynch's bony fingers walk up his chest, lowering his head to see the villain suddenly in front of him once again.

**_"Well?"_** His fingers walked all the way to Izuku's neck, then underneath his chin, even using them to lightly tug his head to stare at him.

**_"Has he?"_**

Izuku's breathing tightened up as he felt the cold points under his chin. He tried keeping calm, but he was unable to give an answer to Lynch, knowing that Enso never told him the origin as to why the villain wanted to torment him so much in the first place.

He ended up thinking about Gran Torino's words. _"It seems like he hasn't told you everything, has he?"_

Lynch saw the look on his face and the silence he kept, slowly emoving his fingers but staring at the boy.

**_"So... He hasn't remembered yet, has he?"_** Lynch said in a new, quieter tone.

_"Huh?"_ Izuku's expression turned into surprise.

**_"Figures... That bastard still hasn't remembered enough... But one day, ONE day he will. He'll find his home and remember everything... And when he does, THAT'S when I'll take it aaaaaaall from him..."_**

Izuku heard Lynch's hands crack disturbingly as he balled his hands into fists, adding to him standing up with even his back making even more odd noises.

_"So... Enso really doesn't remember his past? So he really doesn't know the reason why Lynch is after him?"_

Izuku gulped nervously.

"Wh-What has Enso done to you for you to hate him so much? I mean... For someone to make it their goal to ruin another person's life and those around him... I-Isn't that too much for something you're dedicating your life to?"

Lynch's heard sounded as if it was grinding as he glanced back down to Izuku once more, making the boy wonder if it would've been better to keep quiet.

**_"Heh, wouldn't YOU like to know? But if I told you now, then you'd tell Reapy the reasons, and I can't, have, that, yet." _**He leaned down and his finger gently grazed Izuku's cheek, bringing fear into the boy's eyes. **_"I can't just tell him everything. He has to remember it himself. Otherwise, when he does remember, it won't have as big of an impact as I want it to."_**

The rest of his palm then held Izuku's cheek, his hand rather large around the side of the boy's face, chuckling as he did so.

**_"But let's not waste any more time. Let's quickly move on to the next part of our... 'greetings,' shall we?"_**

Lynch's other hand somehow snapped his fingers, the darkness of the room suddenly brightening up to reveal where Izuku was. He was in a large, white room that had large machinery in different areas along with dried up blood on different parts of the floor and walls. It turns out that the single light that had been shining down on Izuku was part of several other lights on the ceiling. Lynch removed his hand and stood back up, stepping back and letting Izuku look around.

_"Where... the hell are we?" _Izuku gazed around in awe. _"Are we in a hospital of some sort? Maybe an abandoned one?" _Izuku wondered.

**_"I doubt hospitals have this kind of weird... equipment." _**Ikari said, referring to the large pieces of odd machinery.

Izuku and Ikari heard thumping sounds coming from a distance, making the boy turn his head to a hall that led into the large room he was in. He heard some odd noises that almost sounded like clicking, and he swore he saw a strangely pale arm in the corner of the hall.

_"D-Did you-?"_

**_"Yup... I saw it... He's not alone in here." _**Ikari confirmed.

Lynch excitedly rubbed his hands together.

**_"So then, time to get to 'know' you better. What's your name?"_**

"E-Eh?" Izuku turned back to the villain in confusion since he swore Lynch already knew his name.

**_"You're 'hero' name. All of you guys have one... don't you?"_**

For a moment, Izuku wasn't sure if he should tell him anything, hesitant to tell the villain about himself.

**_"What?" _**Lynch questioned, noticing his hesitation as he turned his body back to him. **_"Now, now, let's not be stubborn, alright? After all..."_**

The next thing Izuku knew, Lynch had moved right in front of him with his large hand grasped over Izuku's head, making the boy shudder.

**_"You don't want to 'annoy' me, do you?"_**

The red holes in his eyes seemed to flash for a moment as he said that.

Izuku didn't wish to figure out what would happen if he didn't answer, so his eyes just looked down as he responded;

"D-Deku..."

Lynch tugged Izuku's head back up to look at his eyes, then tilting his own head in some surprise.

**_"Deku?"_**

There was a moment of silence, and then a small laugh before Lynch let go of Izuku's head.

**_"Quite the name."_**

He crossed his arms.

**_"I guess it means you're quite a pathetic person after all, aren't you?"_**

Izuku glared at him, actually leaning forward a bit.

"That's not what it means to me! The Deku I know means that I can do anything! To save anyone!" He yelled.

Lynch didn't seem amused, **_"Oh? So you're that 'type' of person? You think you can go around, saving everyone like some kind of cartoon?"_**

Izuku could swear he detected a hint of anger as the villain started circling around him.

**_"We both know that you weren't originally called by that meaning, were you?" _**He shook his head in disapproval. **_"For you to change the definition, it means that you were known for its REAL meaning, that's all it means."_**

Izuku found himself breathing harder as flashes of his childhood went through his mind, recalling hundreds of thousands of times Bakugo called Izuku by that name, by _that_ meaning.

**_"So obvious..." _**Lynch scoffed, noticing the boy's panic.

He leaned down closer to Izuku's ear.

**_"You were weak once, weren't you? You were worthless to those all around you. People are judged in this world just like in any other world. Each world has its own standards, its own models, and its own trash. And to have been 'Deku' in this kind of superhuman world, you must've lacked what seems to be the most important thing here... Lacked what makes up all these 'heroes' that everyone seems to look up to..."_**

He raised his hand and cracked his fingers into a fist.

**_"Power."_**

Izuku could hear a serious tone.

**_"The weak can become the strong, but not if they always rely on the strong to fight for them. And the strong always act high and mighty when they were blessed with power they didn't work for. And these things connect back to what I've said before, where people make choices that lead their paths, these kinds of factors are the reasons that people choose to be good or bad people. Some let their powers get into their heads, while others don't have powers and are treated like trash, leading to desires of revenge. There's so much more to why someone chooses to be good or bad."_**

Izuku suddenly remembered his childhood tormentor once again. Although he knew that Bakugo must've worked hard to be as strong as he was now, he still recalled when the bully first obtained his quirk, remembering the change he had.

"Wh-What are you getting at?"

The villain raised a finger and put the point of it on Izuku's forehead, making him wince.

**_"The one thing I was curious to out find about you, is where do YOU fall into this? You lacked the power to be with the strong, and yet, here you are."_**

Lynch twisted the tip of his finger, making Izuku grit his teeth as a small drop of blood dripped down.

**_"Just how did you end up with all that power, little De-ku? And 'why' did you want your power?"_**

His fingers walked up Izuku's head.

**_"Tell me just what kind of person ARE you~"_**

"I-I... I..." Izuku found himself conflicted on what to say, knowing that Lynch wouldn't take silence as an answer.

**_"We can't tell him everything... But it seems like he won't be fooled if you lie about anything..." _**Ikari warned Izuku.

Izuku knew he couldn't mention One For All, and he also knew that it might be a terrible idea to mention Ikari as a separate entity. Who knows what Lynch would try to test on him then.

He couldn't say what he knew he couldn't so... He just said what he felt was right.

"You're... You're right... I-I was weak... and everyone ridiculed me for that. They said I couldn't do anything, I couldn't save anyone, I-I couldn't become a hero."

Izuku's hands balled into fists.

"I always tried to carry on, I always wanted to believe that I could do what I always wanted, to be what I've always wanted to be... A hero."

Lynch removed his fingers from Izuku's head, curiously listening.

"There are times where I thought I couldn't become a hero... Time's I thought about changing 'my' path and giving up... But then..."

Lynch saw a tiny smile form on the boy.

"I met them... I met All Might, who told me what I've always wanted to hear, that I _can_ become a hero. And I met Enso, who taught me how to fight and shape my body to become the hero I am today. I-I've worked more than my hardest... Balancing school with training, and there were a few times where I felt like I was going to die... But I knew I had to do it, to be able to save people with a smile."

Izuku stared straight at Lynch now, no sign of fear, but instead, the smallest of smiles on his face.

"And... I did it. Thanks to his training, thanks to all the pushing I did, I have the power I need for others... I... couldn't have done it without him."

**_"..."_** Lynch stared at Izuku as he finished, feeling the genuine emotions of a boy that's done all he can to get to where he was.

**_"So that's how it is?"_**

He stood up straight, staring down at Izuku with his shadow covering the boy.

**_"You've got one of the strongest kinds of willpower, a passion for protecting others... A stupid idea where you can get through anything, where you can save everyone as long as you believe it. Your situation is nothing new. The underdog, choosing his path of 'heroism' and rising up to become stronger, gaining the power he wants by his own hard work. Doing what he can to help even the people that ridiculed him, making new friends to join him, acting as a role model for the world, it's one of the most repeatable paths I've seen when checking world to world... Heh, but the same scenario doesn't make things any less interesting! After all..."_**

Lynch visibly shook as he breathed heavily, almost sounding... excited.

**_"It's your kind of people that are the MOST satisfying to shatter~"_**

Izuku's eyes formed pure terror as he suddenly saw visions of death flash into his mind, each one involving him being ended in some way. So many ways to die, so many possibilities, so many ways to torment someone, he could feel Lynch just thinking about it, _tempted_ by it.

Lynch's breathing seemed to get harder and harder. **_"Even though you changed the meaning of that little nickname of yours, the world knows what the word 'really' means. And that's how I'm going to make you feel. Completely, De-ku."_**

Lynch raised his arm in front of him, his palm starting to change shape.

**_"I'll engrave that meaning right into you~"_**

Izuku watched as the villain's hand grotesquely deformed, skin moving and molding into something. It was only a few seconds, but this change stopped and Izuku laid eyes on what had remained.

A branding iron. One with the word, **DEKU**, in all capital letters.

**_"W-Wait he's not thinking-!?"_** Ikari realized the moment he saw this.

The world turned into static black and white colors around Izuku as he understood what was intended. His pupils trembled in his eyes as they shrunk in at the word in Lynch's hand. The only color Izuku found himself seeing was the red on Lynch's face, feeling the full pressure of what the villain intended to do.

"Y-You can't-!" Izuku stammered.

**_"Of course I can." _**Lynch let out with a satisfied breath.

The branding iron then ignited in green flames, then being put out as fast as they came. But this still left the iron brightened up due to the blazing heat coming off of it now.

**_"This'll leave a mark." _**Lynch chuckled as Izuku's chair suddenly turned so that his back was facing him.

"NO STOP!"

Izuku started struggling as the back of his chair disintegrated, leaving his back exposed.

He desperately started charging power.

_"ONE FOR ALL-!"_

He didn't even get the chance as his chains sent purple electricity all over him, causing Izuku to real his head back as pain shocked through his entire body.

"GNAAAAAAAAAAH!" His hands were balled into fists and his eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head.

Lynch watched in satisfaction as purple colors ignited around Izuku for a few seconds, then stopping and leaving the boy steaming with his head down, heavily panting in pain.

**_"Now then, without further ado~"_**

"N-No..." Izuku whimpered, unable to move as his body became entirely paralyzed.

Lynch's free hand reached out and grabbed Izuku's costume, ripping the back of it off to reveal his skin. He then pulled the branding iron back and aimed it in the center.

**_"After today, this brand will prove just what you really are. In the face of power, in the face of ME, you'll always be..."_**

His red eyes brightened.

**_"Useless."_**

He then thrusted the iron forward, the sizzling on Izuku's skin echoing in the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Izuku lost the pupils in his eyes from the immense pain he was feeling, trying to lean forward to somehow get the iron off him. But Lynch just used his free hand to grab the boy's shoulder and hold him back, making sure the iron remains pressed on his skin.

**_"HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE POWERLESS!? TO BE UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING!?" _**Lynch screamed with a crazed laugh. **_"THAT'S WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE DEKU!"_**

He then pulled the iron right off, letting go and causing Izuku to slump forward with his head hanging.

**_"And that's what it'll always mean." _**Lynch finished, backing up to appreciate his work as his branding iron formed back into his hand.

Izuku panted hard as sweat dripped from his body, feeling his anger building up as his twitching hands still managed to ball up into fists.

**_"Die... Die..."_** Ikari's voice echoed in his head.

Izuku clenched his teeth. "I'll kill you..."

He slowly raised his head, and gazed back at Lynch, eyes turned into a blood-red.

**"I'll kill you!"** His and Ikari's voices mixed.

Lynch just seemed to take pleasure in hearing that.

**_"Oh, how I can't wait. Next time, I'll make sure I have enough time to study you to no end. But for now-"_**

He waved a hand, and a large mirror appeared right in front of Lynch, reflecting Izuku's backside on it.

**_"I want to see your first look at it."_**

Izuku turned his head back and saw himself looking at the reflection, and all the anger he was experiencing suddenly... stopped.

He saw his back in its entirety. He still had that slash caused during his fight against the Hero Killer, but it was basically overshadowed by the new imprint right in the center of his back. The word, the word he had received didn't mean what he wanted it to. The word engraved on him also engraved a message from Lynch, that he would never be able to go up against him.

But what caused Izuku to feel sorrow at that moment wasn't just his back, but his eyes.

He saw his face glaring back at himself in a hateful, murderous red and black. He was reminded of all the times when his anger had caused everyone to worry, when he heavily injured himself and others. For the first time ever, he _saw_ the look on his face from using Ikari.

And... it was just disheartening to see, especially realizing that for a moment, he actually wanted to kill Lynch.

He turned his head forward and lowered it in shame, shadows hiding his eyes, but tears now flowed on his face and dripped onto the ground.

**_"Oh, how I can't wait for the next time we meet. Especially since I know what makes you tick. Messing with you will be so much fun. But for now, I think we're done here."_** Lynch waved his hand again and the mirror shattered, the pieces disintegrating out of existence. **_"I don't want Reapy finding me again like last time."_**

He walked around Izuku so that he was in front of him, then grabbing his head force him to look at him.

**_"See you next time."_**

Izuku then felt the ground shift underneath him as Lynch let him go, then looking down to find that the same black sludge that took him in Hosu was now taking him once again.

**_"De-ku."_** Lynch finished.

He gritted his teeth as he slowly felt himself sinking into the large puddle, but mustered his courage to look up at Lynch, his eyes back to green.

"We'll stop you! Enso and I _will_ stop you! No matter what!"

Lynch watched as Izuku slowly sank down, the upper part of his head being the only thing shown now.

He laughed.

**_"I'm looking forward to it."_**

Izuku glared at the villain before he suddenly saw his vision darkened into black, feeling a cold, thick substance everywhere around him. He started to instinctively feel dizzy and his body started feeling tired, finding himself holding his breath as he realized that he had already sunk into the large puddle. However, this didn't seem to help, as he found himself closing his eyes...

As he let his exhaustion overtake him.

Lynch watched as the puddle closed up, leaving him alone in the large, white room.

**_"A selfless person is always the easiest to mess with."_**

He raised his hand, where the center of his palm ripped open and dropped several, marble-shaped balls of flesh onto the ground.

**_"All you have to do to get to them, is to prove that they can't help everyone, even those right in front of them." _**He chuckled.

He then waved a hand, causing these wads of meat to shake before they started growing and grotesquely changing.

One by one, the marbles on the floor changed into a human body, bodies that Lynch had taken while exploring the world he was on. They were all back-alley thugs, small criminals, or homeless people living in secluded areas. After all, not many would notice these people gone in the first place... even if there were over dozens of them.

**_"And what better way to do that, than to show what everyone he CAN'T save ends up as?"_**

He crouched down and placed his palm onto the ground, where many pores opened up all over his hand and arm.

Out of these pores, dozens of critters crawled out as they made clicking sounds, creeping onto the ground and towards the corpses of all the deceased humans.

Each of them had rough, black, and spherical bodies with four, spiky legs along with two even large legs coming from their behinds. They had small heads with pincer-like mouths that contained tiny, parasitic-like tentacles flailing out them. Included were two slanted eyes on each side of their heads, some pores on their body with toxic green liquid leaking out and had cracks in their rough skin.

These creatures were no bigger than a bottle cap, and each claimed a corpse and dug its way inside through any hole of the head, whether mouth, ears, or even through the nose.

Lynch stood up in delight as he heard some crunching and eerie digging in the skin, then watching as the bodies on the floor suddenly started to change. Some of their bodies grew bigger, others started growing new features, but all of them started making the same inhuman screeches as they started standing up from the floor.

Lynch clapped his hands together, watching as his new puppets started to take shape.

**_"Let's start building, shall we?"_**

* * *

**~Author's Post-Notes}~**

**OH FUUUUUUUUUUU- That must have hurt. I would say I'm sorry for what I did, buuuuuut I did write this so I really shouldn't be sorry. Next time... Just how is Izuku gonna deal with his new... mark? Damn, I really don't know why he had to go through that, *sniff* Until next time!**


	49. Hospitalized Aftermath

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Soooooo... Yeah. I'm sure that last chapter was pretty brutal, but I mean, it makes sense coming from a mentally unstable villain. I'm not usually good with 'dark' things, but I feel like if I wanted to distinguish my story from just the normal plotline of My Hero Academia, I had to add something more, get me? Enso was one thing, but I didn't think it'd be enough with just him going to school with Izuku to make my story different (even if it made it funnier with his interactions). There had to be _more_, which is why I added Lynch as well. Just another threat that comes with another character, to add more at stake, to add more dark themes of how people change. Or I don't know... something like that. **

Answered Comments:

_Guest123:_ **I actually didn't think about Monoma's quirk interacting with Enso. But now that I'm thinking about it, no, his quirk wouldn't work I believe if that's the case. All of Enso's power comes from the energy he's absorbed from unique people over the years, which is what powers his attacks. Monoma wouldn't have the energy to use the same powers Enso has.**

SpiceR4: **Hm, I understand what you mean by letting Izuku master a martial art, but Enso's goal of teaching them to Izuku wasn't really for him to 'master' one eventually unless he wanted to. He wants Izuku to create his _own_ fighting styles/techniques using the mixture of martial arts he knows, Enso mentioned this at one point already. And Izuku is already in the process of creating his own fighting style, Onryō's fury, he's just gotta make his own techniques for these styles. And as for changing his costume, it's pretty meaningful to Izuku because the main design was from his mother. And I'm not really creative, so I don't think I'd even be able to give a good change.**

_Guest: _**I mean... I didn't base Enso and Lynch off Batman and Joker, but I could see what you mean, heh.**

_Vidkid:_ **I never really thought there were too many goofy m****oments in the chapter with how serious the situation seemed, but I guess Lynch seemed a bit more serious. But that's most reflected by his intelligence.**

_Guest: _**Hm, I've actually never seen Dead Space, but I took a look after seeing the comment and believe that they are good... inspirations.**

_TQ679:_ **Good to hear from you again, darkness my old friend. Sometimes a wake-up call is needed to see how screwed up the world or even just individual people are, and Izuku experienced that first hand.**

_Atomic11:_ **Good to know what I wrote made some sense, because believe me, I panic and always wonder if what I'm writing can actually be read with an understanding, heh. Thanks for that long feedback!**

_PRemington900:_** Oof, so much hate for him, heh. It may be a while for Lynch to come together with Enso or Izuku again, because both groups will be focusing on other things. Like Enso and Izuku will have exams while Lynch is gonna continue... 'building' things up.**

_Astrogamer:_ **Yeah, there could've been SO many worse things for Lynch to do to Izuku. But he felt like that branding was the best way to pass a message to help lower his spirits. But if anything, Izuku might use it to keep himself going strong.**

_blue grimmoire: _**I intend Enso to be the one to struggle with what's right or wrong in the hero world, forming his own opinion while listening to others. Even he'll grow with his understanding with the hero world alongside Izuku.**

_lampe-andrew1:_ **So what I got from all that is... Lynch is a piece of garbage, gotcha.**

_PasiveNox:_ **oH bOy! tHaT wAs sWeEt!**

_Tojiro_ Murakami: **I mean,**** there are so many MORE edgy and disturbing stories than just this part. I really think the story overall wasn't even that edgy besides serious moments that _should_ be serious. Sorry if you didn't like it.**

_Jonwight:_ **Huh, I didn't think about that. I guess, um... oof.**

_Bonkey1996:_ **He's gonna get his break now. About time...**

* * *

**~{Uwabami Agency Bedrooms-8:00AM}~**

The morning light seeped through the curtains of Momo's room and an annoying jingle from the creating hero's phone caused her to slowly open her eyes.

She shifted in her bed for a few moments before sitting up and stretching the arms of her pink nightgown with a yawn, waking herself up to start the day. She then sleepily reached for her phone and stopped the alarm before sliding out of bed and trudging to the large windows. She pulled the curtains apart to let the sun inside, being sure to squint her eyes to adjust to the morning light.

From there, Momo walked back to her bed and sat on the edge of it, immediately reaching for her phone and checking it. Normally she wouldn't check her phone the moment after waking up, but after the events that had occurred last night, she felt like she _had _to check.

She scanned through messages and for a moment, her eyes filled with hope to see that she had several of them.

However, as she checked them out, her hope slowly diminished, staring at her phone screen with a look of shock.

The several messages she had received were from a variety of her classmates from last night, many of them sent even past midnight. Momo herself would've tried to stay up all night to hear anything from Izuku if Kendo hadn't told her to just sleep, as staying up would just make her worry and mess with her head.

But it appeared that when she had gone to sleep, that was when something stirred up overnight. It turns out that a video had spread all over the internet. The video was of Hero Killer Stain in the aftermath of his fight against the students of U.A, one that had a message that shook the entire world.

Momo stared in shock at the video sent to her by a few of her classmates, watching it from her phone as her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. In the video, she saw a battered-up Stain forcing himself to move, blood all over his body and pure fury in his eyes.

_"THE ONLY ONE I'LL LET KILL ME IS THE TRUE HERO-!" _Stain screamed, his foot stomping violently on the ground.

**_"ALL MIIIIIIIIGHT!"_**

Behind Stain, right beside the corpse of a pale Nomu, Momo saw Izuku on the ground with terror in his eyes. The boy was bloodied up, had rips in his costume, and looked unable to move as he simply stared up at the Hero Killer.

"Izuku!?" Momo nearly screamed through the entire building, continuing to watch the video as everything seemed silent for a moment, as if something was going to arrive _any_ second.

Only, it didn't, as the video ended right there.

Momo was left completely shaking. Not only had she seen such a terrifying message full of _pure _conviction from the Hero Killer, but she saw her best friend and love interest at the scene with him, looking hurt, looking _scared_.

The vice president of Class A frantically looked through the rest of her texts, seeing that there still wasn't any response from the boy himself. However, she did get a surprising text from someone else, someone that said two words that calmed nearly all of her panic down.

Todoroki: _Midoriya's alright._

Seeing these words had Momo breathing in relief. Even if she didn't know exactly the situation, at least she knew that the precious boy was safe. She thought about texting Todoroki several questions, like where was Izuku? How was he doing? Why didn't he respond to any of her messages? But luckily, she saw another message below the first that the hot n' cold hero sent.

Todoroki: _Don't ask me anything, Midoriya will make sure to get back to you. He's just sleeping for the night, we went through a lot._

"We?" Momo repeated in confusion. Her eyes then widened as she remembered the video of Stain, recalling indeed seeing familiar hair colors of Todoroki in addition to catching a glimpse of the back of Iida's head.

It only took a moment for Momo to connect the dots and come to a conclusion as to what happened.

"So that's who Izuku was fighting... The Hero Killer... And Iida and Todoroki were there with him. That's why he couldn't answer me, and that's probably why he didn't answer anyone last night..."

She looked at the time Todoroki sent her these texts, noticing that they were from late last night.

"He might've passed out right after the battles... Okay, okay..." Momo took deep breaths as she calmed down. Everything was explained now, Izuku was safe, and no doubt when he wakes up he'll tell everyone that he's alright.

But... Why did she sense that something was... off?

Momo took the time to look through the rest of her messages, all of them containing panic in the texts about Izuku and the video spreading all over the media. She sighed as she scrolled through them, not seeing anyone say that the boy had texted them.

But then she stopped as she got to Jiro's texts.

There were messages of concern for Izuku there, but there was also something else that caught her attention, one _specific_ text.

Jiro:_ I think Enso knows something! I was at my internship when Death Arms and I met up with Mount Lady who had Mineta and Kamui who had Enso. We stopped somewhere and talked a bit, but then I heard Enso get a call from All Might!_

"All Might?" Momo blinked as she scrolled lower and took a look at another text. "And Enso decided to intern with Kamui Woods?"

Jiro: _Enso walked off and answered the call. And I actually listened in on it. Before you say ANYTHING, I heard him mention Greeny? Alright?_

Momo paused, _"Greeny? Does she mean Izuku? She changed her nickname for him?"_

She shook her head and focused on the rest of the message.

_So when I listened in on them, I heard... worrying things. All Might was panicked, and he said someone called 'Lynch' was here and then Enso told him to meet in Hosu as if he knew what was going on! He MUST know something._

Momo stared at her phone as read those lines of text, feeling herself shaking in uneasiness.

"What is she talking about? Who in the world is 'Lynch?'" Did Enso know that all of this was going to happen?"

So many more questions popped into her head, but she knew she wouldn't be able to answer them. So she continued to the last message Jiro sent her.

Jiro:_ I didn't tell anyone else about this, just you. I figured you would know what to do... You're probably sleeping now, but try to get back to me in the morning. Greeny still hasn't text back yet and... I'm really worried Yaoyorozu._

"I am too..." Momo whispered to herself. Even if she knew Izuku was safe somewhere, she wouldn't be completely satisfied until she received anything from the not-so-useless hero.

She remained still with her head down in thought, wondering what to do. Clearly, what Jiro told her wasn't something that should just be told to just anyone, it was something delicate that could relate to the situation at hand.

After about a minute of thinking, Momo texted Jiro back.

Momo: _Good morning Jiro. Thank you for everything you told me. I'm just as worried about Izuku as you are. I won't tell anyone what you told me just now, but I think I'll need to think about what to do with this information. Do you have any idea as to who this 'Lynch' person is? Or why All Might of all people would be panicked over it? _

After sending those messages and getting nothing back for a few moments, Momo realized Jiro might not have even gotten up yet, so she decided to get dressed while she waited for a response. Luckily, all she did was change into her U.A uniform and do her hair before she actually got not a text, but a _call_ back.

Momo didn't hesitate to answer, holding her phone to her ear.

"Hello? Jiro?"

She heard a yawn over the phone. "Morning Yaoyorozu. I ended up sleeping pretty late... And now I've gotta get up for Death Arm's training, ugh. He's actually pretty intense..."

Momo was actually pretty surprised by that normal and calm sounding tone, raising an eyebrow. She was about to remind Jiro of the current situation, but the girl surprisingly changed tones in an instant.

"Hold on! Forget what I just said! I'm still just waking up! More importantly, did you see that video with the Hero Killer!? Greeny was there! And you can catch a glimpse of Iida and Todoroki there too! But I've got neither of their numbers so I can't text them to ask if they're okay!"

Momo quickly cut her off. "Jiro, calm down! Todoroki has informed me that Izuku is okay and that he'll talk to us once he wakes up! I know it must be early and that you must still be worried, but I need you to answer what I asked of you before in those texts, please."

She remained still as she waited for an answer from the rock girl, and thankfully, she didn't have to wait long before Jiro answered her.

"Sorry... My heads been kinda out of it with everything going on. I really don't know who the hell Enso and All Might were talking about, I never heard about anyone like 'Lynch' before in my life. It sounds so... weird."

Momo let out a sigh that Jiro didn't have a clue to what Enso and All Might were talking about, but it was to be expected. There wasn't really a way she could've known if Enso suddenly took off before he and All Might could get deeper into... whoever they were talking about.

Jiro continued speaking. "So... What should we do, Yaoyorozu? I don't know what to do, I really don't. I thought about texting Greeny to ask him directly about it, but I don't think it'd be a good idea. And don't even get me started on asking Enso about it... I don't even know who to share this with."

Momo could hear the frustration coming from Jiro, so she quickly thought something up.

"I don't think we should say anything to anyone. It'll just make them even more worried. Nor do I think we should ask Izuku or Enso about it... yet. We're all busy with internships, and Izuku seems to be fine, so I think we shouldn't bring this up with either of them until we get back to school."

There were about two minutes of silence after Momo said that, leaving the girl to wonder if Jiro was considering to go against it. She hoped she didn't take too long, as Momo knew she would have to leave soon so she would meet up with Uwabami and Kendo again.

Jiro did eventually speak.

"I guess you're right... I don't really know what else to do anyway. I'm just glad Greeny is alright."

Mom couldn't help but smile sweetly at what she heard. She was confident to say that she knew her classmates fairly well. It was like a part of the job as a class rep, to understand everyone. And she knew that Jiro usually appeared to look cold or indifferent, but the girl truly did care about her classmates deeply. Not to mention she had a much more adorable and sensitive side, one that which, usually made an appearance due to a certain green hero.

But at the same time, knowing this, Momo couldn't help but let out a sad sigh as she looked down.

_"Everyone is the same way... How much they care, how they feel..."_

Momo shook her head, taking deep breaths.

_"It's alright Momo. I know that we're all thinking the same thing... We have to focus on what we're here for... Becoming heroes."_

She stood up proudly and spoke confidently.

"I'm glad too, Jiro. Not just that Izuku is alright, but that you and everyone else cares so much about him. I wish you a good day with your internships, and if Izuku contacts you, then be sure to let him know just how worried you were."

"Wha-!? What makes you think-!?"

Momo hung up with a chuckle, knowing fully well that Jiro would've probably said a flustered response to deny any claims.

But even though Momo had calmed down a lot, there were still some things nagging at her.

Like how much _did_ Enso know about what was happening to Izuku? How did they end up running into the Hero Killer? And just _who_ was Lynch?

She frowned for a moment as she realized that Enso and Izuku had been... very secretive. Ever since they started their school year, Momo always felt like there was clearly something hidden between the two. At first, after learning that Enso was training Izuku, Momo understood that there would be some things that they probably didn't want to be shared with others. This was, from her understanding, because Enso _really_ didn't want to do anything to bring attention to himself. And for the most part, she was right, but after seeing the text that Jiro sent about overhearing him... she couldn't help but think that there were much more serious and _dangerous _matters between the two.

Momo sighed. "I... I want to trust Enso, and I want to trust Izuku that everything is fine, but..."

She looked down at the ground in some shame at the thought of doubting her friends.

"I know there's so much more going on... There always has been."

* * *

**~{Hosu Hospital- 9:10AM}~**

It was bright.

When Izuku first started to open his eyes, he felt them burn as he was blinded by the bright lights above him. He squinted with a groan as he turned his head to the side, feeling it on something comfortably soft as he tried readjusting his eyesight.

His hearing then seemed to come back, picking up on sounds of constant beeping coming from the side. It took a couple more moments, but Izuku's vision cleared up to see that he was laying on a bed, bandages around his arms and wearing a nightgown of the sort.

He blinked tiredly before slightly adjusting his head to look at his bed and taking a deep breath.

_"So we meet again, old friend?"_

Despite making that joke to himself, Izuku felt terrible. Not only did his body feel completely exhausted, but he felt like his mind was... aching. After taking so much stress from his own quirk, feeling the pain in his head from trying not to lose himself, and then getting emotionally and physically damaged by... Lynch, it was no wonder he felt like total shit.

"Oh, you're awake."

Izuku weakly tilted his head and looked forward, finding out that he was in a hospital room with a few others.

He saw Enso standing beside two beds containing Todoroki and Iida. The two on the beds had their arms and shoulders wrapped in bandages, but both looking relieved to see the boy wake up.

"Midoriya! Are you alright!?" Iida immediately got to shouting.

"Calm it, Iida. He just woke up." Todoroki told his friend.

Izuku blinked, his tired eyes focused on them.

"En...so...? Guys?" He groaned in pain.

"Kid, how are ya feeling?" An elder voice calmly asked.

Izuku weakly turned his head to look over the edge of the bed and saw the short Gran Torino looking up at him with a stern, but worried, look.

"In all honesty... pretty terrible…" Izuku admitted.

"Well, you look terrible." Enso added as he walked over to him.

"Gee... thanks." Izuku sighed.

"You're welcome."

"I... I wasn't..." Izuku stopped himself as he saw the blank look on his mentor's face, being reminded what kind of person he was. "Nevermind..."

He sat up while grunting, feeling some stinging with each move in his arms. "Where... are we?"

"We're in the Hosu General Hospital." Gran Torino answered, starting to explain the situation. "We were getting your friends treated before they brought you in... unconscious... Your costume was ripped to shreds..."

"The doctors said you showed signs of intense blood loss, despite claiming that you didn't seem to lose enough blood for that. But... _we_ know why..." Todoroki added.

"And the only new injuries you got since you were gone... was..."

There was then an eerie silence in the room, everyone's eyes either avoiding Izuku's gaze or staring directly at him with sympathetic looks.

"What...? What... is... it?" Izuku's eyes enlarged and his pupils shrank as several images suddenly flashed through his head. He heard chilling laughter, saw empty red eyes, and felt the corpse-like hands all over his body. Then he felt his back burning, _sizzling _as he heard his own screams of agony. The feeling of burning metal on his back, the sadistic laughter of the one pressing it against him, everything just flashed through his mind.

Izuku felt the hands placed onto his shoulders, making him look up to see Enso face to face with him.

"Izuku. Calm, down."

"Wh-What?" Izuku realized his voice cracked and there was something going down his cheeks, something he knew the feeling of all too well. He looked down to find his body shaking and could hear his breathing became much harder than it was before.

"I-I-I-!"

"You're safe." Enso told him, his blank stare not helping him calm Izuku, but his tone contributing to lowering the pace of his breathing.

Izuku gulped down air before his breathing returned to be near how it had started, calming himself down.

"Geez... What happened to you, kid?" Gran Torino muttered from the side, noticing the boy's eyes turn red for a moment.

Enso backed up from Izuku and gave him some space, letting the boy close his watery eyes and take a few more deep breaths.

"I-I'm okay... I'm alright..." Izuku muttered weakly despite still slightly shaking.

He then opened his eyes as he tried putting on a determined look, yet still looking nervous. "Th-The... 'injury,' w-was, i-it...?" He slowly reached an arm behind himself, feeling his back.

The others remained silent as Izuku reached under the back of his gown, letting him discover just what it was that was left on him.

And Izuku did feel something, something over his back. He felt... bandages. He realized that they were wrapped around his chest to cover a wound right behind him, one Lynch himself gave.

He trembled as he looked down, eyes shadowed.

"H-How bad is it now?"

There was silence among them.

"L... Let me see it..."

"I don't think-"

"PLEASE!"

Izuku's shout shut Enso up while additionally scaring others in the room, but Enso just stared emotionlessly at Izuku, understanding why that it was something that he just had to look at.

"Understood. The bandages around your waist shouldn't be needed anyway now that your back has... 'healed.'" Enso approached him.

"Hold on." Gran Torino raised an alarm, narrowing his eyes at Enso. "Are you sure about this?"

"I believe you should be asking Izuku that." Enso responded.

The elder's eyes turned to Izuku, asking him.

Izuku had already seen the burn on his back once when Lynch showed it to him, but at the time it was obviously noticeable due to having _just_ being created. But now, it must've been cleaned and must have healed by a good amount, Izuku felt like he _had_ to see it again. He had to see what kind of scar he'd have for probably the rest of his life.

"I-I have to see it..." The boy mumbled.

Hearing him, Gran Torino hesitantly lowered his arm and let Enso walk past, looking unsure as the mentor tugged Izuku's gown up and started removing the bandages.

Once he removed all of them, Enso paused, staring at the word spelled out on the boy's back.

"..." He slowly used one hand to keep Izuku's hospital gown up while he used the other to aim his watch at it. The device then projected a blue light that scanned Izuku's back, basically taking a picture of it and putting it in storage.

Enso then let go and backed up, bringing his watch up and staring at Izuku as he slightly raised his own head, revealing watery eyes that asked him to show it.

Enso obliged, tapping his watch and projecting an image of Izuku's back in the center of the room.

Izuku's eyes were opened all the way, glued to the projection in front of him. There was his back, there was even a small scar from where one of Stain's daggers had sliced him, but... There was also the pink imprint on him, one made of bold, capital letters. It was a word that Izuku thought proudly of before, but the meaning that _Lynch_ imprinted on him was different, what he was _calling_ him was different

This word, **DEKU**, was _different_.

Izuku stared at how noticeable the large letters were, color seeming to drain from his eyes the longer he stared at the word.

"Midoriya... Are you... alright?" Iida asked out of deep concern.

Izuku looked down.

"I'm... fine... I-I'll be alright... L-Let's just... forget about it for now..."

Seeing him no longer looking, Enso stopped projecting the image and lowered his arms.

"Izuku. Do you think you'll be able to tell us what happened?"

The boy became silent as if thinking about it, then barely nodding.

"A-After everything happened in H-Hosu... I-I woke up in a dark r-room... I-I saw... Lynch for the first time..."

Enso sighed, "I guess I should've shown you a clear image of how he looked so it wouldn't have scared you too much... That's on me."

Izuku continued. "H-He and I t-talked... He really was as unhinged as-" His eyes suddenly shot up as he realized that Todoroki and Iida were still here. "W-Wait! Th-They-!?"

"They know..." Enso interjected.

Izuku froze, then finding himself staring at his two classmates on their beds as if asking for confirmation.

"Yeah... Ureshi told us..." Todoroki said.

"I told them everything I've told you, Izuku. From Lynch and I not being from here, to..." He turned his head away and narrowed his eyes. "What's I've done before."

Izuku couldn't help but feel concerned as he saw Iida and Todoroki glance at Enso with uncertainty. After all, if Enso really told them everything about himself, then they knew that he had taken lives and would no doubt view him in a different light.

"G-Guys! D-Don't-!"

"It's fine, Midoriya." Iida interrupted. "We've already took in this... 'information' about Enso... But I'm more concerned about you. We both are."

"Hearing that he's basically a scot-free murderer that even thought about going after you... I really thought about freezing him." Todoroki admitted with a glare at Enso. "But only he seems to know what's going on... And even though I feel... 'conflicted' on what to make of him now... You're more important right now."

Izuku couldn't help but feel his heart warm up, then looking down. "Th-Thank you... I-I know you guys m-may think differently of Enso now... B-But even if you don't trust him... Th-Then please trust me!"

"To be fair, I never really did trust him in the first place." Todoroki blandly responded.

"Ouch." Enso remarked despite not actually sounding hurt about it.

"We'll talk about him later, kid, can you continue?" Gran Torino interjected.

Everyone became silent as to let Izuku speak once more, the boy lowering his head again nervously.

"O-Okay... U-Um..." It took Izuku a moment to figure out where he left off, then feeling chills as he recalled it. "W-We started talking... H-He wanted to get to know me... To _know_ what kind of person I am. But he went into this whole speech about how everyone is similar in one way or another... A-And that I didn't understand the villains..."

Enso narrowed his eyes. _"Hm? Everyone... is similar? Understanding the villains?"_

"Th-Then it was... W-Well, he..." Izuku recalled everything Lynch said about him and his hero name, then reaching his hand towards his back, flinching as he touched it. "He... He just started saying things... L-Like how I'll a-always... b-be..."

"Don't continue." Enso said with a raise of his hand. "I understand... Once Lynch learns of something that gets into a person's skin, he'll use it against them, making them feel terrible, lowering their confidence in themselves... Just know that what he says isn't true."

"B-But..." Izuku slowly raised his head, eyes unsure. "Y-You told me... H-He doesn't lie... right?"

Enso closed his eyes and sighed, "Yes, he doesn't lie, but that doesn't mean everything he says is true. He does say everything on his mind, his own thoughts, his own beliefs, but these are mainly opinions of his."

That just made Izuku seem to scoff, "Well... His 'opinions' about me seem pretty accurate... He understood just how hard I worked to be who I am..."

Enso crossed his arms. "He's good at figuring out people, Izuku. But that doesn't mean he's gonna praise the person and list everything amazing about him or her. He tries to twist what he knows about people to get into their heads, then brings up previous traumas or doubts he learns from the person in order to break their spirits."

Izuku's eyes fell.

"Just don't take everything he says to heart... He knows there's much more to you. You're better than what he says."

**"Of course he is."**

The room filled with chills as they saw a black aura form around just Izuku's arm, the hero yelping in shock as he stuck his arm out to look at what's going.

A figure floated from Izuku's arm and took a familiar shape that resembled himself. He became a black silhouette of Izuku's body, besides his legs being a wavy tail like a ghost connected to his partner. Two glowing red eyes appeared on the figure, their glowing colors staring down at Enso.

Enso narrowed his eyes at the sight, Todoroki and Iida gasped, and Gran Torino backed up with a glare.

"So... this is Ikari?" Enso asked first from the group, staring up at the entity with piqued interest.

Iida and Todoroki stared in stunned silence, they weren't expecting to see Izuku's quirk so suddenly, especially not in a calm situation like currently.

"H-He came out on his own!?" Iida uttered out.

Todoroki seemed in awe, "Midoriya... Could it be?"

Izuku nervously laughed, "W-W-Well, i-its seems like I-Ikari can come out whenever he w-wants now?"

"About time!" Gran Torino snapped despite having a satisfied looking grin. "So you and your quirk ain't got a sour relationship anymore?"

Ikari floated close beside Izuku, now staring in silence at the people around him.

Everyone else became silent as well, as if waiting for the quirk that had caused so much trouble to speak up.

Seeing that the room felt a bit awkward, Izuku nervously looked at everyone.

"U-Um... G-Guys? S-So this is Ikari..." He turned his head to Ikari. "I-Ikari? These are my friends... And Gran Torino."

"Oi! What do ya mean '_and'_ Gran Torino!?" The elder of the room fumed.

Ikari seemed to wince when he heard him shout, suddenly moving like a blur to hide behind Izuku, surprising the room.

"Wha- Ikari!?" Izuku uttered in shock.

Enso rubbed his chin curiously.

"How... timid." He pointed out. "He has more similarities to Tokoyami's Dark Shadow than I thought..."

"Eh? Wait, what do you mean?" Izuku turned to Enso with a look of confusion.

"Shinso told me about Tokoyami's quirk, he was on his team during the Cavalry battle, after all. Dark Shadow gets stronger and even more aggressive in the darkness, however, it gets weaker and timid in the light, as we've seen when Bakugo fought him."

"So the kid's quirk is shy because Midoriya ain't angry?" Gran Torino picked up.

"Basically... But I guess you could just say that Ikari is just closely resembling Izuku more." Enso pointed out, taking note of Ikari's silhouette of Izuku that was even the size of Izuku himself.

"That's... interesting. So it's like we've got two Izuku's now?" Todoroki asked with a tilt of his head.

"Although one will have mood swings based on how the other is feeling..." Enso added.

"Doesn't matter, we've got two Izukus." Todoroki pointed out with sparkles around him.

"Wait, does that mean our class can be twice as saved!?" Iida asked in shock.

"What does that even mean!?" Izuku yelled in bewildered confusion.

"Would ya all shut it!? We're getting off track! Shouldn't we be addressing just how much damage that quirk of his has done!?" Gran Torino shouted with his hands on his hips.

"I don't think you should've said that." Enso told him.

"Huh? And why the bloody hell not?"

Enso pointed, "You made him sad."

Everyone turned and saw that Ikari had stretched to the corner of the room with his back facing everyone, hunched over and sulking in the corner.

Everyone sweatdropped.

"U-Um... I-It's okay Ikari! I-It wasn't your fault!" Izuku reassured him. "N-Neither of us could do anything about it!"

As he said this, Enso walked over to the corner Ikari was at.

"Oi! Are you sure that's a good-?"

"He's fine." Enso cut off Gran Torino. "This time is different. He's here, but not like before."

He got close enough went to one knee.

"Hello there."

Ikari slightly turned his head back.

**"Um... Hi."** His voice sounded nearly identical to Izuku, just a little more... demonic.

"How are you doing?" Enso asked with a tilt of his head.

Ikari thought about it for a moment before fully turning around to face Enso, his eyes on the same level as his.

**"Good... I haven't blasted anyone yet."**

Gran Torino raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Izuku. "So... You think you're gonna have a hold on him from now on?"

Izuku turned to him and smiled. "We're going to work _togethe_r from now on."

Ikari picked up on this and turned his head, eyes seeming to brighten even redder.

_"I wonder if that means he's happy?"_ Enso guessed as he stood back up and turned to Izuku. "Although you can bring Ikari out willingly now, we still have to keep in mind that your anger influences him, so... I think we just have to focus on that."

Izuku looked down with a sad expression as he nodded. "Yeah... I don't want to hurt anyone."

**"Me neither..." **Ikari said as he floated close to Izuku, facing him. **"So... I guess... I'm looking forward to working with you?"**

Izuku watched as Ikari raised a hand and offered it, staring at it with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah..." He raised his arm and took Ikari's hand, shaking it. "I am too." he smiled.

Izuku then turned nervously to his friends. "Hey... Before I was... taken, Lynch... H-He punched the Hero Killer, didn't he? Wh-What ever happened to him?"

The whole atmosphere of the room seemed to change. Todoroki and Iida looked down in what seemed to be a mixture of shame and stress, Gran Torino frowned as he crossed his arms, and Enso just kept his eyes on Izuku with the same blank stare he usually had.

"Wh-What is it?" Izuku asked, getting nervous by everyone getting so silent.

"He... escaped."

Izuku's pupils shrunk. "Wh-Wha...? H-How-?"

"After he was sent flying through several walls... the Hero Killer was somehow able to move while everyone was too absorbed on Lynch arriving..." Gran Torino scowled. "In all my years of being a hero, that Hero Killer is one of the most frightening things I've ever known... To think he escaped despite looking so much like shit..."

"It may have been because I patched him up a bit that he was able to move... But even then, to be able to escape while feeling that intense pain after getting launched like that, it's completely unbelievable..."

"S-So... H-He's-?" Izuku stammered.

"He's out there..." Enso turned his head and looked out the window. "Somewhere... But if his wounds are as bad as Todoroki told me, then I don't think he'll last long. Iida told me he followed Stain's patterns and movements through the city, and it doesn't seem like he lives anywhere nearby. So he should have nowhere to go... He'll either bleeds out somewhere alone, or he lets himself get arrested for a chance to live... Either way, he's done."

Izuku looked down and started breathing heavily. "B-But if he d-dies, th-then doesn't that mean that I... I-I-!"

"No." Enso said with a glare. "It doesn't mean _you're_ responsible for his death, Izuku. Stop thinking like that. It's not your fault."

Izuku shivered from Enso's glare, as it was a look he didn't commonly see on him. "I... okay..."

**"Shouldn't... Shouldn't it be _my_ fault?" **Ikari asked, pointing at himself while sounding unsure.

Enso turned to the entity and saw his eyes dim, indicating that he was feeling down.

"No. It's not your fault... Neither of you asked to have been in that situation, where neither of you would be able to control the power you have. Just... Now you're both finally able to work together, so now you can stop anything like before from happening again."

**"So... I'll be... one of you guys? A hero?" **Ikari almost sounded... hopeful.

"Of course. You're pretty much stuck with Izuku anyways." Enso responded bluntly.

Despite hearing this, Ikari turned back to Izuku, seeming... excited?

**"Then... Then..." **He tilted his head. **"Can I meet All Might?"**

There was a pause among everyone.

"Pfft!" Surprisingly, Iida covered his mouth to stop a laugh. Then when he was sure he wouldn't laugh, he rose his head with a big smile. "Yup... Two Midoriyas."

Everyone else but Enso formed small smirks.

All of a sudden, the hospital door opened, grabbing everyone's attention. From the door came Manuel, smiling to see everyone there.

"Oh! So you kids are awake-?" He paused as he caught sight of Ikari.

"..." He blinked.

**"..." **Ikari backed up a bit, before nervously retracting back into Izuku and disappearing. **"I'll... come back... later."**

Manuel seemed to admire what he saw with a nod, "Wow, neat."

_"What a lackluster reaction..." _Enso thought to himself.

"Manuel?" Iida was the first to say, not expecting the hero he was interning with to be here. "What are you doing here?"

Manuel turned to Iida and chuckled, "Well, I came here to see how my troublemaker is doing after he ran off."

Iida flinched before looking down in shame, "I-I'm sorry..."

"You should be." Manuel lightly chopped Iida's head. "But everyone is fine now, and it seems that you've learned your lesson. But for now, you guys have a visitor."

_"Visitor?"_ Todoroki wondered.

Through the open door, walked in a tall man wearing a suit and a dalmatian-designed tie, but what was the most noticeable about him was the beagle head he had.

Izuku recognized who it was from watching the news before on several occasions. "The chief of police, Kenji Tsuragamae!?"

"I'm flattered you actually know who I am, most people wouldn't bother to remember the police that support the heroes, woof." The dog-like chief said as he closed the door behind him. "You must be the U.A students who brought down the Hero Killer, correct?"

"I'm not included with them." Enso pointed out as he raised his hand.

Tsuragamae curiously peeked down at him. "Hm? Why are you here with them then?"

"Well..." Enso knew he couldn't just say, 'I used my quirk illegally to travel to Hosu and fight a threat to the world,' so instead, he said, "I was around the area when the Hero Killer was taken down and came with them."

"So the hero your interning with is near then, woof?"

"He's out right now."

Tsuragamae nodded in understanding before Todoroki piped up.

"The chief of police came all this way… why?" He asked in what almost sounded to be suspicion.

The chief of police turned to the group, his beagle head giving him quite the look of lacking emotion.

"It's about you three fighting the Hero Killer..." Tsuragamae started, pulling out a report and reading a bit of it. "According to the other heroes on the scene, when they saw the Hero Killer before he escaped, he had wounds all over him, his face was brutally beaten, and he had many patches of blood..."

He lowered the report and glanced at the bunch.

"Since you're U.A students, then I'm sure you already know, but when quirks were still becoming the norm in society, the police attached the importance to leaderships and standards to make so that no quirks were used as weapons. Then the profession of 'hero' emerged to fill in that gap of those to be able to use their quirks, woof."

Gran Torino frowned, knowing where he was going with this.

"For an individual to use force and power that can easily kill others… They are accepted as being trusted and qualified to use their powers officially thanks to early heroes who followed the ethics and rules of the profession, woof."

He narrowed his eyes.

"And for uncertified individuals to use their quirks without specific instructions or regulations from those with the position to do so, for those who caused injuries with their quirks without being told to, it's a clear violation of these rules."

Izuku panicked and tried to take the blame. "I-I caused all those injuries to the Hero Killer myself! I-I was the one who-!"

"But your friends still used their quirks without the permission needed, didn't they? So the four you must receive strict punishment, woof."

Enso stared at him with a cold gaze. "The 'four' of us?"

Tsuragamae glanced down at Enso, "The heroes on the scene have also told us that you came running in and used your quirk as well."

Enso's expression didn't change, he just seemed to be thinking.

Todoroki clenched his hands into fists out of anger, "Wait a minute..." He growled. "If Iida didn't use his quirk, then Native would've died, and if Midoriya didn't come, then they both would've been killed! No one realized that the Hero Killer had appeared! Are you saying that we should've followed the rules and watched people get killed!?"

The chief answered with another question. "Are you saying that as long as it turns out alright, it's okay to bend the rules?"

Todoroki felt even more pissed off, "Isn't it a hero's job to save people?!"

"Thinking only like that is why you're not a full-fledged hero yet... woof." Tsuragamae glared.

Todoroki was about to snap something back, but another voice spoke first and surprised him by what he said.

"I don't understand..."

Everyone glanced at who had said that. It was Enso himself, still maintaining the same emotionless stare at the chief.

"Aren't you basically saying that people will be arrested for saving those in trouble? Even if they're the only ones that can save those people? You're telling them... to just let them die? Isn't the true essence of a hero that when they see someone in trouble, then they save them? Wouldn't arresting them defeat the whole purpose of what's considered doing something heroic?"

Tsuragamae stared down at Enso with a curious gaze as he heard him. Although the boy himself had a blank look, the chief of police can just hear the genuine confusion and curiosity in his voice. It was the voice of someone who had no clue about the logic of the world, why certain laws were put into effect, why these restrictions were for everyone.

"Hm... It seems you have a lot to learn."

Enso looked down to the ground, thinking about it.

"Would you all calm down and wait before you interrupt the man any further? Just listen until the very end before you say anything else." Gran Torino told the group.

Tsuragamae cleared his throat before continuing to speak.

"Everything I've said up to this point, about all of you needing to be punished. It was the official opinion of the police. And the punishment you would all obtain would only happen if this were all made public, woof."

The student's eyes widened.

"Wait... So you're saying-?" Iida started in disbelief.

"Yes, that is what I have in mind. To keep the info that you defeated the Hero Killer hidden, woof."

Todoroki looked down. "Are you saying that we have to even keep the info that we _encountered_ the Hero Killer confidential?"

The chief shook his head. "I'm afraid that's impossible... The video of the Hero Killer released to the public catches glimpses of three of you at the scene, we wouldn't be able to hide that you were there."

_"Wait... VIDEO!?"_ Izuku's eyes dilated when he heard that. _"Wait, th-there's a video of Stain!? W-Wouldn't that mean that L-Lynch is shown there as well!? Isn't that really bad!?"_

"Hm? What's wrong?" Tsuragamae asked, noticing Izuku's panicking breathing.

Enso turned back to Izuku and realized why he seemed distraught. "Izuku, the video cuts off when Stain finishes the speech he gave. It doesn't show... 'him.'"

Tsuragamae closed his eyes and looked down, "That's right... You didn't see the video because you were captured by that other villain, weren't you?"

Izuku shivered as he weakly nodded up and down, "Y-Yes..."

The chief opened his eyes, staring directly at Izuku. "I'm sorry that you've had to go through such a dangerous experience... I was here late at night and saw them bring you in. A student shouldn't go through that kind of pain..."

_"He must be implying Izuku's scar..." _Enso thought to be the only case.

"But this should also be an example of the reasons rule and regulations involving quirks are set up in the first place."

The students stared at him.

"Even if someone has the ability to do something, if they use their quirks and rush into situations themselves without enough responsibility or training, then there is a large chance more damage could be done than stopped. In this case, because all of you went and fought the Hero Killer, all of you ended up getting hurt... One of you especially."

Izuku turned his head away as he remembered his experience while Iida looked down with guilt, blaming himself as the cause of everything.

_"Is... that why?"_ Enso wondered, feeling some logic in what he said.

"I know you three have been through a lot, so I'm giving you a chance to get away without being punished. We're planning to change the story that the Hero Killer went after you three and that Endeavor scared him off. Would you be alright with this, woof?"

Everyone remained silent for a moment, but it was clear what their answer should be.

"Of course." Iida bowed.

"Y-Yeah…" Izuku uttered.

"Please take care of it..." Todoroki said as he looked down.

"Thank you... Because of the unfairness of adults, you will not be able to receive the praise you would've for taking down the Hero Killer, even if he managed to escape. But at least..." The chief then bowed down in a 90-degree angle. "As someone who also protects the peace, thank you... In the end, no one died, and part of this is because you saved someone."

_"Native..."_ Izuku knew.

"Next time, don't start off with something like punishments..." Todoroki grumbled.

"Hold on chief-" Gran Torino chipped as Tsuragamae stood back up. "-so then what about the Hero Killer now? And don't ya have anything to say about what happened Midoriya or about the big guy that came out of nowhere?"

The chief turned to him. "So far, we haven't found any sign of the Hero Killer, but we suspect he's still somewhere in Hosu. There's no way he can get too far with the injuries he supposedly has. And as for him..." He turned to Izuku and walked towards him. "Izuku Midoriya... I'm sure you heard just before, but indeed there was a video spread throughout the media of Hero Killer Stain making his last stand. The video starts after the Hero Killer saves you from the Nomu, and it ends before the villain that took you arrived."

"So... No one saw me g-get... t-taken?" Izuku uttered.

Tsuragamae nodded. "Yes... Gran Torino has informed me of this 'Lynch' and how dangerous he seems to be."

Enso took a glance at Gran Torino, who shook his head to clarify that he didn't tell him anything more than that.

"Since your capture wasn't shown in the video, for whatever reason, it may be best to also keep your capture a secret along with how you werre the one to confront the Hero Killer."

"I-I know... I-I don't w-want people kn-knowing anyway..." Izuku nervously answered.

The chief gave him a look of sympathy, knowing he's been through quite the drama.

"One of my most trusted friends and colleague will be coming to question you. I hope you'll be able to talk to him about your experience when he arrives, woof."

Izuku nodded again. "Th-There's just one thing I want to ask... Can I?"

"Of course, woof."

The boy glanced up at him, "Just... Just _who_ took that video?"

There was a moment of silence.

"That... we don't know. All we know is that the video was taken at a vantage point from the top of one of the surrounding buildings, woof. I'm worried about it too, because if someone took that video..."

"Then that same person must've watched everything else, including 'his' arrival..." Enso finished. "If they didn't include that part in the video, then it's clear they didn't want the world to know about him... yet."

"Yes... We'll investigate the best we can, but I hope you can put all of this behind you and focus on being the best heroes you can be."

The chief bowed one last time.

"I hope I can work with you all when the time comes."

With that, he and Manuel, who had been awkwardly silent the entire time, left together. This left the four students and the elder alone in the room together, awkwardly silent after everything that had happened.

"So, now that they're gone..." Gran Torino turned to Enso with his eyes narrowed. "Ureshi..."

"I prefer Enso."

"He prefers it." Todoroki nodded.

"He always insists." Iida added.

"He always points it when you don't call him that." Izuku sighed.

"Whatever!" Gran Torino snapped, "Just answer me something!"

"...Okay?"

Gran Torino glared at him. "Have you really told Midoriya _everything_ you know about Lynch, _and_ yourself?"

"..." Enso tilted his head, "I believe I've told him everything important, what are you implying?"

"Hmph, everything _important_? Have ya told him how that monstrosity got created in the first place?"

Izuku's eyes widened, "W-Wait, Enso... You know how-?"

"Of course not." Enso glanced back at him with no hesitation. "If I knew how he was created, why he hated me so much, and how I knew him before, then I would've told you."

"So... You really don't remember anything about him?" Gran Torino still didn't seem so convinced.

"I think he doesn't..." Izuku said while looking down, "When I was with L-Lynch... H-He actually asked me if Enso 'remembered' anything new..."

"So... Enso had a previous life? Somewhere in another world? Yet he doesn't remember any of it?" Todoroki mumbled.

"Normally I'd be skeptical... But if Midoriya says that even the villain asked if Enso remembered anything, then it checks out." Iida said, although he didn't like admitting it.

"..." Gran Torino crossed his arms. "But how did you know your name then if you didn't remember anything?"

Enso sighed, remembering this argument before. "My name was given to me when I woke up."

Now that had Izuku raise his head up as he suddenly started recalling the day he met Enso.

_"It was a man who was with me when I woke up. He told me my name..."_

_Toshinori raised an eyebrow, "Couldn't you have asked him for information about yourself?"_

_"I could've, but I can't now."_

_"Why not?"_

_"He's deceased."_

_Toshinori and Izuku widened their eyes, "H-How?"_

_"How... More like by 'who'."_

Recalling that last line, Izuku piped up.

"E-Enso...?"

Everyone turned to Izuku, "What is it?"

"A-About the person that gave your name... Y-You said he was killed by someone... W-Was it by... Lynch?"

That had the room momentarily quiet as their eyes focused on Enso, his expression not changing at all.

He closed his eyes. "Yes. It was him..."

Everyone paused for a moment before Izuku continued.

"When... Wh-When did he die?"

"The same day I met him." Enso responded.

Izuku's eyes enlarged in realization. "Wait... Then doesn't that mean when and where you woke up is actually when you first met Lynch? Or at least somewhere close by from where you woke up?"

"..." Enso let out a sigh. "Yes, you're right."

"But... Th-Then why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because at the time it would've meant telling you about Lynch too early." Enso opened his eyes and stared directly at Izuku.

Izuku blinked with a serious look forming, "Then... Since I know about him now, can you tell us when you first met him? I feel like that would have the best clues to figure out just why he resents you so much."

Enso was silent as he thought about this, looking down and rubbing his chin.

"Hm..." He then snapped his fingers. "I'll do you one better."

"Eh?" Izuku uttered.

Enso closed his eyes once more and put his hands together.

"I'll _show_ you."

The others were just as surprised as they saw Enso form a blue aura around him.

"As I've mentioned before to you Izuku... One of my techniques allows me to see into a person's mind and memories. But..."

Enso opened his eyes to reveal their now blue color.

"I can also allow others to see into my own."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Punk Style... Memory Breach."

The entire room engulfed in neo blue.

* * *

**~{Meanwhile-?}~**

Dabi sat at a desk, staring at his computer where he saw the video of Hero Killer Stain screaming to the heroes all around him. The moment Dabi saw the look in the villain's eyes, he was instantly drawn in. By staring at those red eyes, he saw the look of someone with pure conviction, conviction on an idea that Dabi agreed with know that he's heard it out loud.

"Hm... This superhuman society and its _heroes_... What a joke." He clicked around. "It'd be better if they were all gone, to finally get rid of those annoying pieces of shit."

*Bam! Bam! Bam!*

Dabi turned back with his chair and raised an eyebrow, hearing knocking on the metal door coming from the side of the large warehouse he was in. He waited to be sure he heard that right, getting his answer when someone knocked on the door again.

He narrowed his eyes as he stood up from his chair and walked over towards the door, holding his arm out with blue flames forming along his arm.

_"Someone's asking to be fried."_

He got to the door as knocking occurred for the third time. Dabi held his flaming right arm up while grabbing the doorknob with his left hand.

With a twist and pull, Dabi quickly pulled open the door and stuck his flaming arm forward, ready to blast whoever was there.

Instead, he stopped and scowled as he saw a familiar blonde girl with a crazed smile staring up at him with her hands behind her back.

"Hiya Dabi! Is it just me, or is it getting hot over here?" She giggled.

Dabi put out his flame and let out an irritated sigh, "Toga… I gave you a key for a reason..."

Toga pulled out the earbuds in her ears awkwardly giggling, "Sorry, I left it inside by accident before I went to... Have some fun." She said as she happily skipped inside the warehouse.

"You make it sound like you did something dirty." Dabi stated as he closed the door.

Toga turned back to him with an angry pout, "Eeeeeeeeeew! You pervert, Dabi! The only things I enjoy sucking is blood! Oh, how it's _so_ wonderful~" She suddenly sighed in bliss.

"And that's better?" Dabi rolled his eyes as he walked over to the worn-down couch and took a seat.

Toga jumped and plopped herself down at the other end with uncontrollable giggling, her hands over her flushed cheeks as her teeth showed in a big grin.

Dabi took a glance at Toga before turning his head away and sighing once more. "I know I'm probably gonna regret asking, but… why are you so happy?"

Toga suddenly jumped off the couch and started prancing around the room as she pulled out her phone and stared at the screen.

"I've just seen two of the most _amazing_ people together~" She squealed in bliss. "I saw Stainy's video! He was so cool, and he was _so_ red! I wanna be just like him! And then Izu-kun... _Aaaaaah_ I~zu~kun! He was there too! He had red all over him~ His hair, hands, oh it was so beautiful!"

She started twirling around the room as Dabi got up from the couch and walked back towards his desk, regretting what he asked her.

"What? So you also saw that video of him too?" He asked as he sat down and took a look at the mentioned video once more.

Toga hugged her phone with a blissful sigh, "I love them both so much~ But I wanna make Izu-kun red myself... I wanna see him covered head to toe with my _favorite_ color in the world!"

Dabi scoffed, "Well apparently the 'League Of Villains' are connected to Stain. Do you think-?"

"OO!" Toga was suddenly beside Dabi with stars in her eyes. "Can we go!? Please!? Please!? Pleeeeeeeeas!? I wanna see who Stainy worked with, and I may be able to meet Izu-kun! *Squeeeeeeeeeeal!*"

"Would you shut up for one damn moment?" Dabi grumbled. "I was gonna head out and find them. I was just wondering if you wanted to come too?"

Toga wrapped her arms around Dabi with another squeal. "Aw! Of course I won't let you get lonely, Dabi!"

"Gross, gross, gross, gross. Let go of me or I'll melt you off." Dabi threatened in a cold voice and with a twitching eye.

Toga didn't even seem to acknowledge what he said, but she let go and turned around with her hands on her cheeks as she stared straight up with a loving sigh.

"If I'm there, then I can meet Izu-kun! Oh Izu-kun... I wanna meet you, I wanna meet you so bad~" She then felt a twitching between her legs, making her giggle. "So cute, he's so cute..." Her hand suddenly reaching lower down her waist. "He makes me just want to-"

"NO!" Dabi turned his chair as fire erupted from him. "Don't you _dare_ do that right in front of me!"

"Eh? But just thinking of him makes me so we-"

"If you say _any_ more, then I'm going to burn every single trace of you away!"

Toga pouted, "Fine…"

She grumbled as she walked passed Dabi and to another door across the area. She opened it up and left the room, then slamming the door closed behind her.

Dabi let out a breath of relief as he went back to his computer and began to look on the dark web for any info about the League of Villains. But after a couple of minutes of clicking and typing, Dabi heard some moans coming from the other room, he felt irritated and was about to put on some earphones to shut out the noise, but then he realized something TERRIBLY wrong that made his eyes widen.

Dabi shot up to his feet and turned to the door Toga went through.

"Toga! I SWEAR to god if you're doing it on the bed-!"

A louder moan was heard.

"I'm burning that ENTIRE room!"

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~**

**Well, at least now there's a moment of relaxation for everyone after everything that's happened... And just what ARE we gonna see from Enso next time? And will Izuku ever actually text back his precious classmates? And... damn, Toga. Welp, until next time, yahoo!**


	50. The Awakening

**~{Author's Prenotes}~**

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL RIGHT! Time for another chapter with some answers as to where Enso first met Lynch and what happened when he woke up! This was a chapter I had to revise a lot, and I'll probably keep constantly checking any future chapters I write. I hope you all find this one interesting!**

Answered Comments:

_Guest:_ **They didn't have much of a reaction at that moment because they've already SEEN the scar when Izuku was brought in and the doctor explained it to them earlier before Izuku awoke.**

_Vidkid:_ ***Sweats nervously* I-I mean... Yeah, sh-she'd probably be much more... 'aggressive' about bringing everyone together for her own little heaven... heh. And as for Lynch, I really think I made him more creepy in that other chapter, especially with the touching and finger walking.**

_Atomic11: _**Yup, it's a lot of work writing these. And as for Lynch, I had originally gotten the inspiration for him through Scarecrow from Injustice 2 because his design was AWESOME! But I did end up giving him a more Joker personality, with his whole infatuation with Enso and playing with people and all. And as for Black Whip, I think it would be vital for Izuku to have, because unlike Ikari, Black Whip getting cut won't end up cutting Izuku too. Remember, what Ikari suffers Izuku will too. I think Black Whip would be a good mind games quirk to have with Ikari against those who know how Ikari effects Izuku.**

_SpiceR4:_ **Ah, I actually forgot about that comment. But I do agree that it's actually a pretty great idea! But I don't know if I'd actually implement it to my story, though.**

_Nick4Speed: _**Pfft, how dare you assume I wouldn't know what that is! I'm offended! (Not really) But I'm literally making jojo references in several chapters, so why _wouldn't_ I know what that is? **

_Guest: _**Yeah... Chadwick Boseman. All hail to the king. I was actually surprised just how many movies he starred in, (I don't notice actors too much) but I'm sad to see him go, loved Black Panther.**

_TW6Q9: _**Hell yeah, Dark Shadow and Ikari. ORA ORA ORA vs MUDA MUDA MUDA, heh. And yeah, I'm really working hard to write more clear development for Enso and the hero society. And as for Toga, why WOULDN'T she have an obsession with Izuku? Precious cinnamon roll would of course have one stalker, heh.**

_Guest:_ **Huh, that's actually a good idea if they talked about it. I didn't think about doing a part like that in the future. But it'd be hard to fit in with other plans.**

_Shadow Joestar:_ **Good to see you once again my friend. Internships aren't over yet, but exams are gonna be great! **

_PasiveNox: _**Thank you.**

_bleach1990:_ **It'd be a sin for me NOT to have her in the harem. I personally love her so much, and we all need a yandere in a harem. (Probably not, or more like definitely not, but lol, I think Toga would end up just as obsessed with the girls as she is with Izuku, hehehe.)**

_PRemington900:_ **Lol, to be fair, as Todoroki said, they never really did trust Enso. Thanks for commenting your long feedback!**

_blue grimmoire:_ **Thank you man. I consider Lynch to be a villain you love to hate, lol.**

* * *

Silence.

That was the only thing I heard when I opened my eyes.

I felt my body lying within something, yet I could not see what it was due to the darkness around me. I blinked several times, trying to adjust my vision only to realize that there were indeed no light sources even managing to make it where I was.

But I didn't ponder too much on it, as soon, I heard the hissing of an unsealing capsule, clearly, the one I was in. Slowly, the lid above me shifted off, revealing a pure white ceiling above me. There was hardly any light in the room I was in, but there were some sources that I wasn't able to see yet due to my eyes adjusting to the area.

I sat up and confirmed my suspicions that I was in a metal pod, only wearing some sort of hospital gown with long hair brushing against my arms. I looked left and right to see that several tubes were connecting to the pod I was in, no doubt tubes injected in the capsule I was in.

I wasn't scared, nor confused, nor angry, just completely expressionless. I looked ahead of me in the room I was in, finally seeing something that caught my attention. The room was rather large but dimly lit up in blue, the only light sources coming from the monitors of several computers in the room. But what really caught my attention were the several people standing a few feet away from where I was.

These people were completely frozen as they stared at me, all of them wearing lab coats and two of them even holding rifles that trembled in their hands.

There were more people behind them by the monitors, all of them whispering to each other or trying to peak a look at me. They were all clearly scientists of the sort, and if they were staring at me, then I'm their subject. I didn't particularly care to understand that about the situation, I was more intrigued about what would be the rest of the circumstances in who I am.

Speaking of which... I don't even know who I am.

No recollections of who I was, no memories of anything before waking up, and feeling nothing familiar whatsoever from the scene around me. The doctors standing around, the computers in the area, the large double-metal doors at the end of the room, there was nothing I could connect to.

I shifted my attention to just the adults right in front of me, narrowing my eyes at them, which intimidated them to take a step back. How ironic, to be scared of the one you've just created even when you could've put safety measures. They had visible looks of fear as they stared at me with a variation of emotions in their eyes: fear, confusion, excitement, quite a variety.

After what felt like minutes of pointless silence, I stood up in boredom, seeing nothing happening around me. That made everyone gasp and finally speak out.

"D-Did it work?" One of them uttered.

I don't know what they meant by, 'work,' but I was breathing with no backlash signs on my body, so everything seemed fine to me.

The scientist in the front of the group stepped forward, his hands behind his back and a tired stare. He was a more experienced looking man, one who seemed to be the oldest from the group. He had several white strands in his otherwise black hair, a grayish mustache, wrinkled skin, and blue eyes with rectangular glasses over them.

He got closer, being only a few feet from me now.

"How... are you feeling? Do you remember anything at all?"

Do I remember anything? To ask me that, it seems clear that they intentionally wiped any memories I had of anything. Whether it was with or without consent from who I was before, it didn't matter since I was here now. I was silent at this man's question, not trusting him or any of these people who viewed me like I was some sort of wild animal. If they were cautious of me, then it was clear we weren't going to have any functioning relationship, it's bound to end in disaster when I can find someone more interesting to work with.

Seeing that I was going to remain silent to him, the old man frowned. Hm? It doesn't seem like he's afraid of me anymore, now he looks irritated.

"I'm sure you're thinking of several different things right now... So I'm going to speak to you to hopefully answer any questions you may have."

He stood proudly as he spoke.

"Your name is Enso Ureshi."

Hm, I wonder if that's my actual name or the one provided to me?"

"You have been... 'born' out of the efforts from everyone in this room. My name is Dr. Yasahiro, the one who took charge to go through with creating you.

I didn't know whether to interrogate him or let him ramble on, it seemed like either way he was starting to inform me of what was happening.

Dr. Yasahiro spoke once more. "As for 'why' we created you... You have a very important purpose, once that you're previous identity agreed to. You must head out and-!"

Before he could continue, a loud alarm began baring throughout the apparent lab we were in, accompanied by flashing red flashing lights that lighted up the entire area. I simply gazed up at the red lights, an unamused gaze on my face as I wondered what was wrong.

Everyone in the room began to panic, nearly everyone running back to their monitors and trying away with expressions of fear or confusion.

The doctor just remained where he was, looking over everyone with a more panicked expression like the rest of them. It was as if everyone instantly forgot about me, which was rather foolish if you ask me. To ignore the thing they all created? Hmph.

"What's going on!?" Dr. Yasahiro demanded to know, his voice booming even over the alarms, quite impressive.

One of the other experts sitting at a monitor was frantically typing several things, his eyes widening in horror at what he saw.

"H-He found us..." The middle-aged man whimpered. He stood up with his eyes nearly blood red. "HE FOUND US!"

Everyone else in the room seemed to freeze. Some of them started crying, others hyperventilating, and others just looking... lifeless.

"What!?" Dr. Yasahiro left me behind as he ran over to the desk of the one that spoke, taking a look at the monitor screen.

His eyes widened as he saw something. I was only able to pick up faint sounds of screaming and tearing from the monitor's static audio. What a poor quality device in a room full of high-grade equipment...

The head doctor stood up and pointed at a group of other staff on the other side of the room.

"Put up every available defense we got! We can't let him get to our last hope!"

Last hope? Hmph, could they be referring to me? They can't truly expect that I'd be an 'Ultimate Hope' of the sort for everyone, do they? They really seem like they're planning to rely entirely on me.

"After that, everyone, evacuate to the emergency portal! Don't waste ANY time!"

Dr. Yasahiro then ran back to me as fast as he could, approaching me while everyone else listened and started typing away to activate every single defense of... wherever we were.

The doctor planted both hands on my shoulders. If it weren't for the fact I didn't sense any hostile intent from him, then I probably would've just propelled him back.

"Listen to me, Enso! I know you just woke up, I know that you must be confused about what you're doing here, but I need to know if you can fight! If you can use the abilities you were able to develop!?"

I looked down at my own hand. It seems that he's implying that I have some sort of superhuman powers, that must've been the point of the capsule I was in. However... Although he's telling me this, nothing came to mind about what type of 'powers' I even had. I literally knew nothing about myself. What I can do, who I was before, and what I'm supposed to be now.

The doctor continued, "You need to fight against the monster that'll be coming here! All that matters here is for YOU to survive! No matter what, you must go out and get stronger, you must be able to take 'him' on!"

I wondered who he was referring to, keeping silent as I listened closely and stared into the doctor's eyes. I was barely able to hear him over the blaring alarm, but thankfully, in a few more seconds, the alarms seemed to shut down as if someone caused it.

"I don't know if it worked or not, but... I'll find out!" Dr. Yasahiro suddenly cocked his hand back into a fist, then swinging it forward right at my face.

In that instant, something just seemed to have seeped into my mind naturally. I suddenly had a flash of something go through my mind, a vision of familiar movements, then moving on instinct.

I raised an arm as a sudden phrase came to my mind.

_"Brute Style"_

My body coursed a white aura around me, one that hardened all the way to my hand. The doctor's hand bashed into my palm, cracks from his bones occurring and causing him to back up while holding it in pain.

But despite having his hand now broken, maybe even shattered, the doctor glanced up at me with a big smile on his face, even chuckling while wincing.

"Yes... Yes! So you can recall your styles after all!"

Styles? Was that what that was? Why did I remember something called 'Brute Style?' Perhaps my 'powers' will come naturally, such as now, which this doctor seems to intend anyway.

Some of the other scientists in the room turned their heads in shock.

"Dr. Yasahiro! Y-You're hand! We have to get that treated-!"

"I should be the _least _of your concerns!" The doctor snapped at everyone behind him. "If you turned on the defenses, then get out of here! You know where to go!"

Everyone was in momentary stunned silence, but after repeating the doctor's words in their heads, they all formed serious expressions before nodding.

"Thank you, doctor." Many of them bowed before running around and heading out of the room in a frantic run, hoping to get to safety. Some of them grabbed laptops with them as they followed the others, leaving one by one until a few were left that hesitated.

"Doctor! Are you not coming along with us!?" One of the remaining few asked as he got to the metal exit doors.

Dr. Yasahiro glanced back at them with a small smile, shaking his head. "No... Leave me behind. I have to speak to him until the very end... 'Both' of them."

I wonder what he meant by that, but the remaining few people in the room already seemed to know what he implied. They all looked rather sad but bowed respectfully as they gave their final goodbyes.

"Sir... It has been an honor working with you. I hope everything turns out the way you planned..."

All of them then left the room in a dash. I gazed ahead at where they were going and saw them leave into a white hall with lights overhead, only to take a right and disappear.

All that was left was the doctor and me, both alone in a completely silent room. The old man let out another chuckle as he walked all the way to a switch near the exit.

"Those idiots... They always looked at me like some sort of genius..."

He grabbed the switch with his unbroken hand and pulled it down. The large double metal doors of the exit then slammed closed, and over those doors, two more doors closed with barricades going over them.

"But I guess I can see why... They all have a lot to learn."

The area was nearly dimmed in total darkness, the faintly lit monitors being the only light sources of the room. However, I then noticed actually another light source illuminating the area, one right in front of me. Wherever I turned my head, it seemed red light seemed to follow, which had me immediately conclude that my eyes are glowing red.

The doctor turned around and started walking back to me, still holding his broken and now slightly swelling hand.

"So... You haven't answered my first question." He casually started speaking as he approached me. "How are you feeling?"

"Bored. And also feeling left in the dark."

That was the first time I spoke throughout the entire event, wishing to get more information about exactly what was going on.

When I spoke, the doctor's eyes visibly lit up, and a large smile formed on his face.

"Yeah... That's to be expected."

He walked even closer to me, reaching a hand up and putting a hand on my shoulder.

"But... It's good to hear you speak again. Even if..." He waved a hand to point at me, "All of 'this' changed."

"But you just pointed to all of me."

"Exactly!" The doctor laughed. "We had to change all of you. Even your voice sounds more serious than how it was previously... I'm gonna miss it."

He then raised a hand and gently grabbed my cheek, giving it a playful squeeze. "Heh, but it seems that you'll always have that baby face on you."

I used my hand to gently grab the doctor's hand and remove it from my cheek, not amused by his actions.

"Who was I before?" I asked him as I released his hand.

"Heh, sorry... But there's a reason we wiped your memories, you know?"

"Then can you tell me why I was created in the first place?" I asked instead.

The doctor sighed, "You're purpose, Enso... Is to be our last acting hope of saving the universe."

"Quite the task." I remarked, unfazed by this.

My response made the doctor laugh again, "It's amusing how accepting you are of anything said, but I guess that's just what comes with your new personality."

"So, you manipulated my emotions? You took them all away?" I asked, curious by how that would be done.

"We didn't 'take' your emotions. We just gave you a... personality change. This is to ensure that not too much will faze you, allowing you to fight even the most terrifying of creatures."

"So I'm supposed to be some sort of emotionless warrior? Just meant to 'save' the universe? Save it from what?"

The doctor looked down with a sad expression. "From the one coming here right now... He should be here in a moment."

He looked back up at me with a tiny, but still sad, smile. "But don't believe that simply eliminating him is your only purpose... I want you to live out your life and find where it is you're meant to be."

"And do you have a clue as to where that is?" I questioned.

The doctor patted me on the shoulder again. "Heh, you'll have to figure that out yourself, kid."

He then pulled his left arm back and reached deep into his coat pocket.

"_But_, I will give you something to help you travel to find such a place while also finding ways to get stronger." He pulled out something that I eyed.

A black watch.

"I'm assuming there are special attributes about that device?" I asked, knowing fully well it wouldn't be ordinary if it was meant to help me.

"Of course there are. But can you put it on? Normally I would, but... my hand is kinda broken." The doctor joked, holding up his right arm to reveal his swollen hand.

I reached out my hand as I received the watch from him, taking a moment to put it on.

The doctor seemed excited as I clicked it in place, then taking a moment to admire it.

"Press the screen!" He ushered me.

I listened and tapped the screen, turning on my new accessory and admiring all the different functions.

"That device is your key to travel. Be sure to always follow where it takes you if you desire answers about yourself. Oo! And it can fix your current problem too!"

"You mean of my lack of information?" Enso questioned.

"No, your clothes."

I looked down at myself and was reminded that I was still only wearing a hospital gown.

"..." I glanced back up at him. "Okay... So how does it fix that?"

The doctor clapped his hands together. "Oo! Let me help you with that!"

He took my hand and showed me what to do on the screen.

"Just tap here and there, and... Presto!"

In a flash, my gown was gone. In place of it was a rather peculiar set of clothing. It was a professional black suit with a pure white dress shirt and even a red necktie included with it.

"..." I stared down at myself before gazing back at the doctor. "Are there any different attires?"

"Nope!" He declared almost... proudly. "It's perfect for you!"

"...Alright, then." There wasn't anything I could do about my appearance, so I might as well not bother arguing about it.

The doctor then looked to be more serious. "Always keep that watch with you. If you do, then everything you wish to figure out about yourself will be clear in time."

"Did you not choose to erase everything I knew already about myself? Yet you expect, and even sound like you're hoping I regain them?" I questioned that contradiction.

"As I've stated before, this is so you can face Musuko and other monsters without being intimidated." The doctor declared.

I narrowed my eyes. "Musuko?"

The doctor's gaze fell.

"Is that who I'm supposed to be fighting against?" I asked.

The doctor closed his eyes into a face of pain.

"Yes... Although he goes by a different name now... Lynch."

"What an odd name." I remarked.

"Well, it's how he wants to kill you." The doctor remarked with a sad chuckle.

To joke about something like that in such a grim situation... He's rather laid-back, isn't he? I wonder if that's how he's attempting to calm himself?

"How he wants to kill _me_ specifically? What does he have against me?"

"Well-"

Before the doctor could respond, a loud bash echoed, and the metal on the doors visibly dent.

"..." The doctor and I had our gazes on the barricaded doors, both of our eyes narrowing.

"Is that him?"

"Yes... That's him..." The doctor muttered.

Two more bashes dented the door.

"Enso... I'm sorry."

"Hm? Why?" I tilted my head to him.

"You didn't ask to be here, you didn't ask for any of this... I can only hope you find a way to become happy again."

Two more dents occurred, and light was seeping in through the door now.

"When he comes in... Don't save me. The doctor glared at the repeatedly bashed door.

"I'd rather have you alive for information." I didn't hesitate to respond.

"That watch is all the information you need. If you try to keep me alive... then it'll all be used against you. I won't answer anything you ask, just know that you'll have everything answered in due time, I promise."

"...So be it." I responded without much care.

For someone to be ready to give their life away right now. I suppose what he says of being used against me may be true, but I am obviously someone with emotional importance to the man, so to be ready to never see me again after changing me is just... foolish.

This time, an explosion was what finally sent both metal doors and anything reinforcing it flying in several directions. A large cloud of smoke kicked up and obscured the room's entrance, spreading around the area.

The doctor and I were both unfazed by this explosion, simply staring ahead at the large clouds of smoke obscuring whoever was behind them. Within the smoke, I saw a large black silhouette of someone who was slowly making his way through. He was visibly hunched over, and his feet let out large stomps as he got closer to revealing himself.

The first things I saw were the red eyes and mouth glowing through the smoke, an unchanging gaze that stared straight through. The next thing I saw was his arm. It was pale, skinny, and had old bandages around most of it. I even caught sight of what I swore was bone showing, rather peculiar to see.

Then the figure stepped out of the smoke entirely, revealing his entire appearance. The rest of his body looked nearly identical to his arm, looking corpse-like as he stomped heavily into the room. His head had a brown hood over it and his face had a dark gray trauma mask, one that had many marks along with a few parts chipped away.

I saw the old noose around his neck, one that was dirtied and showed signs of blood on it. Seeing that made me narrow my eyes at thinking, 'that's what he wants to kill me with?' It was unamusing to see.

But so this was Lynch? The one I was meant to fight against? He did look like the monster everyone was afraid of, that's for sure. And with that blood all over him... It seems he's quite an experienced killer. His appearance would normally terrify everyone who laid eyes on him, but for the doctor and I, we were unfazed by him.

Lynch's glowing red eyes honed in on the doctor from behind his mask, making him tightly ball his hands into fists, his fingers cracking as he did so. The doctor had an unwavering glare towards Lynch as he stood up straight and composed.

All of us were silent for a few moments, with Lynch and the doctor eyeing each other down. I couldn't tell if Lynch noticed me at the time, as his head was visibly just engrossed on Dr. Yasahiro. His breathing was raspy and hoarse, but he let out a chilling chuckle before I heard his equally raspy and menacing voice for the first time.

**_"Knock, knock."_**

"Hm, well, if there's one good thing that came out your changes, it's that you finally gained a sense of humor." The doctor chuckled. "You could do better with the jokes themselves, though."

Lynch seemed to growl as he crossed his arms, **_"Hmph, and what do you know about humor, you damn old man?"_**

"A lot more than you. You need to time your punch lines better." The doctor returned.

Lynch shook his head as his breathing hardened out of frustration.

**_"Even when I could snap your neck in ANY moment, you still just HAVE to continue lecturing me, don't you?"_**

He lowered his arms and stomped forward a little closer.

**_"All you ever did was criticize me... I was never good enough for you like everyone else..."_**

That made the doctor form a sad and guilty expression.

"It wasn't that you weren't good... I saw you with so much potential. We can still fix you Musuko-!"

**_"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"_**

Lynch swung his arm at a desk and sent it, along with its components, flying to the side. Dozens of computers and other machines created sparks as they shattered into piers, briefly creating flashes of light that ignited the area.

The doctor sighed, "And you still have that temper of yours... You really have to learn to control that."

Lynch slammed his fist down on another desk and instantly shattered it.

**_"You're saying you can 'fix' me!? You want to fix me when I'm already perfect!? I did everything to prove that I could be like 'them,' that I can lead everyone, and I became like this while trying to do just that! Then what did you do?! You just locked me up like a wild animal!"_**

"Your condition was unstable! We had to keep you isolated! You were far too dangerous to everyone, including yourself! And now look at you! You became what we all feared, a threat to everyone!"

**_"I was fine! And I became the strongest out of everyone! But then... even then... It was always someone else. While I was rotting away, everyone else was being treated like champions... Your own kid, you treated your own kid like a monster..."_**

Hearing that, I raised an eyebrow, taking into account of their relationship.

"And what are you supposed to be now then?" The doctor narrowed his eyes. "You don't think that you've become something better, do you?"

Lynch's head tilted with a crack, the villain letting out a raspy laugh.

**_"Of course not. You guys viewed me as a monster, so shouldn't I act like one? It sure was fun, just going around, cracking skulls, and pulling them out too."_**

"Oh please spare me the gory details..." The doctor frowned.

Lynch stopped as he stared down at the doctor, letting out another growl.

**_"You act like you don't care about those people, but I damn know you do. You should've heard their screams... It was so pleasant. And now... Now I just have to find that damn goody two shoes you love so much. To hurt him, to BREAK him... He did this to me. Then everything you've ever known will be gone. You'll have finally lost EVERYTHING!"_**

The doctor looked down in guilt, even a tear going down his eye.

"Sorry to say... but he's no longer here."

**_"That's a damn lie. I can smell him even from here. He's close, I know it."_**

Lynch then took the time to actually look around the room, finally catching sight of me still sitting in the pod I woke up in.

**_"Hm? Who's that?"_** He titled his head. **_"Could it be I missed one?" _**He stepped right beside the doctor and stared at me.

The doctor turned his head back with a sad gaze towards me.

"That, my dear boy... is who you're looking for. My last remaining treasure..."

Hearing this, Lynch clenched his hands furiously as his eyes and mouth began to glow an even more intense red that before, this glowing directed at me.

**_"Bullshit... There's no way that's him. He looks nothing like him."_** Lynch turned and stared down at the doctor in irritation. **_"You aren't telling me you actually managed to give him 'more' powers?"_**

The doctor shook his head, "No, he still has the same techniques that he made himself."

**_"Then what gives?" _**He turned his head back to me. **_"Why the hell does he look like a vampire from a cheesy romance?"_**

He made opened his palms, eyes shining brightly red. **_"But I guess it doesn't matter. In the end... HE'LL DIE TOO!"_**

Lynch suddenly pointed a palm and sent several energy balls directly at me. I reacted by vanishing from the spot to spot to avoid being hit by any of these spheres. They traveled behind me, and into the machine my pod was connected to.

I knew what would happen, so I jumped up to the side as the machine exploded, then landing in a crouching position. My expression didn't change at all. I wasn't worried nor intimidated, simply staring ahead at Lynch with a blank gaze.

Lynch didn't stop there, as he pointed his palms and sent out a stream of lava towards me. Once again, I moved rather quickly, vanishing from where I was and then appearing on a table. I heard the burning substance's hissing as it hit the walls, but didn't care as I had to jump to avoid several rotting tentacles burst from the ground and tried to grab me.

I landed on another table as these tentacles followed me. I briefly saw that Lynch had his palm on the ground, and no doubt was creating them. I thought about how to counteract these limbs stretching at me, especially when I saw several large thorns appear on them.

And then it happened again, I instantly seemed to remember familiar movements, a familiar name, a familiar _power._

My eyes flared up in red as a black aura burst around me, taking a deep breath as I let whatever this feeling was take over naturally.

"Legendary Style..."

I felt something form in my hand, a pure black dagger of the sort. I then felt my body move in a familiar feeling as I grabbed this dagger with both of my hands.

"Reaper Of Worlds!"

My eyes flashed red as I leaped forward and thrust my momentum into a somersault, holding my dagger as I swung it to rapidly spin in a vertical circle.

"Wheel Of Cruelty!"

I basically turned into a spinning saw blade as I flew right into the tentacles and shredded them apart, then continuing to spin right towards Lynch.

**_"What in the-?" _**Lynch pointed his palm and sent a beam of red energy forward at me. However, somehow I mowed right through it, splitting the beam into several around me as I suddenly kept going forward.

**_"You little-!" _**Lynch's body started glowing in a blue aura before he out a wave of force in all directions, pushing everyone around him back and sending it to the walls.

I was part of this, feeling the force sent me out of my spinning, but I managed to flip upright and land on my feet, holding my black dagger.

I stared with narrowed eyes at Lynch, not bothering to question what I remembered or what was the weapon in my hand. By this point, Lynch stopped his assault and stared directly at me, both of his bony hands cracking into fists in anger.

**_"That's not him... That's not the pathetic hero I know."_**

Lynch turned his head right to confront the doctor, only for him and me to see that the doctor was sitting with his back against the wall, launched from Lynch's shockwave the villain emitted to send everything flying.

However, my eyes caught sight of that he had been impaled by something during our momentary clash. He had cuts from flying shattered glass and had a table leg right in his side, causing him to bleed from the mouth.

"*cough* *cough* You should... nngh, really pay attention to... *cough* your surroundings..." The doctor said with a painful chuckle.

Lynch wasn't amused nor seemed to care to see the injured man. He just marched over to him and reached his bony hand forward, grabbing the doctor by the head to look at him.

**_"What the hell did you do, old man? That's not him. Those eyes, they aren't his. And that expression... He's never made it ONCE!"_**

He glanced his head over at me, my dagger now vanishing from my hand.

**_"What the hell happened to you?"_**

I simply continued to stare at him with an uncaring expression. It was clear Lynch my have a variety of attacks to use against me, but as seen just now, taking me down wasn't as easy as he expected it to be. Perhaps I was weak before, and that pod I was in helped enhanced my abilities?

Lynch turned back to the doctor, clutching his head harder and making him groan in pain.

**_"WHAT DID YOU DO, OLD MAN!?"_**

The doctor just chuckled, "Sorry to... nngh... disappoint you, but... *cough!* He doesn't... remember you."

There was a moment of silence in the room, Lynch's red eyes and mouth glowing more intensely in what I guess was rage.

**_"What?"_**

"Heh... He remembers... nothing. *cough*!"

Lynch's breathing sounded harsher.

**_"Nothing...? You're shitting me..."_**

"Nope... Heh, nngh! That's not... the hero... you know. He's... completely someone new."

They both addressed me as a 'hero,' but something seemed off hearing that. I suppose it did make sense since I was created to destroy Lynch and 'save' the universe, but there was still something just... wrong here.

Lynch's large hand was visibly shaking on the doctor's head.

**_"If he doesn't remember anything... If not us, this place, or when he came..." _**

He suddenly used his free hand to punch the wall above the doctor, causing the entire room to tremble like a small earthquake.

**_"THEN WHAT'S THE POINT OF KILLING HIM HERE!?"_**

I looked up at some dust coming from the ceiling and keeping my balance from the force of that punch.

Lynch just seemed to be losing it.

**_"IT'S LIKE YOU ERASED HIM FROM EXISTENCE! HE'S NOT THERE! WHAT'S THE POINT OF TORMENTING THE ONE I HATE THE MOST IF IT'S NOT EVEN HIM!?"_**

Despite the pain the doctor was experiencing, he had a smug smile.

"Why do you think- *cough* I made him like that...?

Lynch pulled the doctor's head forward and then pushed it back, smashing it against the wall.

**_"You did that JUST to piss me off!?"_**

The doctor's glasses fell off, and his head was bleeding, struggling just too stay conscious.

"N-No... This is... so he'll be the one. *urgh* to stop you..."

Hearing their dispute had me staring curiously from afar. I didn't know what to do right there, as listening seemed to be the only thing I should be doing. The doctor told me not to save him, and even if I tried now, it seemed too late. Lynch literally had his life in the palm of his hand.

The villain lowered his head, so his face was inches away from the doctor's.

**_"You think he could beat me? You think he'll stay this way and take me down?"_**

The doctor weakly shook his head. "Of... course... not... He won't... _just_ stay like this."

That made Lynch's raging red eyes seem to dim down.

**_"Then... He'll remember? He'll be able to remember?"_**

"In... time... I know... you won't kill him... until then."

The room was entirely silent now as Lynch processed what the doctor said. Then he let out a chuckle, then a laugh, then that laugh grew into a raspy but chilling boom in the room.

**_"You really were the smartest, old man... I could never deny that. To think you really managed to trap me in this... 'game' of yours. I have to give you credit. But this just makes things even more fun for me. I'll follow wherever he goes, find more powers to 'borrow,' and I'll make anyone he tries to talk to ends up even worse than those little friends of yours from earlier. Heh, maybe it'll even 'trigger' something from him?"_**

The doctor closed his eyes with a sigh. "To think... you stepped this low... *cough!* *cough!* *cough!* Hmm... Just how... nngh... petty do you have to be?"

He visibly relaxed, his body feeling limp.

"I just hope... you can find peace... Musuko."

The doctor's eyes turned towards me, giving one last smile as Lynch's eyes flared up so bright that they shot out light like flashlights.

**_"I told you... NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"_**

There was a violent crunching sound, and I saw Lynch's palm close all the way on the doctor's head, crushing it with blood seeping through his fingers.

I felt a minor disappointment that my only sane source of information was gone. It seemed that Lynch knew a lot about me too, but to ask an insane creature who only has the intention of killing... me? Me from before? Either way, it's clear he would only come for my head.

Lynch's raspy pant was cringe-inducing for me, surprising when I should've probably cringed at him letting go of what used to be the doctor's skull.

His neck sounded like it repeatedly cracked as he turned to me, blood dripping from his fingertips.

**_"Even he can't laugh at that..."_**

"He can't laugh at all now that he's deceased." I pointed out.

That made Lynch give an amused chuckle. **_"Funny... Now you're the one without a sense of humor instead of me. Or how the roles have changed..."_**

He took a step forward.

**_"But... I can't kill you now. It just won't have the same feeling I've been excited about... It won't be the feeling that's kept me up day after day..."_**

"So instead, you'll stalk me until I become what you remember me as?" I asked in a bored tone.

**_"Oh? So you DO talk." _**Lynch chuckled. He then tilted his head as he noticed the watch on my wrist. **_"Hm? Oooooh. So that's what he plans for you to do."_**

He turned and walked towards one of the still connected and decently working computers of the room.

"So you know what this does too?" I asked, raising my wrist to show the device on it.

**_"Heh, of course I do."_ **Lynch raised his hand towards one of the computers' USB ports, jamming his finger right into it. **_"I made it, after all."_**

I narrowed my eyes. "Someone as mentally delusional as you, creating something like this?"

**_"Scary, isn't it?" _**Lynch scoffed. His eyes and mouth started to glow blue as the computer that had his finger started glowing. I could only assume he was absorbing information from it. **_"That old man did always tell us that the most dangerous psychopaths, are the one with intelligence."_**

"That's an odd thing to 'always' tell someone." I remarked uncaringly, walking around the room while eyeing him. "But from how you say 'us,' it sounds as if you're quite familiar with me as well, aren't you?"

**_"I'm sure you'd like to know, wouldn't you?"_** Lynch pulled out his finger from the computer before smashing it to the side. **_"I'm sure you want to know why this is all happening to you, to know what you're supposed to do, to know just who ARE you?"_**

"Of course I'd be interested. Even if I ever tried to make my own identity, then I'm sure you'd come in and forcefully remind me anyway. So it's logical that I should be figuring out my identity while taking you out."

**_"Smart boy. Then let's do something... Let's do what something that you've ALWAYS wanted to do together."_** He chuckled as he walked around the room.

"And that is?"

He stopped, being directly across from me now.

**_"Let's play a game."_**

That added an element of confusion, but interest in where he was going with it.

"A game?"

**_"Yeperoo. What you've always wanted. You always wanted to pry me from my work for it, now here's your chance."_**

"But I'm not the one you're referring to."

**_"Not yet." _**Lynch declared.

"..." I sighed. "So what do you mean by 'game?'"

Lynch seemed pleased as he started to speak.

**_"I guess you can call it more of a... 'test.' First of all, tap the screen of that watch."_**

Looked down at my wrist and did what he said, the tap turning on the particular device.

**_"Now, all you have to do is follow that thing wherever it takes you. You can interact with whoever you like, do whatever you want, go wherever you like in the places you get taken to. And as for me... I'll just be doing the same. Following the same places you go, doing what I want to everyone there, occasionally breaking a bone of yours here and there... Hehe, that'll be so much fun."_**

I frowned. "That's the 'game?' That's basically already the situation we're forced in."

Lynch wagged a finger with a laugh, **_"But the 'game' is seeing what results come out of it."_**

"What' results' do you mean?" I asked.

He pointed one of his grotesque fingers at me.

**_"Let's see if you can find out your main purpose."_**

"Isn't it to destroy you?" I pointed out.

Lynch shook his head, **_"That was why you received an upgrade to your abilities and why you had your personality wiped out, to be able to face me. But..."_**

His pointed finger aimed at my watch.

**_"You don't know what was your purpose BEFORE that, right? What that device is going to point you to, why you have these powers, why you were so important to the doctor, why were you even here in the first place?"_**

"And... That's what you want to test? To see if I remember everything again?"

**_"Not just that... I want to see if you can actually live through everything and still call yourself 'human.' You'll be forced to make many, MANY choices while you travel, I'm sure. And I wonder just how much weight you'll gain from these choices."_**

I couldn't say that I understood, because I completely didn't. I couldn't sigh as I asked another question.

"So… How do you know who 'wins' the game?" I asked sarcastically.

Lynch rubbed his hands together in excitement.

**_"Easy. The winner will be determined in one~final~showdown. We'll both know it when the time comes."_**

Such a vague response made me lose interest.

"Hmph... It doesn't seem like I have a choice anyway."

**_"Of course you don't. And this game won't be easy for you, hehe."_**

Lynch raised both of his arms and pointed his palm up.

**_"Now then, I don't want you... 'cheating' and looking around here for anything about yourself so..."_**

I looked up as Lynch's palms suddenly blasted two large energy balls up into the ceiling. Both spheres dug right into the ceiling and I heard them burrowing around, dirt leaked out of the holes, giving me a clue that I was actually underground.

**_"Let's get rid of it, shall we?"_**

The moment he said that, I heard both orbs explode in the distance, causing the entire area to shake violently. I saw parts of the ceiling leak out dirt, clearly going to collapse soon.

"Hm... Well this is a problem."

Lynch bellowed in laughter as more pieces of the ceiling started falling.

**_"Oh I can tell this is going to be SO much fun!" _**A black portal then emerged under him, the villain sinking into it as he gave a final wave. **_"I hope we have SO MUCH FUN! BWAHAHAHA!"_**

Then... he was gone.

"Hm..."

I sighed as I felt sprinkles of dirt fall on my arm.

"I'm in danger."

I immediately got to running, avoiding falling debris as I made my way to the exit ahead. It was only now I realized just how large this room was, running past several pieces of tables and computers still on the floor. But I had to be careful because I was barefoot and the ground was covered with shattered glass.

I ended up jumping onto two tables still standing before diving out into the white hall just as the rest of the large room caved behind me.

I heard it already crashing down, pushing myself to run faster. However, as many people know, mass destruction is usually faster than someone running away, so of course, the area's collapsing was catching up behind me.

I knew I had to be faster, which was then I got another flash of something again.

My eyes turned yellow as an aura of the same color formed around me, I took a deep breath as stopped running and crouched down, unfazed to hear the crashing come even faster.

"Snipe Style-"

I heard the ceiling crash and fall over me.

"-Ricocheting Bullet."

I blasted down the hall faster than before, reaching the corner of it in just a second and then using the wall to jump and sharply turn the corner and continue down the next part of the halls. I kept moving quickly to find an exit, only to find out that wherever I was, it was _big. _No matter where I went, there was always more to explore.

_"This is getting annoying."_

*Beep!* *Beep!*

"Hm?"

I looked down at my wrist while running, noticing that something actually appeared on my watch screen.

**Travel to a new location?**

There were two options of yes and no. I glanced back at the collapsing destruction still occurring, hearing more explosions ringing out throughout where ever I was.

I guess anywhere else was better than here.

Fine Lynch, if you really want to 'play' in this game of yours.

I tapped the 'yes' option, my watch starting to glow white.

Then let's play.

* * *

**~{Hosu Hospital}~**

Everyone's eyes shot open in shock.

Gran Torino stumbled back and supported himself on Izuku's bed, panting with sweat dripping down.

Iida, Todoroki, and Iida were no different, the trio finding themselves looking down with their eyes completely open, panting hard as they recalled everything they just saw.

Enso was holding his head and groaning a bit, the process of peering into his mind clearly having some sort of backlash.

"Damn... I always forget about the after-effects..."

Gran Torino gulped nervously before standing up and composing himself.

"Ya think ya coulda given us a warning before ya did that!?" He snarled.

"My bad... I forgot."

Everyone ignored him say that, just caught up in the vivid memory they had seen. They saw everything Enso had seen, felt everything he felt, they just had the full experience of what he went through.

Izuku panted harder than everyone else, recalling the time Enso looked through Bakugo's memories in the festival, then also making him relive _exactly_ what he went through from his own perspective.

Right now, he would normally be mad at Enso for using 'Memory Breach' once again without even warning him, but he was more shocked by what he had seen.

Several things were answered from the group from watching through all that. Enso really doesn't remember anything about himself, the doctor by the name 'Dr. Yasahiro' was the one who gave Enso's name before... dying, and Enso was really only directed by his watch.

Izuku connected this memory to the time Enso told him about the first time he traveled into another world, finding a town with slaves, and then killing the dealer behind it before absorbing his energy.

_"A-A-And then... That's when he thought his p-purpose was to... k-kill... To murder and absorb their power, to remember himself and finish off others..."_

Enso shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down, vividly remembering that experience once again.

"So now you've seen my first encounter with him... And now the rest of you know _exactly _what kind of person he is."

He started pacing around the room.

"And I've misled myself into what I should've been doing. It turned out this watch took me to anyone with an abnormal power relating to a special kind of energy. And I believed that I should take them out so that I would regaining everything I had lost about myself in return. But it only ended up being flashes of my memories... It was only when I interacted more with one of these special individuals when I started remembering... 'chunks' of my memories rather than bits."

"And now... here you are." Gran Torino sighed. "I guess you really were just put in an unlucky position..."

**"So... How much have you remembered about yourself since then?"**

"KYAH!" Izuku was scared out of his mind when he heard this voice right behind him, not expecting Ikari to have come out and speak.

**"KYAH!" **Ikari was scared by the sudden scream as well.

"D-Don't scare me like that!" **"D-Don't scare me like that!"**

...

Both deadpanned at each other.

"_*Ahem*_-!" Enso said, getting their attention. "What I remember now isn't really too much... As I've mentioned, the people I've taken out have only given me flashes of memories, and these flashes were usually of just places. The only time I remembered something bigger was... the other time I constantly interacted with someone the way I am with Izuku."

"You taught someone else in another world then? How'd he end up?" Gran Torino asked curiously.

"That's a story for another time." Enso said while... frowning?

Izuku had an uneasy feeling about what happened.

There was then dead silence from everyone in the room, the only sounds being the honking from outside, and the beeping monitor in the room keeping tracks of the boys' state.

"Enso..." Todoroki said, being the one to break the silence. "About everything we learned about you... Everything you've done... I don't think it'd be easy to just forget it as we get back to U.A."

"Are you hinting that you'll report me?" Enso turned to him.

"No, Izuku would probably be mad if I did. But now... It feels like I can't just sit around and treat everything like it didn't happen..." Todoroki continued.

Enso narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I mean... You're whole goal... is to fight Lynch, isn't it?"

Enso looked down, "It's mostly to figure out who I am, but yes... that's part of it."

Todoroki stared right at him with unwavering eyes. "Then, let me help."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked.

"Excuse me?" Enso couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "That's... unexpected."

"Hold up, ya wanna help this... 'alien' fight something that'll probably get ya killed in the worst way possible?" Gran Torino asked.

Todoroki just nodded, "We're all aiming to become heroes anyway... So, of course I'd want to help. But..."

He looked more serious than ever.

"I'll need you to teach me like you have for Midoriya."

"EH!?" Izuku stammered.

Iida turned to Todoroki, not looking surprised at all and rather, just serious like him.

Enso tilted his head curiously, "You mean... teach you everything I've taught him?"

Todoroki nodded, then looking down at his own hand.

"During our battle with Stain, it was clear that Midoriya was the one who did the most for us... I was only able to just keep Stain away while Iida was on the ground most of the time. And in the end, Midoriya was the one that had to save both Iida and I when we were somehow struck..."

Todoroki's eyes glimpsed at Izuku as he continued.

"Midoriya has gone through so much... He's gone through things that someone like him should've have gone through, has been hurt so many times when he didn't deserve it, and he's taking the burden nearly on his own..."

He turned back to Enso.

"And even then, he's been thinking of everyone but himself. He's been putting himself on the line and going through so many terrible things because of it. He's saved both Iida and I while teaching us things we should've known... And I want to return the favor."

"I see..." Enso looked down with a hand on his chin in thought.

"Please teach me as well!" Iida unnecessarily shouted.

Everyone's attention was on him, the boy's hands balled into fists.

"Midoriya has been an outstanding friend for me, always caring for me and everyone else... But I was never able to show my appreciation for him. I wasn't even there to console him after I heard of Bakugo's horrid actions, I was too absorbed on myself and my brother... And then I just made even more trouble for him by going after the Hero Killer... I couldn't even take Stain down, I was defeated in an instant... while Midoriya was able to fight on par with him. I... I want to be able to do _something_ for him... at least to help him deal with everything going on..."

"You guys..." Izuku stared at them with warmth radiating in him.

"Hm..." Enso hummed, glancing at both of them. He then turned around and glanced at Gran Torino.

"Oi, why you looking at me?" The elder frowned.

"Because I'm not sure how you'd feel if I brought in two other students into my... 'cause.'"

Gran Torino scoffed, "Well, I don't think whatever I say would sway them away. They're doing this for the kid, not you, anyway."

"Fair enough."

Enso turned back to Izuku, "And how do you feel about this?"

"W-Well..."

**"We'll make a squad!"**

"GYAH!" Izuku jumped as Ikari emerged from his stomach mysteriously.

**"They know about Wrinkly Skin already, so they should help us out! If more people could fight and spin like my partner and Mr. Poker Face-!"**

"Excuse me, _what _did you call me?"

**"-then they'd be so much stronger heroes!"** Ikari stretched from Izuku and got close to Iida and Todoroki, both staring up at the entity in wonder.

"But...Why wouldn't Enso want to teach our whole class to be strong like them then?" Todoroki then asked.

Everyone then turned to Enso, expecting him to answer.

He sighed, "Of course I didn't want to train an entire class. I didn't want them knowing of my history, and it would be hard to hide it if I'm constantly training them with Izuku. I know that pretty much of all them don't even trust me as it is now, especially after the festival, so I don't think I could trust them with this information even now."

He then crossed his arms. "But you guys deserved to know what was going on after seeing Lynch... So that's why I decided to tell you both about him and myself."

**"So... Doesn't that mean you can _also_ teach these guys to help?"** Ikari asked, pointing his hands from Enso to the two recovering students.

"Again... What does Izuku think?" Enso sighed.

Izuku looked down nervously. "I-I mean... I wouldn't mind them training with us, b-but when it comes to helping us fight against... Lynch..."

"Midoriya, just let us help you." Todoroki said.

"Please... Don't think you have to deal with this by yourself." Iida added.

"This makes it sound like you're gonna get stronger just to go off and fight that monster on your own." Gran Torino stated.

There was a moment of silence.

"No, I'm sure they'll act the same with Lynch as any villain. They won't go after them by themselves-"

Enso paused, glancing back at Iida.

"..."

He glanced forward.

"_Now_ they won't go after them by themselves-"

Iida let out a depressed sigh.

"-they'll fight if forced to fight for their lives, and they'll get stronger for the sake of stopping these villains and to save people. So... I'll teach them, not for the intention to throw them against a villain, but for the intention to help them become what they want."

Izuku smiled.

Iida's face brightened as he bowed as much as he could while sitting.

"Thank you! I'm in your care, sensei!"

"If you ever call me that again, I'll make sure you won't have kids this time." Enso said as he raised his fist with his eyes and aura flashing blue.

Iida turned pale as his hands instantly reached down between his legs, shivering in place as his face looked like he recalled several amounts of trauma.

"Thank you, Enso." Todoroki calmly said.

Gran Torino scoffed, "Guess I'm out then. You guys made your choices. Kid, be ready for a beating when you get out of here."

Izuku sweatdropped with a nervous laugh. "Y-Yeah..."

**"Meh, we can take him."** Ikari nodded beside him.

Cross-veins formed on Gran Torino's head, but the elder headed out the door, "Oho? We'll see about that."

"B-Bye Gran Torino..." Izuku shivered, knowing that Ikari might've made things worse.

As the elder closed the door behind him, Enso looked down at his watch, frowning when he looked at the time.

"I guess I should leave too... Kamui is probably furious with me right now." He sighed.

"You were interning with Kamui?" Todorki asked curiously.

"Sadly. I'm sure he's mad that I ran away full speed with my quirk..." Enso turned to Izuku. "Will you be alright?"

Izuku looked down with a sad smile. "Yeah... I will."

Enso nodded, "Then I guess I'm gone then." He then turned and walked to...

The open window?

Izuku's expression became blank.

_"Eh?"_

At the window, Enso turned to Izuku and saluted him.

"ENSO! DON'T YOU DARE-!"

"See ya."

Enso backed up and jumped a bit, letting himself fall over the windowsill.

"STAIRS, ENSO! STAIRS!" Izuku shouted after him.

Iida and Todoroki both sweatdropped.

* * *

**~{Outside}~**

Enso landed on his feet outside of the building.

"Gah!"

Several people cried out in shock to see the male come out of nowhere and land so gracefully. Butt Enso didn't care for their reactions and stood up, immediately making his way down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets.

_"To think he came so soon... Things are becoming more dangerous than ever..."_

His eyes were cold and serious as he thought of Lynch.

_"This time... It'll be different. I'll make sure of it."_

Enso turned the corner and made his way into the city he was in.

"*Sniff*."

He stopped, suddenly picking up a hint of something sensitive to his nostrils.

"*Sniff* *Sniff*."

He smelled something out of the ordinary, something you don't just sniff anywhere, something near.

He turned his head and glanced down into an alleyway, peering into the dangerous darkness ahead.

"..."

He turned his head and looked around him, looking to see if anyone was watching him, but not surprisingly finding the busy people all rushing to be somewhere to work so early in the morning.

So Enso took the chance to walk into the dark alleyway. He followed the smell around a corner, peaking his head to confirm his suspicions on what it was, and then he found it.

Blood.

Enso narrowed his eyes to see a blood trail leading deeper into the alleyway, eyeing how fresh it seemed.

_"What in the world...?"_

He walked forward and followed the trail, realizing as he did so that it was actually leading somewhat near the hospital he just left. He only walked for about a minute before turning another corner and stopping.

He saw where the blood led to.

Enso's aura flared up in black, and his eyes once again started glowing blood red. Yet he looked calm and didn't seem worried, just walking ahead as his black dagger formed within his right hand.

He stopped his movement a few feet away from the source of blood.

"Hero Killer Stain... correct?"

Indeed.

Sitting on the ground with his back against a dumpster, his body covered in blood as he struggled to breathe, was the one that basically caused the whole ordeal with the U.A students now in the hospital.

Stain twitched on the ground, his head slowly looking up to gaze at Enso. His hand was on the spot where Izuku had pierced him, feeling it bleeding despite Todoroki having treated it a bit yesterday. His other wounds were also opening up with some of his bandages ripping, clearly from forcing his body to move when he had escaped.

Enso narrowed his eyes as he saw the villain without a nose and with piercing red eyes. He had a look of pain and anger on his face, glaring at the one in front of him.

"Y...You..." He managed to speak, breathing hard in the process.

"You know me?" Enso asked, picking on how he addressed him.

"I... *cough* saw you run in... Nngh... To save the kid..."

"I see." Enso's head looked around the part of the alleyway he was in, not even worrying about Stain attacking him. "Did you come here hoping you could sneak into the hospital and steal medical supplies?"

Stain just grunted as he gazed down at his wound and placed his other hand over it.

"*Huff* *puff* That damn... kid..."

"If you're referring to Izuku, he's deeply sorry for harming you the way he did. He never intended to go that far." Enso stated.

Stain slowly rose his head to stare at Enso again.

"Then... He really just lost it- *cough* *cough* because..."

"His quirk is something he's having trouble controlling. He only wanted to stop you, not kill you."

"Heh... *cough* Thought so..."

There was then a moment of silence between them, with Stain taking deep breaths to keep himself stable.

"Are you alright?"

Stain paused for a moment as he stared up at the boy with an eyebrow raised.

"Are... Are you serious?"

Enso blinked as he gazed down at the state Stain is in.

"Oh, right."

_"Moron..."_ Stain thought as he narrowed his eyes, staring at Enso's own. He saw Enso's lack of emotion, his cold demeanor, and his lifeless eyes.

At the same time, Enso stared at Stain with a newfound curiosity in him.

"Why did you do it?"

"Hm...? *cough*" Stain glared.

"I saw your video... I saw your last moments of standing up against all those heroes... You took the lives of several heroes, tried to kill students, and despite being so wounded... you kept standing to fight. Why? What was the point?"

Stain stared in silence at the boy, his lips then slowly forming into an evil grin.

"Heh... You don't get it... do you?

Enso frowned. "What?"

"You... You don't get just... *cough* what kind of society... we live in?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you... think all heroes fight for the people?" Stain breathed deeply.

"..."

Enso thought about earlier words from Kamui when he had walked with him.

_"You mean suck up to them?"_

_Kamui shook his head, "No... You could give that reason for selfish heroes who desire fame and fortune, but for heroes that genuinely care about the well-being of the public, we use these patrols to raise their spirits."_

_"Heroes don't raise the spirits of the public for themselves, they do it to help give people a sense of hope and freedom from worry. We want them to feel safe and not worry about villains or disasters."_

"No... Of course not." Enso found himself answering.

That made Stain's grin fade, getting completely serious.

"Do you know how many _fakes_ would rather work as 'heroes' to make some cash, rather than to actually _save _the people they're supposed to be working for?"

"A lot, I'm sure. Apparently, being a hero is a profitable profession."

Stain's pupils dilated.

"They deserve to be **_purged_**!"

"But in the end, they still save people, don't they? Even if it's for the income, they still end up saving lives, right?" Enso pointed out.

Stain just scoffed, seeming as if he ignored the wounds his body had, speaking perfectly clear.

"But what about when it _really_ matters? Do you think a _fake_ would save someone if they could leave them without anyone knowing? If they were scared that they'd risked their pathetic lives? True heroes wouldn't hesitate to save anyone, but _fakes_ would. A moment of hesitation is all that's need for a disaster to occur."

Enso stared at Stain, feeling such a dangerous aura coming from the villain, one full of something that kept driving him to act.

"So... Are you really saying... that you were actually thinking for the sake of the people?"

Stain looked down and chuckled, then spitting out blood.

"I was thinking... for the sake of _society_. To form a world of _true_ heroes."

"..."

Enso's aura faded away, but the glow of his eyes and his dagger still remained.

"And... What about the villains hurting people? Doesn't working with them go against what you're saying about society? You were with the league, were you not? And they seem to just want to destroy everything."

Stain growled, "I'm not exactly with them... Those bastards didn't understand... They don't have a true goal, nor the conviction for it. They just use their power because they have it, to kill things they don't like... But that Shigaraki at least has the idea that he wants to change the current society we have, I'm just hoping he won't end up being like any other pathetic thug..."

Stain glanced back up at Enso, his piercing gaze against the boy's cold but curious eyes.

"Then... What about a villain with the firepower to kill millions, but whose focus is on just satisfying his bloodlust and to satisfy a grudge against someone?" Enso asked him.

Stain raised an eyebrow at him. _"That's oddly specific..."_

He turned his head repeatedly coughed a few times, then gazing back at Enso.

"That just sounds like someone that should be gutted..."

"..."

Enso titled his head.

"Interesting..."

"Just like _you._"

Enso paused, "What?"

Stain was completely still with his focus on Enso.

"You... *cough!* *Cough*! Damn it... You attend U.A, don't you?"

Enso nodded.

"Hmph... But you'll never be a true hero." Stain coughed again.

"...What makes you believe that?"

"Heh... Your eyes."

"My... eyes?" Enso narrowed his gaze.

He then saw Stain pull a small knife from his pocket, the villain forcing himself to stand as he let out a soft but chilling laugh.

"That look... in them... *huff* *puff* You're... like me..."

Stain leaned his back against the dumpster to support himself, holding his blade tightly in his right hand, ignoring the pain from his wounds.

"You do... *cough* what has to be done... You don't hesitate... to do what you believe is right... Whether taking a life or saving someone... *huff* *puff* That's what that look tells me."

His body struggled just to stay up.

"And yet... you don't... have the same views as me... do you? You just *cough* *cough* do things... because they convenient you... right?

"..."

"You lack the conviction... for a _real_ goal... For a true path... to lead the world... to change society..."

Stain got into a fighting position, holding his blade forward with his pupils shaking.

"In the end... People like you... who think for only themselves..."

Enso could practically see the aura of dangerous pressure coming from Stain, enveloping then entire alleyway he was in. He saw everything turn red, saw Stain just turn into a black... monster with monstrous red eyes.

**"Are _always _meant to die."**

Stain jumped forward with a cry, blood flying off him as he swung his blade.

Enso's expression didn't change, but his hand moved.

There was the sound of a slash that seemed to split the air while instantly stopping the aura of pressure filling the alleyway.

And a blade clanked onto the floor.

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~**

**Huh... Well, that happened... Did Enso just...? Um... Until next time?**


	51. Back To It

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**HEEEEEEYO everybody! It's that time yet again. The time for yet another chapter from yours truly. It's finally time to head back to these internships and to reassure the lovely females of class 1-A that their cinnamon role is alright. We move on to see just how things are going for Enso getting back to his internship and to a new doubt angry Kamui.**

**But one thing I want to note out! As of this chapter coming out, Lynch's monstrous wolf, Ripjaw, will have her name officially CHANGE into a new name, Havoc. ****I looked back on her original name and thought, 'hm, this seems to be suffering a case of cringe' so I decided to go back to my retypes _just_ to change her name. So yeah, from now on, that's what the wolf's name will be, Havoc.**

**I think it sounds fitting for something Lynch would name, heh.**

**And another thing... School will be starting up for me officially on September 28, so you know what that means?**

**A weirder... upload schedule.**

**Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna to lock this fic up so I can completely shut myself into school, nor am I gonna shove my other fic to the side for it. I'm gonna try and balance everything out, as much as I'm probably gonna regret it. But just know that because I'm heading back into my school life, things are gonna be slower. But I'm glad that all of you stuck with me this far and I hope you're all doing okay despite these troubling times. Expect a chapter of my other fic maybe soon in the first week of my school.**

Answered Comments (Oldest to most recent):

_PRemington900: _**He stole his sandwich,** **boom, reason for hate, heh. (Not really) And yeah, you could say Lynch is hypocritical, but he wants Enso to remember everything about himself so he can torment him when he's _actually_ himself, if that makes sense. At the same time, Lynch believes to be someone different from who he was before, and is proud/loves how he is, and maybe his past is a reason why he doesn't want to be addressed by his previous name?**

**Enso to Iida and Todoroki: One hundred push-ups! One hundred sit ups! Heh. And yeah, Enso and Stain are kinda similar if you think about it. Thanks for reading!**

_PasiveNox,blue grimmoire,fpinhero96: _**You're welcome for the chapter!**

_Nick4Speed: _**Heh heh, cliffhangers are fun.**

_Astrogamer: _**DESPAIIIIIIIIIIR**

_SpiceR4: _**Enso still has more moves that haven't been shown yet since each of his styles have four moves in them. And as for Izuku, any moves he can create will most likely happen through more training with Enso now that he finally has control of Ikari. Oh, and as for your other comment about why I gave Izuku two flaws with Ikari, why wouldn't I!? If I didn't give him flaws, then he'd just be another overpowered Izuku in a lot of generic fanfics! Plus, these flaws make _sense_ for Izuku and Ikari. Their bodies are linked, and although Ikari is fueled from the energy and anger of previous generations, he doesn't have an infinite amount. And if he and Izuku are really connected, then off course what happens to one would happen to the other.**

_Guest: _**Yeah, it's still a long way to go, but it's like I'm having a journey into my first journey with all these retypes, making everything more amazing for you guys. Thanks for the praise and I'll continue to work hard for you guys!**

_TQ679:_ **Thanks for reading and here's more for you. :D**

_Vidkid:_ **It's so easy to picture that to be honest, heh. But there's no doubt that Toga will be the MOST aggressive to Izuku than anyone.**

_Guest123: _**Yup, Danganronpa reference. I actually based Enso entirely off Izuku Kamikura since I just really wanted someone like him to be in the my hero universe. It wasn't until I started retyping chapters that I added more of his _OWN_ character that others would love. And for the most part, everyone loves how funny and how just doesn't give a shit.**

_MasterOfTheCosmo: _**Old men just go through things man, so much that in the end they just stop giving a shit. You could see where Enso gets some of his own sass from.**

_Guest: _**He could probably learn Shoot Style early if he just starts thinking about new ways to use One Forr All, but for now, he's going to be focused on Onryo's fury! So with that in mind, he probably won't learn Shoot Style until the future.**

_Guest: _**He probably just left Izuku back where he found him or somewhere near there. And I'm sure anyone that would come upon him would call the police and send Izuku to the hospital.**

_Atomic11:_ **Never watched Beserk, already knew the basic premise, and no, the branding on Izuku won't really cause anything to come close. It's just a message from Lynch.**

_Guest: _**Oh wow those are some really interesting things to learn! I might use some of that. Where did you even learn this stuff from? I'm curious to look back to it.**

_mauler564:_**I don't really have a time range or schedule of when I usually update, but apparently I've had it pointed out to me that I tend to update both my fics both during two weeks each or something. However... I know that things are going to be slower now with my school starting up.**

* * *

**~{Uwabami's Agency Limo-10:25 AM}~**

"He's alright... He's alright...!" Momo was hugging her phone with deep breaths of relief to see a few texts from Izuku, which reassured her that he was fine and that he was a little shaken up because he ran into Stain.

"Phew..." Kendo was beside her friend in a limo, both of them wearing their hero costumes with Uwabami across from them. "Thank god... Was getting worried that he still wasn't responding."

Uwabami curiously gazed at the two girls that looked more relieved than when they ended a photoshoot with her. He saw Momo smiling happily with her eyes even looking a bit watery, and Kendo was leaning on her seat with her head up and eyes closed in relief. It seemed that whoever they heard from was rather important to them, so much that she got curious.

"You both seem happy." She smiled, leaning forward in her seat. "Care to share why?"

Her voice snapped both girls out of their relief and realized that the pro hero was in the vehicle with them, making them lightly blush.

"U-Um... Well... We just learned that one of our friends is safe..." Momo started.

Uwabami's smile faded, "Hold on, 'safe?' Did something happen?"

Kendo rubbed the back of her head, "Well... He kinda got mixed up in that whole incident in Hosu..."

Uwabami's eyes widened, "Wait, was he one of the three that encountered the Hero Killer before Endeavor saved them?"

Kendo nodded as Momo started texting Izuku back at lightning speeds, ignoring what Uwabami asked.

"Ooooooh." Uwabami's smiled returned. "Don't tell that it was the same _boy_ that you called yesterday, Kendo? And also the one that made Yaoyororzu turn redder than Endeavor at full flames?"

Both girls stared at her as steam suddenly poofed on their heads, both looking nervous and embarrassed.

"Oh, I knew it!" Uwabami laughed with a clap of her hands. "You're both so adorable!"

Momo frantically moved his arms in all directions, turning redder by the minute. "I-It's not like that!"

"Oh, really? You've been calm and collected with such formal composure for the past two days, yet the moment that boy was involved, you become an adorable mess!" Uwabami smiled.

Kendo awkwardly looked away as Momo covered her face with both hands.

_"Well... This just got awkward..." _The ginger sighed.

* * *

**~{Death Arm's agency}~**

"You good?" Death Arms asked as he watched Jiro walk down the stairs, bags under her eyes.

"Yeah... I'm alright." Jiro was too tired from worrying about Izuku in Hosu so late, but she also had a small smile on her face after receiving messages from the boy that he was alive and well. Hearing from him again had instantly relieved her so much, just knowing that he was safe.

And yet... She was still worried.

Jiro's smile fell as she still recalled the conversation she overheard Enso had the previous night. Speaking to All Might, talking about 'Lynch,' there were still things she didn't know.

But for now... She was just glad Izuku was alright.

And speaking of what she heard yesterday-

"Hey... Death Arms?" The purple-haired girl asked as she followed the hero out of his agency building.

"Hm? What's up?" The pro stopped and turned his head back to her.

"Are we going to meet up with Mount Lady and... Kamui today?"

"Sorry, I've got my own plans for us today. I do plan to meet up with them another day for the week." Death Arms responded as he turned around and continued leading the way. "Why? Wanted to see your friends again?"

Jiro looked down as she walked with him.

"No... Well, I mean that'd be okay, but I was thinking about..."

She frowned.

"Asking... something."

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

"He's okay!"

Both Mina and Toru shouted this over their phones the moment they called each other. It was the perfect thing to wake up to after all the worrying they did last night. To hear that Izuku was okay, that he was alive.

"See! I told you we'd hear from him!" Toru laughed over the phone.

"Phew... Yeah... I don't know why I was so worried." Mina chuckled as she laid back with her head on her pillow, a big smile on her.

"Heh... But to think he'd run into the Hero Killer... That's just his luck, isn't it?" Toru sighed.

"At least Iida and Todoroki were there, I'm sure they would've actually beat Stain if Endeavor didn't come to save them." Mina chuckled.

"Are Iida and Todoroki alright, now that I think about it?" Toru questioned.

"Midori said they're fine. They got a little cut up, but nothing serious. I'm just glad they're all alright. I didn't think they would end up running into the Hero Killer together..."

"Yeah." Toru suddenly found herself pondering how much of a coincidence it was for all of them to be together when the villain struck.

"Weird..."

* * *

**~{Gunhead's Agency}~**

"Oh, Uraraka? Your movements are so much better than yesterday!" Gunhead laughed as he stepped around the girl who was trying to grab him.

Ochako had a large smile on her face as she suddenly jumped back from Gunhead, who was holding a rubber knife. "I was worried yesterday, but now I'm good as new!"

"Good to hear! But..."

"WHA-!?" Ochako found her head spinning as she was flipped and slammed onto her back. "Ow... Ow..."

She opened her eyes to see Gunhead looking down at her while laughing.

"I hope you could maintain that positivity throughout the entire day!"

Ochako pouted.

_"I'm gonna get stronger... I'm gonna be a great hero, just like Deku!"_

* * *

**~{Selkie's Agency}~**

"Awwww, you look so _cute_ when you're happy!"

Sirius was squealing as she saw Tsu with a precious smile as she ate her food, even making happy 'keros' occasionally.

Hearing her, Tsu turned to her friend with a tilt of her head. "Hm? What do you mean? Kero?"

Sirius laughed, "Ever since this morning, you've just been sparkling like sunshine against the water! And it's so cute to watch, hehe! I take it you've heard from your friend again?"

Tsu nodded, making a small 'kero' as she did so. "He's fine. He sure did make me worry, though."

"Then be sure to tell him that when you get back to school. Give him your best angry face." Sirius suggested.

"My best... angry face?" Tsu put a finger on her chin as she looked up in thought. She knew she never really got angry, so being told that seemed weird for her.

"Hm, let me try, kero."

Sirius then watched as the frog hero turned to her and lowered her eyebrows while puffing up her mouth and cheeks, unintentionally pouting.

_"So, CUUUUUTE!"_ Sirius thought with a squeal.

* * *

**~{Hosu Hospital- 10:44 AM}~**

"Finally..."

Izuku let his head fall back on his pillow as he let out a sigh of relief.

"You finally texted everyone back?" Todoroki asked.

"Yeah... They were all really worried..."

"The girls?"

"Eh? No, not just the girls, several others from our class too. Why would it be just the girls?" Izuku blinked as he sat up with a question mark over his head.

Iida and Todoroki glanced at each other uncomfortably. On the one hand, they could just call Izuku dense and oblivious, but on the other... they understood why. Someone who's been kicked down and lowered in self-esteem for so long, being outcasted by everyone, and his general innocence added with it, it was no wonder why he didn't... get the idea.

"Nevermind." Iida and Todoroki both said at the same time.

Izuku blinked in confusion.

**"Sooooo..." **Ikari floated around the room, his ghost-like tail still connected to Izuku. **"I know you may not want to talk about it, but... about the... 'thingy' on your back."**

Izuku's body tensed up, his face turning... 'empty' for a moment as he gazed straight down while immediately starting to sweat.

"I-I... I..." He gulped, recalling the image on his back.

**"You can't let him get into your head... Just because he branded something on you doesn't mean it's true... Everyone in your class would agree you're not the Deku that wrinkly-man said you were..." **Ikari said as he floated beside his partner.

"He's right, Midoriya. Don't take everything he says personally. You're not what he makes you out to be." Todoroki spoke from across them.

"I-I know, b-but..." Izuku couldn't help but look down as his hand reached behind his back. "Still having it... hurts..."

"It'll be alright, Midoriya." Iida said, although sounding depressed as he said so.

"A-And... I'm gonna have to hide it... I have to think about it every day to hide it... If my mom saw this... I don't even know what she'd do." Izuku whimpered.

"It shouldn't be too hard to hide it... The only issue seems to be the locker room where we all usually change." Iida told him.

"Maybe start wearing a tank top? Or you could just keep your back to the wall since your locker is near the end of the room." Todoroki added.

"Y-Yeah... I'll... figure it out."

The door suddenly then slid open, and a nurse walked into the room with a smile.

"Tenya Iida and Shoto Todoroki? You're both expected to leave soon."

"Eh?" The two mentioned students uttered at the sudden news.

"Apparently, Todoroki, Endeavor came for you. The cuts on your back were only along the first layer of skin, and your arm has healed fairly well, so you should be good to go, just try not to move it too much. And Iida, your shoulder should be fine, but try not to do any physical work today. Your parents called to let you know that they're coming to take you to your brother, so I suggest you get ready."

"Huh? Why didn't they just call me directly?" Iida mumbled as he reached for his phone.

"Did you turn your phone off while going through that... phase?" Todoroki asked.

Iida paused for a moment, then hanging his head with a sigh. "Oof..."

**_"Oof?"_**

"At least you're fine now." Izuku smiled.

"But... will _you_ be fine, Midoriya?" Todoroki addressed.

Both teens glanced over at Izuku, who looked down and weakly chuckled. "You guys don't have to worry... It's not the first time I've been through something bad... Hell, I don't even think this even compares to remembering my entire childhood in one moment... I'll be fine."

"But... A part of me just doesn't think you should be alone..." Iida said out of consideration.

**"..."** Ikari stared blankly at Iida. **"Am I a _joke_ to you!?"**

Iida immediately realized what he said wrong. "Ah! No, I-Ikari! Midoriya will be fine having you around!"

Izuku's smile grew as he watched Iida frantically apologize to Ikari while the entity comedically crossed his arms and... pouted? Todoroki stared with the tiniest of smiles at them, finding Ikari somewhat amusing.

Izuku looked down happily.

_"I have such great friends..."_

Several minutes later, Izuku and Ikari waved goodbye to his friends from the window, leaving themselves alone.

Izuku closed his eyes and let out a sigh as he laid back on his bed, with Ikari just circling over him curiously.

**"Hey partner, when am I gonna meet your other friends?"**

Izuku's eyes shot open as he realized;

"Ah, I never did tell everyone about bringing you out like this when I texted them, did I?"

**"Nope."**

"Then... Surprise?" Izuku chuckled.

**"Oo, that'd be fun."** Ikari's face formed his scary, jagged open red grin. **"So, what are we doing when we get out of here?"**

"Well... We'll probably go back to training with Gran Torino. But we might be here for another day or two because of my... er... 'our' injuries.

**"Oh, so we're doing things like in Russia now?"**

"I... Hold on, _what_?" Izuku suddenly went from zero to completely bewildered as he turned to Ikari.

**"You know, instead of things being 'yours' they'll be 'ours?'"**

Izuku deadpanned.

"No, Ikari... Just... no."

A sudden knock came from the door.

"Huh?" Both Ikari and Izuku turned their heads, with Ikari's jagged smile fading away to make him mouthless once more. "U-Um... enter?"

The door then opened, and Izuku recognized the person who walked in. It was Naomasa Tsukauchi, the police detective, wearing his usual overcoat with his matching hat in his hand.

He smiled when he saw Izuku right there, only for his look to turn surprised when he saw Ikari too.

**"U-Um... Y-Yo." **Ikari waved nervously.

_"It's so weird how he can act so similarly, yet SO different from me."_ Izuku sighed.

"Huh... So who's this?" Tsukauchi asked, not freaked out in the slightest.

"Well... My quirk." Izuku said with an awkward smile. "Th-This is... Well, his name is Ikari."

"Huh, well then." Tsukauchi smiled, closing the door behind him. "Well, Izuku Midoriya, I'm not sure you remember me, but I'm Naomasa Tsukauchi."

"I-I remember you... You were with All Might after the USJ Attack. You even know about All Might's time limit." Izuku uttered out with a small smile.

Tsukauchi chuckled as he walked over to Izuku's bedside.

"Yup, good to know you remembered. All Might sent me here to go over your encounter with Lynch and sort some things out." Tsukauchi said as he sat down.

Ikari narrowed his eyes, **"Hold on... You _know_?"**

Izuku's eyes widened, "Y-You know about Lynch!?"

The detective nodded, now looking serious. "Yes. I talked to All Might after I discovered that this 'Lynch' caused the Cafe Massacre."

Izuku's eyes widened as he started panting, remembering the news that day. "W-Wait... _HE_ did that!?"

"Midoriya, please calm down, you've already been through enough. I don't think you should be stressing yourself any further."

It took a few moments, but Izuku took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Th-that's right... It makes sense that he'd... do that... Th-That..." Izuku whimpered.

Ikari made some growling sounds as his eyes narrowed, thinking of Lynch.

Tsukauchi pulled the chair beside Izuku's bed and sat on it. "After the incident occurred, I investigated it and then visited All Might to inform him about it."

Izuku raised his head and turned it to the detective, still looking nervous.

"D-Do you... always tell All Might about your cases?"

Tsukauchi shook his head. "No, only when it's a case that might be important or far more dangerous than any other, like the League of Villains or in this case... this Lynch persona."

He leaned back in his chair.

"And he also shared with me any information he had on these groups, while also ready to assist me anyway he can play in the future. But back to the matter at hand, when I told All Might about the cafe, I mentioned the name the survivor told me. And... lo and behold, it was the guy that caught you..."

Izuku gulped nervously, "A-And then from there... He must've told you about him... Actually, how much _did_ he tell you?"

Tsukauchi pulled out his notepad and a pen, getting ready to take notes.

"Well, he told me that he's dangerous, much more than dangerous... And he told me that you and Ureshi are... 'special' to him."

"Yeah... I... really hate that." Izuku muttered, looking down.

Tsukauchi nodded, "It's clear there's _so_ much more involved with you guys, especially since Lynch targeted _you_ specifically out of all the heroes on the scene."

Izuku flinched, "W-W-Well-"

"I'm not gonna pry or ask about your situation for All Might. It seems there are other things that he wants to keep secret, and I understand that. I only came upon his secret time limit by accident and know he keeps it a secret so no one panics. He's done so much for me, so I want to respect what he wishes, so I'll wait until you guys are ready to tell me anything. Heh, you guys might not even ever tell me and I'd be fine with it."

The injured boy stared at him curiously, "Did... Did he save someone you know?"

Tsukauchi nodded, "Yeah... my little sister."

Izuku's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Well, 'little' is a bit of a strong term." The detective chuckled. "She's an adult now, but doesn't change how I see her."

His expression then turned serious. "But I think we're getting off track. I won't ask why this 'Lynch' seems to have an interest in you two, but I just want to understand what happened to you and investigate from there to find him..."

Izuku and Ikari turned to each other, before turning back to Tsukauchi with nervous gazes.

"O-Okay..."

"I'm afraid I may need you to... recount that time. Will you be able to?" Tsukauchi said, having his notepad and pen ready.

"Y-Yeah... I'll be fine with that..." Izuku said, his face not really matching his words.

Ikari floated beside his partner and laid on Izuku's legs, his body actually morphing to resemble a small dog.

**"You'll be fine."**

Izuku's eyes widened.

"I-I knew you could change shape... but not like that." he pointed while shaking in awe.

**"I could change to a lot. I practiced while in your head."**

Tsukauchi said one last thing.

"Midoriya... I want to ask what happened to you while you were with Lynch and describe _exactly_ where you were and what you saw around you. This information will, of course, be confidential between us and All Might. There's no doubt that any info of this villain shouldn't be leaked to the public... Are you willing to comply?"

Izuku nervously nodded, unconsciously hugging the dog-shaped Ikari.

"I-I woke up... in a dark room..."

* * *

**~{Meanwhile-Best Jeanist's Agency}~**

"Bastard!"

Bakugo blasted forward into a spiral towards Best Jeanist, only to get pulled to the side and flung at the wall. "Gah!"

He bounced off and fell onto the floor, where fiber threats retracted back to his opponent across the room.

_"He hasn't said anything noteworthy since yesterday... All he's done is insult me, but I know I'm getting closer to making him talk. Just one more push..."_

Best Jeanist adjusted his odd jean collar.

"Hmph, are you experiencing the same thing Midoriya felt whenever you beat him down? Weak?"

"You shut your _fucking_ mouth!" Bakugo hissed as he rose off the ground with fiery red eyes.

He blasted forward at Best Jeanist again, and the hero used his threads to drag himself around the room using the poles sticking up.

"Who's the worthless one now? You, or Midoriya?"

Bakugo's pupil's shrunk as he spun around and blasted after Best Jeanist, "Don't compare me to that _NERD_!"

"Why him, though!? Why is he always the worthless one in your eyes!?" Best Jeanist shouted as his threads suddenly pulled and flung concrete debris that had been blasted from the ground due to Bakugo's explosions.

Bakugo maneuvered easily around the debris, making his way closer to Jeanist.

"THAT BASTARD WAS WEAK! HE WAS ALWAYS WEAK!"

Bakugo's legs had threads wrapped around him, then yanking him across the room, spinning.

"NNGH!" He used his explosions to move upright before continuing to blast down to the pro hero, who was intrigued that now he was getting something out of the boy.

"And that gave you the right to treat him terribly!?" Best Jeanist shouted as his threads yanked himself back to make space between him and Bakugo.

"He was fucking _quirkless_, and yet he wanted to be the next All Might! _ALL MIGHT! _He was _nothing_ like me, he was the weakest out of everyone! And yet, he has the fucking _nerve_ to have the same goal as me!"

Best Jeanist narrowed his eyes.

_"Quirkless? Or so he thought... The boy must've manifested his quirk late, but before that, Bakugo found it revolting that such a person had the same goal as him... Aiming to be at the same level as him... To be on the equal footing as him..."_

He flipped through the air and let his threads pull him up and around the room.

"But that still didn't give you the right to treat him in any criminal fashion, to discriminate him from everyone else!"

"HAH!? Are you fucking saying _you_ would've just sucked up to him and told the quirkless nerd that he could become a hero!?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't encourage someone with no power in this society to become a hero, but I wouldn't actively torment that person because of it!" Best Jeanist retorted as he stopped himself in the air by using his threads to hold himself up like a web.

Bakugo flew at him, "Tsk! But he acted like he was fucking better than me! I DIDN'T NEED HELP ON THAT CREEK-!" His anger suddenly turned into shock as he realized what he was saying.

"Oh?" Best Jeanist's thread web came undone as he took advantage of Bakugo's lack of focus, all his strings wrapping around the boy's waist and keeping him in place in the air while he lowered himself back to the ground.

"Nngh! You..." Bakugo grunted as he felt the threads wrap tightly around him.

"Interesting... And that's where everything connects. Whatever happened at that 'creek' was what popped your reality that you were the best who would _only_ be looked up to by everyone. And from what I heard at the festival, Ureshi said that your arrogance was brought up through a series of events, with manifesting your quirk no doubt being one of them."

Best Jeanist lowered his hands, but still having a tight grasp of his threads.

"What he said was that Midoriya supposedly tried to 'help' you..."

He closed his eyes.

"Hm... So by being helped by someone you considered to be weaker than you in every way... it insulted you."

Bakugo had his head down and gritting his teeth, remembering Enso say the same things.

"I don't... need THIS SPEECH AGAIN!"

The cocoon of strings wrapped around Bakugo suddenly exploded, making Best Jeanist's eyes widen as the boy came at him.

On instinct, he titled his body just as Bakugo's palm came at him, getting out of the way of another explosion while noticing the sides of the boy having burnt marks.

_"He released explosions even when his hands were pressed against his own body... How frightening."_

He narrowed his eyes before waving another hand, to which several more threads from his clothing suddenly wrapped around Bakugo before he could point his other palm at him. The threads pulled Bakugo back all the way to one of the poles of the room, slamming him and the back of his head against it.

"Ugh!" Bakugo hung his head when he felt the impact, twitching in pain while his body was heavily tied up. "Damn... it..."

"You really are powerful and resilient." Best Jeanist complimented as he walked closer. "You actually caught me off guard... for a moment."

Bakugo was panting, visibly shaking in anger.

"But... Midoriya isn't weak anymore, is he? You and I both know this from his performance at the festival. In fact, I'm sure that he _must've_ proven to you a few times that he was strong while you've been with him in U.A. So I don't see why you still have so much hate for him, why do you keep this hate?"

Bakugo had his hands clenched into fists now.

"Fucking quirkless for his entire life... suddenly has a quirk, and then makes me look like trash in our first fight... Then he has the nerve to say that he didn't beat me... Looking down at me... Someone who should've been a quirkless nobody was fucking looking down at me..."

"..." Best Jeanist stared at Bakugo in silence as he listened to this, connecting everything together.

_"So Bakugo was first insulted by the thought of Midoriya, someone he considered weak, to have the same goal as him... But then that image changed, and he viewed Midoriya as someone who had violated every one of his expectations. The tables turned on him to reverse their roles of who was looking down at who... Or so in 'his' mind, he believes."_

He sighed, "Bakugo... Didn't you grow up with Midoriya? I'm sure you know him better than anyone else, do you truly believe he would look down at you?"

"Shut... up..." Bakugo grumbled, his arms shaking as he tried to move them.

Best Jeanist paused for a moment before releasing the boy and retracting all of his threads, letting Bakugo plop onto the ground.

"You always look at everything through your eyes, don't you? But if you know Midoriya, shouldn't you be able to clearly picture how _he_ sees everything?"

Bakugo had his hands and knees on the ground, pushing himself up as he raised his head and glared ahead at Best Jeanist.

"That nerd thinks he can beat me... He thinks he could just stand on the same level as me, thinks he could _surpass _me... But I'm going to show him..."

He slowly rose to his feet, eyes blazing in red.

"I'll show _everyone._"

Best Jeanist stared curiously in Bakugo's direction while tapping the side of his head as he pondered.

_"In a way... That might be true. But believing you can surpass someone isn't a bad thing. Bakugo just sees Midoriya as a threat, as someone against his pride rather than just healthy competition..."_

"Well... If you really wish to be better than him-" Best Jeanist got into another fighting stance with his hands up. "-then you should understand that this attitude of yours won't help you."

Bakugo just exploded forward.

"SHI-NE!"

_"Okay, seems that we've still got a lot to work on."_ Best Jeanist thought as he pulled his strings.

* * *

**~{Kamui Woods Agency-12:35PM}~**

Enso didn't know where Kamui Woods would be, nor did he have his contact information. So feeling nowhere else to go, he went to where he recalled Kamui's agency to be. Sure enough, when he arrived at the agency building (tempted to go to the roof again), he caught sight of the wooden hero in the front of it with Mineta and Mount Lady with him.

Enso stopped on the edge of a small building he was on, noticing that Jiro and Death Arms weren't present, and there was a stressed-out look in Kamui's eyes.

_"I guess he must be mad at me... If I don't want him reporting me, then it may be best not to make him even more irritated..." _Deciding this, Enso hopped down the fire escape of the building he was on to end up in a decently bright alleyway.

Before walking forward, he paused as he realized that there was some blood on his right hand, making him narrow his eyes.

He sighed, reaching into his left pocket and pulling out a handkerchief, then wiping the blood off his hands before stuffing the item back into his pocket.

_"And here I thought I got all of it off..."_

He quickly checked himself for any more out of place substances on him, pulling off the bandages on his head and dusting himself off. Then he made it out of the alleyway and towards Kamui.

Soon, he got close enough to where Mount Lady noticed Enso walking and pointed to him, to which Kamui turned around and immediately blasted towards him.

_"Oh boy..." _Enso sighed.

"ENSO!" The wooden hero jumped with his hand up in a karate-chopping position, intending to strike him on the head.

"..."

Enso just stepped aside as Kamui came down, causing the hero to miss and even stumble a big forward.

"Whoa-Ah! Phew..." Regaining his balance, Kamui turned to Enso with cross-veins appearing on his wooden head. "Why'd you dodge!?"

"Because... I didn't want to get hit?" Enso tilted his head, actually confused.

"You little-! Do you even realize how much trouble you should be in!? Not only did you leave in the middle of your internships, but you even used your quirk without authorization!"

_"Using... my quirk without authorization..." _Enso repeated.

"You're lucky I didn't report it to anyone and managed to convince Death Arms and Mount Lady not to say anything!" Kamui fumed.

"My friend was in trouble, so I left to save him." Enso explained.

That just seemed to make Kamui even more infuriated.

"Are you an idiot!? You know how many laws you're breaking to go out for that reason!? You'd better hope not too many people saw you and reported it, or I might not even be able to help you!"

"..."

Enso couldn't help but feel... conflicted.

"But... isn't going to save someone what a hero's meant to do?"

Kamui's anger instantly ceased when he saw the look in Enso's eyes. There was genuine confusion in them, as if he _knew_ he didn't do anything wrong, and yet he was getting punished for it.

"All these laws, these punishments for going out to save someone... They don't make sense. If someone with a true heroic spirit has the power to save someone in trouble, someone that could be dying right in front of them, then isn't the most reasonable assumption for that person to save the one in need? If they choose not to save them, wouldn't that count as a bystander like in a case of bullying? And wouldn't the people with the most potential with a heroic spirit be the one that wouldn't hesitate to run in and save someone? Why punish that person and take away their chance to become a future hero if that's the kind of person that'd be the best kind of hero? One who doesn't hesitate and runs in to save anyone?"

Enso looked down, narrowing his eyes as he also remembered just what he had heard earlier by a villain of all people.

_"True heroes wouldn't hesitate to save anyone, but 'fakes' would. A moment of hesitation is all that's need for a disaster to occur."_

Then he remembered what Kamui told him in their first patrol, _"No... You could give that reason for selfish heroes who desire fame and fortune, but for heroes that genuinely care about the well-being of the public, we use these patrols to raise their spirits."_

More of Kamui's words filled in. _"But at the end of the day, we're always here for the people, even if there are those among the public that don't think highly of us... We want the people to feel safe because we care for them, we want our society to remain stable and calm so the people can live peacefully. If we told people that there would be times we can't save them, if we told them that there may be villains living right near their homes, if we told them that there are heroes that don't care about them... then there would be fear, panic, and especially doubt among everyone."_

Enso raised his head as he continued speaking to a silent Kamui.

"And... While individuals who have the heroic spirit for the people are punished for taking action at times heroes can't, the 'heroes' that only think of fame and wealth are perfectly fine? The kind that doesn't particularly care for people and wouldn't have the spirit to give the effort to save everyone? Wouldn't those people be the ones that you told me before? In which they're the heroes that aren't for the people? So why are they still heroes?"

Kamui stared in silence as he listened in on Enso's questioning. What he saw was something he didn't like to see. Someone who didn't have a clue on how the world works, and would therefore just end up acting on only what _he_ felt was right. Enso wasn't entirely wrong with the things the thought, but... he wasn't exactly correct either.

Kamui sighed, reaching over and gently patting Enso on his shoulder.

"I don't know what the hell happened to you while you were gone... But it seems like you've really started to take the hero world more seriously. You've clearly never given it too much thought before coming to U.A, have you?"

"..." Enso looked down, "I didn't even give much thought even _while _in U.A..."

"Yeah... I thought so." Kamui chuckled. "It might take time for you to understand, but I'll explain the overall idea."

He put his hands on his hips.

"We punish people for the sake of keeping society in order."

"What?" Enso narrowed his eyes.

"Enso... You're right in that people with the heroic spirit and abilities would be the best heroes, but we can't just let anyone try to throw themselves in harm's way, even if they can help. It's the same reasoning as why police officers don't want citizens to involve themselves in dangerous situations, even if they could use the extra manpower."

He raised his arm and held up a finger.

"We're all supposed to be protecting the people, that's what heroes and the police are supposed to do, not involve the innocent where they could get hurt, or worse, _killed._"

"But I still don't see why the public has to be _punished_ for actually managing to help with their quirks." Enso said.

"It's because if we don't punish them, then others will think it'll be okay if they used _their_ quirks." Kamui sternly said. "Enso, just because people have the ability to help doesn't mean they should. Think about it. If someone, with no training to save people, took a situation into his or her own hands, then what do you think would happen?"

Enso frowned.

Kamui continued, "And even if there aren't heroes around, even if a person could possibly go help another in trouble... What if they both end up killed? There's... There's just too much danger in it. So we have these quirk laws and regulations to make sure people don't use their quirks to jump into any situation. People have gotten hurt before, and no doubt more people would get hurt if the inexperienced tried to help..."

Enso looked down and thought about the police chief, Tsuragamae's words. _"Even if someone has the ability to do something, if they use their quirks and rush into situations themselves without enough responsibility or training, then there is a large chance more damage could be done than stopped."_

"Your friend... Midoriya." Kamui started again, making Enso raised his head to hear Izuku's name. "I'm not sure you know this, but he didn't have his quirk a year ago. I _know_ this because I saw him run in to save Bakugo from a villain."

_"That's right..." _Enso recalled.

"He was smart, even blinding the villain with his own backpack. But... when it came to what mattered, he couldn't' even dig Bakugo out of the sludge villain he was stuck in. If it wasn't for All Might coming in on time to save the two, then... there was the chance _both_ of them would've died, with Midoriya's sacrifice just being in vain."

"..."

"With or without a quirk, the point is, we're keeping people from involving themselves in situations. And not just that, but we're keeping people from _creating_ situations with their quirks with the laws too. If people use their quirks for selfish reasons, then more trouble than ever will occur."

Enso thought about Stain's actions to kill 'fake' heroes for the sake of society. And he thought about Kamui saying that people are punished and now allowed to use quirks to keep everything in order, once again for the sake of the society they live in.

And indeed, he did remember Izuku running into the scene of his former bully without any power, nearly getting himself killed.

"Hm..." He 'believed' that he understood a bit.

"Soooooo, you guys done?"

Enso and Kamui turned to see Mount Lady there, bringing a mouthful of chips to her mouth as Mineta approached Enso with panic in his eyes.

"E-Enso! You left because of that message we got by Midoriya in Hosu City, right!? Wasn't that where the Hero Killer was!"

Hearing that, Kamui raised an eyebrow and glanced at Enso once more, learning just where and why he left.

Enso looked down at Mineta, ignoring Kamui's look. "Yes… That was the reason. But everything worked out."

"E-Endeavor came, right!?" Mineta asked.

"Yeah... he did."

Kamui picked up something from Enso's voice. It wasn't just cold and bland like it usually was, there was a hint of... Doubt? Sadness? He couldn't tell for sure, but it was clear that there was more to what he was saying.

"Are Death Arms and Jiro coming?" Enso asked, snapping Kamui out of his thoughts.

"Nope, they got some hostage situation to take care of." Mount Lady answered uncaringly as she took in another mouthful of chips.

"I see... So why are you all out here?" Enso asked.

"Waiting for you." Kamui answered with his hands on his hips. "I figured the only place you'd know to go to would be back to my agency."

"...And now that I'm here?"

"Lunch." Kamui answered.

"Oh." Enso forgot that he hadn't even eaten anything since yesterday.

"Then afterword, we'll go on a patrol together." Kamui told him.

Enso stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"So... did you already have a place in mind?"

"Kamui and I want to eat curry, but Mount Lady wants to stuff herself at a barbecue!" Mineta cried out.

Hearing him say that, cross-veins formed on Mount Lady head as she kicked Mineta off his feet. "You shouldn't say something like that to a lady!" she yelled with an irritated tone.

Enso glanced around him, noticing something.

"But… Isn't there a curry house _and _a barbecue house right over there?"

"Yeah, it's where we usually go." Kamui answered.

"I see... So we're splitting up then? I can buy my own meal." Enso asked.

"You're not gonna leave somewhere again, are you?" Kamui sighed.

"If I was, I'd let you know first and _then_ leave." Enso blatantly responded.

_"This kid... Why does it seem like he never takes me seriously?"_ Kamui facepalmed.

"Kamui! Lend me some money, please~" Mount Lady said in a... suddenly sickly sweet voice.

Kamui just seemed to get instantly pissed off.

"As if, you glutenous woman! You always ask me to 'lend' you money, yet you never pay me back! All you ever wanna spend money on is food!"

"Are you calling me fat!?" Mount Lady's sweet tone just vanished as she yelled and comedically started to bash Kamui.

"Would you _stop_ always resorting to violence!?" The wooden hero shouted as he backed up.

"..." Enso stared at them fighting for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and turning around. "I'm going to the barbecue house..."

Mineta just stared at Mount Lady's behind while some drool went down his mouth. "You... You do that. I'll just be... watching the two."

Enso walked away with a roll of his eyes, heading to the intended restaurant to get his first meal of the day.

A part of his mind lingered back to Kamui's conversation as he made his way inside the place. Punishments in saving others, the risk of the inexperienced acting out, the need for the laws to keep society in order... And then there was Stain, who acted outside of the law to get rid of those he viewed as a hindrance to society... Would Stain's be against people being punished for using their quirks, or would he actually be for it, so only the genuine heroic people are the ones to act out from the rest of the group?

Enso stood in a small line of people as he looked up at the menu, the back of his thoughts still exploring the wonders he had.

There was Stain, and then... there was Shigaraki, the one he had encountered at USJ. What were _his_ goals? What were the league's goals? He recalled what Stain remarked about both the league and the man-child;

_"Those bastards didn't understand... They don't have a true goal, nor the conviction for it. They just use their power because they have it, to kill things they don't like... But that Shigaraki at least has the idea that he wants to change the current society we have, I'm just hoping he won't end up being like any other pathetic thug..."_

"Hm..." Enso closed his eyes. _"It seems... maybe Shigaraki doesn't even have a goal..."_

"Damn that Kamui..."

Enso's eyes opened as he heard those words come from behind, realizing that someone had entered in the span he was in his thoughts.

"This is barely enough for a side course… Cheapskate…" Mount Lady grumbled as she pulled up beside Enso.

Enso, deciding he didn't want much to do with her, gazed forward at the menu and pretended he was deep in his own thoughts. But then he thought about the small amount of money the woman beside him had in her hands, making Enso wonder;

_"How much money did I bring?"_

He looked down and reached into his pocket to pull out a black wallet he had bought while in Izuku's world. He opened it and peeked in to see a rather large amount of money in it.

_"Hm... I forgot to empty out my wallet the last time I went gambling... It's been a while."_

However, with Mount Lady right beside him, the hero instantly noticed the large amount of yellow and purple in Enso's wallet. Her eyes widened as stars replaced both her pupils in a look of awe. She then lightly dusted herself to look more appealing. She sniffed herself, checked her hair, and then grinned confidently as she wrapped an arm around her waist.

Ready, she cleared her throat and coughed to get Enso's attention.

"Hm?" The male turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

"Hey…" Mount Lady moved her arm up along her stomach until it pressed right underneath her breasts, making them bounce. Along with this, her other arm moved her finger to her lips to make herself look more seductive.

"I don't really have a lot of money on me… do you think you could lend some to me~?" She asked in a cuter tone.

Enso stared at her with a deadpanned look, then simply turning away with one word;

"Begone."

Comedic lightning struck behind Mount Lady as she turned black and white, her jaw hanging in shock.

For Enso to be the first guy that just shot her down without a second thought, no sign of even a blush nor any stuttering, and... having that disappointing look on him.

Damn, that hurts.

"HUH!?" She suddenly dropped the act entirely as she grabbed Enso by the shoulders and pulled him to face her, shaking him back and forth as her eyes tried to burn through his head by how pissed she was.

"What the hell do you mean, 'begone!?' Who the hell says that when a cute girl is trying to get your attention!?"

Enso felt annoyed and grabbed her by the wrists, stopping her from shaking him.

"Well, I do, apparently."

Several cross-veins of irritation emerged on Mount Lady's head.

"You little-!"

"I'm taller than you."

"NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

"So loud..." Enso sighed.

"How the hell can you act like this to a girl!? What, you don't think I'm cute!? I'm only fucking 23! People would_ love _to have looks like mine!"

Enso rolled his eyes, "You think I'd have interest in someone such as you? In a logical sense, I'm sure you'd _look_ attractive to most people, but your personality is something that needs to be attended to. Every time I've seen you, you've been eating, complaining, or begging. It's quite... annoying."

Hearing that, Mount Lady's face started fueling red from the burning embarrassment and irritation she was experiencing.

"Huh!? You wanna say that again, you little shit!? I'll deck you right now!"

Enso scoffed, "You think you could just knock me down?"

"You bet your ass I can! I wrestled in high school!"

"With what, your conscience?"

Steam erupted from Mount Lady like a volcano as flames burst in her eyes, giving off a comedic but dangerous pressure.

_"Hm... Perhaps I went too far..."_ Enso sweatdropped.

Mount Lady looked like she wanted to strangle him, visibly shaking in fury with her arms up and fingers stuck out threateningly.

Enso sighed, knowing he had to defuse the situation. "Look... I'll buy you whatever you want, alright? Just don't cause a ruckus in here... I'd rather avoid causing any more trouble for Kamui..." He said as he noticed the stares of some people.

"Really!?" Mount Lady's aura and eyes suddenly changed to sparkles, her face also losing all of its red in an instant, leaving no trace of any previous anger.

_"She changes this fast over food!?"_ Enso's eye twitched.

"U-Um... Excuse me."

The two turned and realized that they were next in line, with the cashier staring rather nervously at them after seeing the tension between them.

"Whoops." Enso stopped forward with Mount Lady eyeing the menu in glee.

Enso order kabobs, grill beef, and a few other small items to try out, while Mount Lady... went all over the place on the menu, much to Enso's annoyance. Of course, he could afford everything she was ordering, but it irritated him how carefree the woman was with someone else's money.

_"And yet she's a hero..."_ He couldn't help but sigh.

They were both now sitting at opposite ends of a table with their food in front of them. Mount Lady was stuffing her face while Enso paced himself as he ate to make sure he got every flavor from his meal. Occasionally, he glanced outside the window bored and cold glance, thinking about the earlier events that had come out of Hosu City.

After the rather long silence, Mount Lady peaked at Enso, watching the stone-faced gaze the boy always had. She couldn't help but frown at his mood and decided to ask him what gives.

"Mmph, *gulp!* Oi, Ureshi." She called after swallowing.

Enso turned his gaze to her with his uninterested look.

"I prefer Enso."

"First name? You tell that to everyone?" Mount Lady raised an eyebrow.

"I do." Enso nodded, poking at his food with his fork. "So why did you call me?"

Getting back to her previous thought, she asked, "Why do you act so dark and emo all the time? People won't like you if you keep acting like that, you know? Especially with how scary and suspicious you look with that long hair and red eyes. At least _try_ to show off some charm."

"..."

He looked down at his food, "Hmph, 'show off?' Like how you flaunt your body around, seducing men for attention and manipulation?"

Mount Lady slammed her fist on the table, "Hey! I'm not _seducing_ anyone! I simply provide some fanservice to calm the people, not that a kid would understand..."

"First of all, I'm not a 'kid,' I believe I'm older than I look."

Mount Lady stared at him with a new look of confusion at how he worded that, "Say what now?"

Enso just continued, "Secondly, are you really using your 'charms' to calm down the public? Or are you just using them for your own growth of fame?" His eyes narrowed at her.

Mount Lady... could feel Enso looking down at her.

And that made her feel pissed off... again.

"Don't make me sound like some sort of attention whore! I actually _do_ care about the people, okay!? And if _you_ actually cared about them too, then would've you at least _try_ to present yourself to be more approachable!?"

Enso slightly rose his head in a silent gaze, his eyes... getting more intense? Mount Lady flinched and dropped her fork, the clanking echoing in the restaurant. She expected him to say something chilling, or maybe even _do_ something, and she just found herself staring at him, waiting for him to act.

But the boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, raising his right hand to manifest a black dagger in it. He then used his other hand to pull some of his hair down, raising his blade to its middle.

Mount Lady was shocked to see Enso cut his hair without a care in the world.

"Hey! Don't cut it here! It might get in... our... food?" Mount Lady's shouting died down as her eyes widened by what she saw next.

The hair that Enso cut off immediately started disintegrating in blue flames, every single strand of hair gone in an instant without even any ash left behind. And from where he cut his hair, _more_ of it started growing to replace the part he just lost. In the next few seconds, you couldn't even tell he had even cut it in the first place.

"Whoa..." That was all Mount Lady muttered.

Enso's dagger then vanished into thin air, the cold boy having an unamused look as he made his point.

"I can't cut my hair, I can't change my eyes, and I can't change how I _act_. I didn't ask to be like this, alright? I can't just... 'change' how I am. I didn't choose to be as 'dark' or 'emo' as you call it. And it doesn't matter either way, as I don't care for the public's attention or plan to appeal to them. For me... there's no point."

Mount Lady blinked in confusion as she listened to him, only to frown once more. "Sounds like a load of crap to me. Anyone can change, whether appearance or how they act."

"If that's what you believe, then so be it. Just stop bugging me..." He turned his gaze outside to the city streets, trying to get back into his thoughts.

Mount Lady blinked a few more times before pouting.

"The hell? What, so you're saying you don't feel anything, like a robot?"

"Of course not, everyone feels some form of emotion unless... programmed not to. I just... don't really connect to what people would say are the 'good' ones."

"And that's why you aren't reacting to any of _this_?" As Mount Lady said that, she raised both of her arms over her head, her breast's bouncing as she posed herself to look sexy.

"...No, emotion has nothing to with that. I just don't find you interesting."

Once again, comedic lightning struck as cross-veins emerged on Mount Lady's head, her teeth now into a strained and irritated smile.

"Did... Did you NOT just say that I look attractive?"

Enso sighed as he spun his fork in his hand.

"Correction, I said that in a _logical_ sense, you'd look attractive to _most _people."

"The hell do you mean by that!?" Mount Lady slammed her fist in frustration.

"I mean exactly by what I said. Looking at you, sorting out your features, and acknowledging what appears to be 'attractive' in general to people from my own experience, I just came to the conclusion that you'd be viewed that way."

He gazed at her body, still keeping his blank gaze as he put his fork down.

"Smooth skin, long smooth glistening blonde hair, a voluptuous body but still curvy figure, a strong woman who at least thinks for others... to a degree. Overall, I believe you'd be considered attractive by most people. The only kinds of people that would disagree would be those with different tastes in women in matters such as your personality."

Mount Lady's face actually turned completely red with her jaw hanging once more, completely caught off guard by how blunt and... 'detailed' Enso was about her.

"H-How could you say _all_ of that, with a _straight_ face!?"

Enso rolled his eyes, "Because why would I lose composure saying things like that? I don't see why people would get excessively flustered or embarrassed to notice or point out those things... You can appreciate beauty, the human body, or the traits that make up a person, but there's always a big deal when someone expresses interest... Mostly because it's clear that people only express these points when trying to attract the opposite gender."

"A-Are you secretly a pervert?"

"Hell no. Did you not just hear me?" Cross-veins popped on Enso's head.

At this point, several more questions rang through Mount Lady's head. She wondered Enso was really the _one_ guy that actually didn't get flustered or even care about her body, wondering if he was just putting on a tough guy act. Even Kamui would get flustered at times, and he basically knew her the most along with Death Arms.

"Hm..." She frowned before letting her curiosity get the best of her, making her stand up.

Enso raised an eyebrow as he watched Mount Lady seem to forget about her food and walked herself to the spot beside Enso, placing herself down on it with a serious expression.

"What is it?" Enso asked her to clarify.

As a response, Mount Lady scooted close to him and wrapped her arms around Enso's arm, pressing her breasts against it and making _sure_ he could feel how soft they were.

Enso now had a deadpanned gaze.

"What are you doing?"

Mount Lady saw that Enso didn't have much of any reaction to her, suddenly making her serious expression turn into a smile as she chuckled.

"Well, what do you know? You really don't care, do you? Most guys would _kill_ to get a feel of these, you know?"

Enso just glared at her as he felt the woman's suppleness, feeling more annoyed than ever.

"Do you not have any shame whatsoever to press your body like that?" Enso asked her.

"Oh come on, I'm used to people looking at me in those kinds of ways, especially those who take pictures." Mount Lady said as she continued to press herself against him.

"Looking and touching are two different things. You realize how inappropriate this is, don't you? I'm a U.A student, you're an adult working as a pro hero, yet here you are performing such an unprofessional and explicit action." Enso pointed out to her.

"Hey, you're the one that told me you're older than you look, right?" Mount Lady smirked.

"What does that...? *sigh* You know what, nevermind... Could you just let go of me? What kind of thought process did you even have that ended in you choosing you holding me?"

"It was a test to really see if you don't care about all those things in women. And now, I think we could be friends, kid."

Enso's eye twitched. "...Friends?"

"Sure. The only male friends I got are Kamui and Death Arms because I know they won't try to get a piece of me_._ But at the same time, they're both such... 'hardasses.' they never know how to have fun!" The woman complained.

"And... what the _hell_ is going through your mind to assume that _I_, of _all _people, would be 'fun.'" Enso's eye twitched more.

Mount Lady paused for a moment, looking up as she thought about it.

"I mean... You're not one for rules, are you? You _did_ leave your internship when you weren't supposed to. You seem like you aren't gonna try to 'get' with me, and you're also pretty loaded, so we can get out and buy some fun things. If only you'd stop acting so... edgy."

Enso facepalmed with his free hand, letting out a deep sigh.

"You've basically admitted to wanting to use me..."

"Whoa, 'use' is a pretty harsh word!"

"It still fits... *sigh* Look, Kamui and Mineta should be waiting for us by now... We should probably be leaving." Enso said, hoping to just get out of this stupid situation.

Mount Lady pouted, "Oh come on, it's not like-" She suddenly froze, her body tensing up as her eyes widened.

Hearing her cut herself off, Enso removed his hand from his face and turned to her as he felt the pro finally let go of his arm. "What is it?"

He didn't get an answer, as the pro hero was unable to get any words out while her face became completely red, looking past him.

Enso just turned his head to see where she was gazing at, only to frown to see both Kamui and Mineta with wide-eyed expressions just outside the window, the short student comedically crying blood from pure jealousy.

"Oh for the love of god..."

* * *

**~{A Few Minutes Later}~**

The group of four were now on the patrol they said they'd do after they ate. The two pro heroes led the front of the path while the students followed at a distance. Mineta's eyes stared intensely at Enso as they both walked side by side, with Enso attempting to ignore him as he walked with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Kamui awkwardly turned to Mount Lady, who was currently looking down with steam coming up from her head from the embarrassment of being seen holding a student, even if it was just to test him.

"Er... Hey-"

"If you say anything, I'll turn you into wood chips…" Mount Lady cut him off with an empty voice.

This made Kamui slightly flinch. "_Wow…"_

Despite the threat he received, Kamui knew that he could still say a few more things. "Look, you don't have to be so embarrassed, no one is judging you." He tried reassuring her.

Mount Lady slowly turned her head to Kamui, giving him one of the scariest death glares he's ever seen, making him shiver all the way in his spine.

_"S-Scary…"_

Kamui tried to maintain his professional stance. "L-Look, It's okay to be in a relationship with someone who may be a... 'little' younger than you. But maybe refrain from doing things like that out in public? You don't want the media to find out that your dating a student in U.A, do you?"

Hearing this, Mount Lady instantly flared up in giant flaming aura as her palm wrapped around Kamui's head and rose his off the ground with an iron grip.

"I'm NOT going out with him! If you even think for a MOMENT that I am, I'll use you to fuel a fireplace!" She shouted with flaming eyes.

"OWOWOWOWOW! Okay! ALRIGHT! I-I was wrong to assume! You're crushing me! YOU'RE CRUSHING ME!" Kamui shouted as he struggled to get his head out of her grip.

"What the hell are they doing?" Enso sweatdropped as he watched the immature actions between both adults, halting his walking.

Seeing the chance, Mineta jumped up and down beside Enso while still comedically crying.

"It's not fair! You got to feel a hot hero's boobs right up against your arm! And she did it on _purpose _at that! When the hell did you do to get a hot babe like Mount Lady!?"

"The way people are so fast to make assumptions annoys me..." Enso sighed, then turning his head to glance down at the short student. "I didn't 'get' anyone, Mineta. I'm not even trying to be in any pointless relationship..."

"THAT'S EVEN MORE UNFAIR! Why is the one guy that doesn't want a girlfriend the one that gets one!?"

"Did you not just hear me, you idiot?" Enso facepalmed. "Actually... You know what? Rather than try to explain, I'll just say this; Stop talking, or I'll make sure that, compared to Iida, your body is going to turn inside out." He said, menacingly raising a fist with a blue aura around him.

Recalling what _did _happen to the engine user, Mineta covered his precious area in pure horror, backing up 6ft away from Enso.

_"Finally..."_ The moody male sighed.

He turned forward and watched as Kamui was now on the ground, clutching his head in pain, while Mount Lady stood above him with her hands on her hips looking angrier than ever.

She turned her head, and the two made eye contact, to which Mount Lady immediately looked away as her cheeks flushed a bit.

_"Me? And that stupid brat? Fat chance..." _She growled as she started marching forward.

Enso simply sighed as he saw her actions, walking forward too.

"Women are troublesome…"

* * *

**~{Author's Pre-notes}~**

**Yes, this going exactly where you think it's going. I don't regret it because it's fun to write.**


	52. A Time Of Activity

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Huh, well what do you know. Another chapter in just about as much time as the previous chapter was posted. Turns out my school has got a week 0 for us students to just kinda get accustomed and all that. So... I had time to write another chapter of this. But now I just learned that I'm already gonna have an essay outline due Friday, fun. But anyway, this chapter is gonna be just a pretty chill one about the internships, and then in the next one we'll be heading back to school already, just like how I'm back in school now, oH bOy! But let's see how the internships continue on and I hope you all enjoy as always!**

Answered Comments (Oldest To Most Recent):

_PRemington900: _**You're welcome for the scenes with the girls! I knew I should add more moments of them, especially just them worrying in their internships for Izuku. And I have the thought that Kamui always knows what he's doing and that he understands the hero world more than most people by how fast he seemed to climb the ranks, so I really thought of him to be perfect for Enso to learn from. Glad you enjoyed!**

_Evan: _**No, Enso won't just have the techniques from those worlds. He has his own techniques that he's created based on the experiences he's had and the types of energy he's absorbed from others. It's his energy that allows him to form more techniques.**

_SpiceR4: _**Yeah, it would be really hilarious to have Enso just be sassy or savage to other characters more often. And as for the 'Russia' thing, it's actually based on the meme of 'You mean _our_" if you know. Like "I get candy. Siblings: You mean _our candy?_" Basically a joke of communism. And as for the vibranium weapons, keep in mind Enso has a limited amount, but he does have _someone_ already making a baby with them, heh.**

_Atomic11: _**I'm glad you appreciate my dive into the hero society, as that kind of stuff about a running world has always somewhat interested me.**

_TQ679: _**Can you really blame Izuku for being dense after his self-esteem was kinda shit on for nearly his entire life? That, and his somewhat innocent nature along with the lack of interactions with girls before U.A really just lets you know he doesn't have any experience with them at all, makes you feel bad.**

_Guest: _**Again, thanks for those fun facts before! But finding them on Pinterest? Does that really guarantee that they're all true? I'm not sure myself, but if they're fun facts, then there would be evidence from main sources somewhere, right? I'm interested if you know where the sources are from.**

_Nick4Speed:_ **Hm... Interesting. I play one's justice before, but I actually didn't think about the moves characters had there and not in the anime. I may actually implement of few of their moves, but we'll see.**

_Guest:_**Noir is working on his skills to draw the character better overall, so it may be a LONG time before you ever see an image of Izuku with his harem. Right now, he's currently working on drawing Izuku and Ikari together, a drawing I wish to see.**

_Vidkid: _**I don't really know where I got my humor fun. I've been told I can be naturally funny but also naturally cringy. You should've seen my senior graduation speech, people told me it was hilarious. But it might be from all the anime I watch and learning the comedic tropes of them, while giving things my own twist based on memes I've also seen. I'm just glad to know I'm making the fic funny.**

_Guest: _**I mean, yeah, he technically is. But from his first moment waking up in a lab, to how he currently is with Izuku, he hasn't changed in size or image one bit. Hm, I wonder if something made his body into a stasis as part of the experimentation? Hehe. I don't think he's changing back to any older look anytime soon.**

* * *

**~{Outside Kamui Wood's Agency-3:35AM}~**

Enso landed on another roof of a small building with Kamui's Agency building in the distance. The sky was nearly pitch-black, not many cars were driving down the city streets, and there was a lack of people walking along the sidewalk. Although Enso should theoretically be sleeping within the room provided to him by Kamui for the night, yet here he was, outside. Not only that, but he was jumping _back_ to the agency building, clearly coming from somewhere he had sneaked off to so late at night.

But from where? Who knows?

Enso landed one building closer to his destination by jumping normally rather than using Snipe Style, not wanting to be a shining beacon in the night.

But as he got closer, he stopped, glancing up at the tall building from the much shorter building he was at.

He sighed before sitting on the edge of the roof and letting his legs hang over, staring at the moon overhead.

_"I can't just sneak back inside... I had enough trouble just sneaking out..."_

He glanced down at the long fall below him while going through his thoughts.

_"I guess I'll remain here until morning comes. Then I'll have to give Kamui an excuse as to why I'm out here... Knowing him, he'd probably not even bother trying to question it too much because I've annoyed him enough as it is."_

He narrowed his eyes.

_"I have to leave each night, but I'll have to get a pass or something so I could sneak back into my room without raising alarms..."_

He sighed before pulling himself back up to his feet as he remembered something.

_"Right, I have to buy more bandages and find some strong handcuffs... I should get more rubbing alcohol too while I'm at it..."_

He turned and jumped away, looking for a convenience store to buy those things.

* * *

**~{Internships, Day 5- 9:07AM}~**

It was the fifth day of internships as Izuku as he sat up on his hospital bed, checking the media on his phone while sighing. Once again, news of the Hero Killer escaping and his message left behind were the top trending subjects on the internet. But as said by police chief Tsuragamae, Todoroki, Izuku, and Iida were just mentioned to be 'unfortunate' enough to have run into the Hero Killer before Endeavor came and 'saved' them.

But what Izuku was worried about the most right now, was recalling that the Hero Killer had somehow ended up escaping from the scene while everyone was in shock from Lynch arriving. It was a miracle how he was able to escape, even if Todoroki did help heal some of his wounds... to a degree. But it was also because of Stain's wounds that Izuku knew that the villain wouldn't be causing bloodshed anymore until he could heal himself. _Could_ he even heal himself? Would he be able to? And if he can't, wouldn't that mean he'd most likely...?

Izuku shook his head to get that thought out of his mind, not wanting to think that he caused a murder. Instead, he put his phone down as he recalled the questioning he got from the police detective, Tsukauchi, just the previous day. He told him everything he could remember from the encounter he had with Lynch, with even Ikari helping out to recall things... even if it was pretty uncomfortable to talk about.

He reached an arm behind him and felt the bumps of the scar on his back, the scar that spelled out the word that had the meaning he didn't want. Since they kept his encounter about Lynch a secret, Izuku knew he couldn't let _anyone _see his scar... Which would be quite a problem while in U.A, mainly changing in the locker rooms. Literally _everyone_ should know that Izuku didn't have the scar before the internships because it was at the Sports Festival where his clothes got ripped off and exposed his torso. He clearly didn't have anything on his back at the time.

_"This is going to be difficult to deal with..."_ Izuku sighed, thinking he had to be much more careful to keep things a secret. _"At least spending a few days in here gave me some time to think about it... But I feel like I've wasted enough time here..."_

The door for his room then slid open, and Gran Torino walked inside, looking stoic. "Hey kid, the doctors said you're good to go if you feel like it."

"Eh? Gran Torino?" Izuku was surprised by his sudden visit once more. "I can leave?"

The elder walked beside his bed.

"Well, you're no longer experiencing blood loss, and those wounds you got from the Hero Killer have already healed since they weren't 'too' bad. You up to leave now?"

"Y-Yes!" Izuku jumped out of bed and went to grab his clean U.A uniform folded on a chair next too him.

"I'll be waiting near the front. We've got a lot to talk about." Gran Torino said as he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

Izuku paused for a moment after hearing him say that, nervously wondering what he meant by that.

**_"It's probably about me."_** Ikari said Izuku from within his head.

"Probably..." Izuku muttered as he started to pull his hospital gown off-

-before pausing with a blank stare.

"Wait... You're not watching me, right?"

**_"...Seriously?"_**

"H-Hey! Getting watched by you is like getting watched by seven different people!"

**_"Oh come on, it's not like I haven't seen anything before! Poker Face even stripped you down to clean 'every' spot of you, remember?"_**

"_DON'T _remind me of that!" Izuku shivered nervously. "I-I still have goosebumps thinking about that..."

**_"Ugh, fine... I'll just go back deeper in here."_** With that, Izuku actually felt like something was gone, making him sigh in relief before continuing to change.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Izuku and Gran Torino were now walking back to the train station to return to the elder's home, heading through Hosu's streets while talking about important matters.

"So... You really nearly killed the Hero Killer?" Gran Torino narrowed his eyes.

Izuku flinched and looked down in some shame. "I-I... I just didn't have enough control..."

Gran Torino sighed. "So it seems... The angrier you get, the stronger your quirk gets, and the harder it is to control. We can't do much about that part of your quirk. You just have to learn to calm yourself in any situation. Maybe take up a hobby or meditate or something..."

"That... sounds like a good idea." Izuku muttered.

**_"Well, you could do singing, dancing, writing, drawing-"_**

_"Not now, Ikari..."_ Izuku sighed to himself.

"So... How did ya manage to come to an agreement with ya quirk?" Gran Torino asked as the elder waved for a taxi.

Izuku looked down and thought about it. "I mean... We just talked... We both wanted nearly the same thing, and we knew that things would be bad if we would just constantly struggle to take control of each other..."

A taxi stopped in front of the two, to which the boy and elder got in.

"Hosu train station." Gran Torino said before turning his head to Izuku. "When we get back to my place, we're gonna see just how much you can do with your quirk. You already wasted way too much time in the hospital."

"Yes, sir." Izuku nodded as he sat down beside the elder.

"Oh, and about your torn up costume, I sent it in to get repaired. It should be back by the time the internships end. But sadly, we ain't gonna be able to get out and get experience in the hero field."

"Oh... Thank you anyways." Izuku bowed.

He then looked out the window, going through his thoughts about what the rest of the week would hold for the internships.

_"I wonder how everyone else is doing?"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile}~**

Mina stared at the mirror of her room, eyeing herself in her hero costume. She always liked to think that she looked sexy in it, with how her purple and turquoise skintight camouflage bodysuit tightly wrapped around her figure. It really emphasized her curves, which she was currently staring at with rather focused eyes.

Her hands went to them and lifted them up a bit.

"Did they get bigger?"

She let them go, and they bounced a little.

"Hm... Does... Midori like them big?"

She lightly blushed at the thought, then forming a goofy smile.

"Hehe~ Maybe I should use them more? It'd be nice to make him turn red. Maybe even something could happen?"

She then turned her body so that her butt was facing the mirror, her hand brushing against it.

"Or... is he more of an ass guy?"

Mina pretty much knew that Izuku probably hadn't ever interacted too much with girls in the past, which explains the reason why he was always so nervous around them. Hell, with how innocent and pure the boy was, Mina wondered if he'd ever even spent time for himself to just _think_ about girls in that kind of way.

Probably not.

So this left her to wonder, what kind of girl would appeal to him?

"Hm... Well, in both areas, I've got it! Even a great waist!" She smiled proudly as she stared at herself in the mirror in all her glory.

But then she pouted. "I just have to have to hope he doesn't have bigger preferences in either area... Because Yao-Momo's got bigger bonkers, and I'm pretty sure Ochako's ass might even be curvier than mine..."

She shrugged before grinning once again.

"Oh well, even if that's the case, I'm sure he knows that out of everyone, he'll have the most fun with me!" she giggled, remembering her date with the boy. "I just gotta keep showing him that I can break him out of his shell, just get closer casually!"

Despite saying this, Mina was thinking of several ways to just tease the boy.

* * *

**~{At The Same Time}~**

Toru stared at herself in a bathroom mirror, wearing her U.A uniform.

"..."

But of course... all she was able to see was her uniform. Surprisingly though, you could see some notable curves: nothing too big, but nothing to laugh about.

Yet the girl sighed to herself and shook her head.

"I don't even know why I'm still thinking about this... In the end, I can't even be seen..."

She looked down as she thought about her best friend.

"Everything about her is better than me... Her boobs are bigger, she looks so pretty, and her quirk makes her look so unique from everyone else... The best I've got matching her is our positivity, and even then, here I am... feeling sorry for myself."

Toru sighed as she pulled herself back up and stepped out of the bathroom.

"I already chose to help her, anyway... So there's not really a point of thinking about..."

She took a deep breath as she walked out the door.

"But... at least I could just try being better friends with Midori rather than avoid him entirely..."

* * *

**~{Gunhead's Agency-10:23AM}~**

"Hi-yah!" Ochako used both her hands to grab the wrist and back of someone's neck before she slammed them against the ground, then twisting the person's wrist to make them let go of a rubber knife they had.

A few feet away, Gunhead applauded her happily.

"Good job Uraraka! You really are getting the hang of this!"

The gravity girl stood up and bowed politely to the person she managed to take down, then turning her head to Gunhead with a big smile.

"Thank you! I'm glad I'm doing better now!"

Gunhead approached her with his hands on his hips now.

"It's great that now you're back into your spirits! What had you down before?"

Ochako awkwardly chuckled, "Erm, sorry about that. I was just worried about someone."

Gunhead had a hand to his chin, "Oh? Was it a guy?"

Ochako flinched while lightly blushing, flailing her hands embarrassingly.

"I-I mean, he is! B-But-!"

"Is he your boyfriend?" Gunhead then chuckled.

Ochako looked down as her face became as red as Kirishima's hair, fiddling her fingers together with a nervous expression.

"N-No... B-But... I'd... like..." Her words trailed off.

_"How cute."_ Gunhead thought with flowers around him.

He then rose a finger and rose his voice to get her to listen.

"Alright, Uraraka! Listen up!"

The girl rose her head in surprise.

"If you want a guy to fall for you, then you must always make sure you grab his attention naturally!"

"E-Eh!?" Ochako was caught off guard by his advice, even taking a step back.

"You must make sure that out of everyone around him, _you're _the one that immediately catches his eyes every time you come into his view! But you have to make sure it isn't visible that you're _trying_ to get his attention, or he might suspect something!"

"W-Wait! I-I'm not- I-I mean-!?"

"Maybe a bit of makeup to look yourself cuter, maybe wear eye-catching clothing whenever you know you're gonna see him, or just always keep a big bright smile to catch him!"

Surprisingly, even though she felt embarrassed about it, Ochako had her attention completely on Gunhead, listening nervously.

* * *

**~ {Uwabami's Agency-11:32AM}~**

"You know..." Uwabami grinned mischievously as she, Momo, and Kendo stepped onto a busy studio for yet another shoot, all of them in their hero costumes. "About that _boy _you were both worried about~."

Momo and Kendo froze with their eyes widened.

"Why are you bringing him up again!?" Momo asked, her cheeks becoming a tinted red.

Kendo sighed and facepalmed, her face also turning slightly crimson. "Please don't try messing with us..."

"No, no, I actually want to help!" Uwabami laughed as she stopped walking and turned to them with hands on her hips.

"Eh?" Momo and Kendo blinked.

She raised a finger while grinning, making sure they were both paying attention.

"If you want to make sure you don't let your chances slip with a guy, then you have to be... _aggressive._"

Momo and Kendo both blushed a little more, not liking the implications.

"Guys actually really like _aggressive_ women. It's how I got my husband~" Uwabami said with a loving sigh, remembering her experience. "So be, more, _aggressive~_."

"Wh-What do you mean by that?" Momo gulped.

Uwabami's grin grew even bigger. "Use everything about yourself to appeal to him. Your cute looks, your wits, how smart you are, and act on the fact that men are weak to a woman trying to charm them~."

_"I... don't think that's entirely true..." _Kendo thought with her face turning even redder at the thought of her acting 'cute' around Izuku.

She glanced at Momo, the girl's onyx eyes widened, and the entirety of her face red as she listened closely to Uwabami.

Momo even glanced down at her own... 'assets.'

Kendo stared at her with a blank look.

"I don't mean to just use your body! There's a difference between charming and just straight up seducing! You naughty girls!" Uwabami laughed when she saw their looks.

Both of them flinched, steam coming from their heads.

* * *

**~{Selkie's Agency-12:45AM}~**

"Come on, keep it going!" The Sea Rescue Hero: Selkie shouted to everyone doing push-ups on the ship's main deck.

Sirius and Tsu were right beside each other, pushing themselves up and down while looking less tired than everyone else.

"Hey, Tsu, can I ask you something?" Sirius asked while doing push-ups.

Tsu turned her head with a small, "Kero?"

"It's about the guy in Hosu City, your friend." Sirius clarified while steadying her breathing.

"What about him, Kero?"

Sirius smiled, "Do you like him?"

"You mean as a love interest, kero?" Tsu's calm expression didn't change a bit.

"Heh, I really love how level-headed you are. But yeah, do you like him as a boy?" Sirius chuckled.

Tsu nodded even as she did push-ups. "I do."

Sirius stopped doing push-ups as she let out a small squeal of glee. "So you do!?"

"You should probably continue doing your push-ups before Selkie sees you, kero." Tsu warned her.

"Ah, whoops!" Sirius started dropping down and pushing up just as Selkie passed by. After seeing their captain pass, she turned to Tsu again with another big smile. "So, are you gonna confess?"

Tsu looked down at the ground. "I thought about it, but there are... 'others,' kero."

Sirius's look of glee turned to a look of confusion, "Huh? Others? Wait, so you have rivals!?"

Tsu turned her head back to her friend, "Yup."

That made Sirius look stunned. "Is... Is he really that great of a guy?"

"Yup, he's... I guess what'd you could call pure, kero."

"And... you're not gonna confess because of the others?"

"We have a bit of a silent agreement, kero."

"Hm... What about just getting closer to him? Have you done anything to get him to pay more attention to you?" Sirius asked out of curiosity.

"No... Do you have any suggestions, kero?"

"I have one!" Someone else shouted.

Tsu and Sirius looked up to see captain Selkie in front of them now with a big grin.

"C-Captain!?" Sirius stopped her push-ups out of surprise.

Selkie focused on Tsu with a finger raised, "Froppy, can you cook?"

Tsu stopped her push-ups too, looking up at the pro hero with a tilt of her head.

"I can, I have two siblings at home that I usually had to watch over." She responded.

"Perfect!" Selkie laughed, "If you want to get to a man, then do it through his stomach!"

Sirius scoffed, "You're just saying that because your wife stuffs you with food every day so she has you wrapped around her finger!"

Selkie flinched, "B-But food still works! It'll make a man come back begging for more! Try it, Froppy! We'll be rooting for you!"

"Froppy!" The rest of the tired crew shouted despite panting.

"Oi! Did I say you could stop!?" Selkie then shouted.

Tsu was looking down, actually thinking about it while turning a little red from the encouragement everyone gave her.

* * *

**~{Edgeshot's Agency-1:45PM}~**

Edgeshot was in a meditating stance in the middle of a decently dark room, eyes closed as he listened closely to his surroundings.

He heard a small tap of a footstep, making him sigh.

"You're twenty-five feet to the top right of me. Remember, keep your center of balance low, and walk using your toes and the ball of your foot first. Place your feet as light as you can on the ground and focus on how you're shifting your weight."

"Damn it!" Shinso yelled from the shadows.

"And don't give away your position entirely..." Edgeshot sweatdropped.

* * *

**~{Best Jeanist's Agency- 2:13PM}~**

_"We're not making as much progress as before..."_ Best Jeanist was once again getting pulled back by his clothing's threads, creating distance between himself and Bakugo.

_"Not only that, but Bakugo is actually getting the hang of not getting tied up..."_ He stuck his hands out as his threads shot out at blinding speeds to wrap around the explosive teen ahead of him.

Bakugo blasted forward at Best Jeanist before using his explosions to constantly spin himself, blasting away the threads that all came to wrap around him.

Best Jeanist landed on the ground and narrowed his eyes when he saw Bakugo immediately swing his arms to actually blast some of the metal poles in the room, sending them away.

"Trying to limit the mobility of my quirk by removing the features of the room? I'm surprised that you didn't try that sooner." Best Jeanist scoffed.

Bakugo was grinning menacingly as his palms let out some sparks.

"Well, _before_, I actually didn't want to just smash up the place!"

"How... thoughtful?" Best Jeanist rose an eyebrow.

* * *

**~{Kamui Woods-5:23PM}~**

_"So boring..."_ Enso thought as he and Kamui once again patrolled the streets, the student following the wooden hero through many paths. Nearly the whole day was uneventful for Enso, mostly just following the wooden hero around the city, making small talk or keeping silent as Kamui waved to the public. There wasn't really much of a conversation between the two...

Not until Kamui brought up something.

"Hey, Enso? Just curious, why weren't you in your room this morning? I came to wake you up but then was told by the secretary that you were outside." Kamui asked, glancing his head back to him.

"I was out because sleep and I have a mutual hate for one another." Enso answered with no hesitation.

"..." Kamui shrugged, "Isn't that like a mood or something?"

"Huh?" Enso tilted his head with a question mark over it.

"Er, nevermind..." Kamui waved it off.

Enso shrugged, "I don't know what you meant by that but know that I don't sleep too much, so expect to see me already outside in the morning. I might even take the chance to explore the city at night."

Kamui stopped walking and stared Enso suspiciously.

"You're... using the streets, right?"

Enso stopped his feet, staring blankly at Kamui.

"..."

Kamui's eye twitched, "Are you kidding me!? Are you telling me that you learned _NOTHING_ from when you ran off!?"

Enso rose a finger, "Actually, I didn't use my quirk to jump around this time."

"And that makes it better!?"

"I mean..." Enso tilted his head. "I guess others would say... it's a start?"

Kamui stared at Enso with a blank look, then facepalming.

"Why, do, I, keep, d_ealing_ with you?"

Enso shrugged, "Honestly, I'm amazed how much patience you have. It actually makes me want to keep bugging you."

"You little..." Cross-veins popped out on Kamui's wooden head.

"I would say sorry, but... I'm really not."

"I know you aren't..." Kamui sighed in defeat. "Rather than try to scold you more, let's _finally_ get you to do something hero-like..."

"The way you implied that about me annoys me." Enso remarked as he and Kamui continued to walk again.

"Yeah? Well, you annoy the shit out of me too, kid..."

"Wow, even losing the formal language." Enso sighed.

By this time, Kamui had led Enso to where he would supposedly do something 'hero-like.' The emotion-lacking teen narrowed his eyes as he saw Kamui heading towards a port, indicated by the several different colored shipping containers in the distance, with few people walking around the area.

"Hm? Why are we here?" Enso asked out of curiosity.

"We're not going there... yet. Don't look over and just keep following me." Kamui answered as the two passed the entrance to the port casually and carried on to a cafe about a street away. It was there Enso noticed that Jiro and Death Arms were waiting inside with Mount Lady and Mineta, although when his eyes locked with the older female pro, he received a dirty and threatening glare from her.

_"Don't tell me she still blames me for that misunderstanding?"_ Enso sweatdropped.

He then also noticed a different look from Jiro compared to how she normally looked at him. There was a sense of uneasiness in her eyes, along with the feeling of suspicion she gave off.

Enso narrowed his eyes when he saw her look. _"Something's off..."_

"Yo, Kamui." Death Arms waved to him as they entered the place.

"Good afternoon, Death Arms." Kamui politely bowed as they got close.

Death Arms turned to Enso and couldn't help but frown a bit. "You..." He crossed his arms. "Did you learn your lesson about running off like you did?"

Enso nodded, "I did. From now, I'm running and traveling by the rooftop _without_ using my quirk."

"..."

Death Arms just sighed as he lowered his arms, "Well... It's a start."

Enso turned to Kamui, "See? Told you."

"You shut up, or I'm telling Nezu to make you carry him in U.A for an entire day."

"Understood, shutting up."

Death Arms actually grinned a bit from the two, finding amusement in their interactions. "Heh, it's nice you're both being great 'friends,' but let's move on to why we're here."

Enso raised his hand for permission to speak.

Kamui sighed, "You can speak as long as it's something _relevant_."

"Okay, I don't actually know _why_ we're here." Enso pointed out.

"Hm? Kamui didn't fill you in on what we're doing?" Death Arms raised an eyebrow.

"Must've slipped my mind from how _stressed_ I've been feeling recently..." Kamui groaned.

Enso nearly opened his mouth to remark something, but closed it while simply turning his head away.

Death Arms rubbed the back of his head as he got explaining. "Alright... I'll keep it brief. Lately, there's been many reports of young children between 5-7 years of age getting kidnapped throughout the city, usually in crowded areas. We've been tipped that they may be residing somewhere in that port a street away, within that maze of shipping containers... ready to be shipped out."

"So you're saying that port may be the headquarters of human traffickers?" Enso raised an eyebrow.

"We wouldn't say 'headquarters,' but apparently it's where they're bringing everyone they capture." Death Arms told him.

"Yup... And that's why we're going there." Kamui glared, thinking about the children being kept captive. "According to some of the information we've obtained, there should only be the workers left there right now, so we'll search the area now to find those children before they're gone."

"B-But what if those kids have already been shipped out!?" Mineta panicked.

"Don't say things like that, you idiot!" Jiro growled as she used her ear jack to puncture Mineta's head.

"GYAH!"

As the short boy fell to the floor, the group continued.

"I know they must be still here. During the earlier parts of the day, that port focuses on unloading containers that have arrived from ships at sea. Near the nighttime is when they focus on shipping away containers they currently have." Kamui responded. "More specifically, they should be loading up containers within an hour."

"So, that means the captives should still be here." Death Arms concluded.

"Yes, but not forever, so let's get searching." Kamui commanded.

Everyone left the cafe and hurried on to the port, with Enso trying to ignore the glaring Mount Lady, who had been quiet the entire time.

They made it to the port entrance and rushed inside, then stopping and glancing around the area while Kamui gave commands.

"Jiro, you can listen in on the area, correct?"

"Yeah, I can." Jiro nodded with a serious look.

"I also have methods for searching for people." Enso added.

"Then we'll be splitting up to search everything faster!" He pulled out a few earpieces and handed them out to everyone in the group. "Use these to keep in contact with each other if you find something. Keep in mind that just because only workers are supposed to be here doesn't mean we're safe!"

"S-So villains could be here!?" Mineta stammered nervously.

"Just suck it up." Enso sighed.

Kamui pointed fingers at the corresponding people he spoke to, "Jiro! You and Death Arms will come with me to the northern part of the port! Those are where the main buildings are and no doubt where anyone suspicious would be! Jiro will use her quirk to give us the positions of everyone around while we take care of anyone there!"

He turned to the other three.

"Mount Lady! You, Mineta, and Enso will search the southern part!"

"Huh!? I'm babysitting these two!?" She snapped.

"There's no time to argue, let's go!" Kamui set off running with Death Arms and Jiro. "And kids, if you run into any trouble, don't engage! Just retreat and let us handle it!"

Enso narrowed his eyes as he saw Jiro glance back at him, the girl then turning her head forward. _"Does she suddenly have a problem with me?"_

Mount Lady was gritting her teeth with angry veins or irritation. _"Great, so I'm stuck with small grapes and vampire here..."_

She rubbed her eyes and sighed, then turning to the two with a small frown.

"All right... Here's how we'll do this... Mineta, you go search over there." The pro pointed to a general area.

"Eh!? By myself!?" Mineta cried out in fear.

Mount Lady then struck a pose to make herself look cuter and changed her tone of voice. "Can you do it for me... please?"

"YES, MA'AM!" Mineta shouted with a salute and heavy breathing, his face entirely red to go with it.

Enso facepalmed as the short boy immediately took off to where Mount Lady pointed him, disappearing as he used his hairballs to bounce away.

As soon as he was gone, Mount Lady's expression turned back to irritation, "Of course he'd listen if I did that... so simple."

She then turned back to give instructions to the other one. "Ureshi, you-"

The male was already walking away down the shipping containers, hands in his pockets with his back to her.

"Wha-!? HEY!" Mount Lady ran after him.

Enso continued to walk looking cold as usual as Mount Lady caught up to him, the woman stepping in front him with a pissed-off expression.

"Ureshi! Where do you're-!?"

"Enso." The male insisted as he stopped his pacing.

"I don't give a shit!" Mount Lady snapped before pointing at him. "Don't go off without saying anything!"

"Weren't you gonna send me to search here anyway?" Enso responded as he got back to walking passed her.

"That's not the issue, you brat! If Kamui or Death Arms learn that I let you go off without saying anything, then _I'm_ the one in trouble!"

"I don't see why you're uptight about this. I thought you'd be glad if I was away from you after our previous interaction."

At that, Mount Lady grabbed Enso by the shoulders and pulled him to face to her, eyes glaring into his soul.

"You forget that _ever_ happened, got it?" Her voice demanded with a threatening demeanor.

Enso stared at her, unamused. "So be it."

_"At least this means we probably won't be friends."_ He thought as Mount Lady released him and turned her back to him.

"Hmph, just follow me and shut up, alright!" She snapped before marching forward.

_"So annoying..."_ Enso sighed. But rather than follow her, he turned right to one of the containers and leaped up, landing on top.

Mount Lady heard the thud of his landing it and glanced back to see Enso on top of the container, making her eyes widen.

"Hey! What do you think you're-!?"

"Oh would you just shut up?" Enso sighed as he closed his eyes and clapped his hands together in front of him as if praying.

"I'M COMING UP THERE AND RIPPING YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" Mount Lady ran over and started to climb up the side of the container.

Enso ignored her and focused his power.

_"Punk Style-Calm Mind."_

A mental image appeared of a raindrop falling into a completely still body of water. Ripples spread, and Enso saw white silhouettes in the dark world around him. He saw every container within a certain distance and also saw faint outlines of what was within them.

Luckily, Calm Mind covered a large diameter of the area around Enso. He quickly found one specific container hidden a few rows down that contained several figures sitting with heads buried in their legs as if crying.

Mount Lady had climbed onto the container by then and was heading to Enso to finally deck him, but the boy opened his eyes saying;

"I found them."

The female pro stopped with a confused blink. "Eh?"

"The children. I found out where they're being kept." Enso answered as he lowered his hands, and his blue aura faded.

"Wha-!? How!?"

"Quirk, detecting my surroundings, that stuff." Enso vaguely explained as he jumped off the container and started walking again.

"Hey! What even is your quirk-ah!?" Mount Lady had run to the edge to jump down after Enso, but tumbled forward and fell off the edge.

Enso heard her and turned back to see her falling, instinctively appearing underneath and catching her bridal style.

Mount Lady blinked a few times as she stared at Enso's crimson red eyes. Now that she was staring at them up close, she actually thought that they were... pretty. They seemed to shine unnaturally compared to normal eyes, no doubt because of his quirk, most likely.

Enso, however, wasn't absorbed in anything about Mount Lady in his arms. He just had a blank expression as his arms actually shook a little holding the woman.

"You're... really heavy. I really suggest eating less."

So many cross-veins popped out on Mount Lady's head, her teeth showing as her pupils shrunk.

"BASTARD!"

She actually cocked her fist back to bash it into Enso, who responded by just dropping her to the ground before she had the chance.

"Gah!" Mount Lady landed on her behind, putting her hands on it as she felt some pain in her tail bone.

"It was only a suggestion..." Enso started walking away again.

Mount Lady got up, completely infuriated. "Y-You! YOU! How could you be so _RUDE_!?"

Enso stopped for a moment and glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow.

Mount Lady marched to him and poked him right on the chest as she glared into his eyes.

"This whole time, you've just been a pain in the ass! Is this what Kamui constantly deals with!?"

"Yup." Enso responded with no hesitation.

"Ugh! Then you just act like you don't even care! Can't you have some tact!? You're trying to be a hero, for crying out loud! It's so... frustrating!" Mount Lady actually stomped the ground while clutching her head, looking down with a groan.

But then she looked back up with another glare.

"But that's not even the worst part!"

"It isn't?" Enso rolled his eyes.

"No! The worst part is that it feels like you're _purposely_ doing it so everyone hates you, like you're pushing everyone away!"

It was then Mount Lady saw something that caught her eye. When she said that last sentence, she saw the tiniest hint of a twitch in Enso's eyes.

"Wait..." Her eyes widened in realization. "You're actually-?"

"We've wasted enough time, those children are waiting." Enso had already turned around and started marching off before the woman could say another word.

Mount Lady remained still, perplexed as she watched him.

This time, she frowned not from the frustration she had been feeling before, but from the newfound thought of isolation, Enso seemed to purposely give off.

_"If there's one thing I know about people pushing others away... There's always a dark reason behind it..."_

She ran ahead to catch up to him.

"Hey!"

She saw him turn the corner and went after him, then finding him standing in front of a green shipping container.

"Ureshi-!"

"Enso, please. Get it right next time." He coldly responded.

"Doesn't matter! Look..." She sighed. "I'm sure you've got... 'things' happening to you, but that doesn't mean you should be a complete _ass_ to everyone around you!"

Enso glanced back at her, narrowing his eyes. "Stop it with the pointless discussion. We're not here to talk. We're here for them." He said, pointing his finger.

"Huh?" Mount Lady glanced passed Enso to the green container in front of him. "They're there?"

Enso nodded before walking forward to the handles and reaching for them.

"Up up up! Hold on!" Mount Lady rushed in front of Enso and stopped him from opening the door, looking completely serious. "You stay back and let me handle this. Those kids might be scared of you and mistaken you as a villain."

She turned to the door, but then glanced her head back for a moment.

"No offense."

Enso just rolled his eyes.

Mount Lady approached the handle and grabbed it, then tugging at it hard. However, something kept jamming it in place and the door was, therefore, unable to open. Mount Lady then looked under the cubed opening to see if any locks were there and indeed discovered one there.

She groaned as she stood up straight, turning to Enso. "You think you could pry this thing? I'm not really suited for this."

Enso sweatdropped.

"Um, excuse me?"

Mount Lady and Enso turned their heads to a new voice that called out to them, finding a somewhat tall man wearing a white hard hat and a blue worker outfit.

_"One of the workers..." _Enso analyzed.

"What are you both doing here? This area is restricted to- M-Mount Lady!?" The man was suddenly shocked to see the pro there.

Enso noticed him get tense with worry in his eyes, different from what he would expect from how a person would act in excitement to meet a hero they admired.

_"So he's not happy that she's here..."_ He glanced his head around.

"I-It's an honor to meet you!" The man stammered, having a strained smile.

Mount Lady smiled and gave a sexy persona, "It's great to meet you too! I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm in the middle of something important, but can you unlock this container for me, please~?"

"I-I..." The man's eyes then brightened as he pulled out his phone. "But of course! I-I just have to text my boss to bring the keys!"

"Thank you~" Mount Lady sweetly smiled.

Enso deadpanned at her act.

The man quickly texted something on his phone, at a quick pace at that. Once finished, he quickly put it away and glanced back up at Mount Lady. "Th-There! He should be here in just a few minutes! In the meantime, could you tell me what you're both doing here?"

"Sorry, can't really say. It's hero business, please understand." Mount Lady smiled innocently.

"Th-Then how about a picture?" The man asked next.

_"He's trying to stall..."_

Enso closed his eyes and clapped his hands together again, blue aura forming around him yet again.

_"Punk Style-Calm Mind."_

Once again, he saw everything around him. But _this_ time, he saw the white outlines of several people gathering up with weapons in their hands, sneaking closer around him.

"I knew it." He said as he opened his eyes, their blue color changing back to blue.

"Hm?" Mount Lady and the worker both turned to him.

"Were surrounded."

Mount Lady narrowed her eyes, "You detected them?"

"Yes. Approximately twenty people, each armed with a weapon. Each of them also seemed to have a hard hat on them, so it seems that the culprits here are the workers themselves."

The moment he heard Enso say that, the worker next to them reached behind himself and pulled out a handgun with a strained look, aiming it at Mount Lady's head.

The pro immediately turned back and grabbed the man's wrist and forced his hand up, the gun firing into the air. Enso then performed a roundhouse kick, swinging his leg and nailing the man right on his head.

"GAH!" His eyes turned completely white as he let go of his gun and was sent to the side, crashing into a container.

Mount Lady then turned to Enso with a pout. "I could've handled him myself."

"I'm sure you could've, but I wanted him knocked out as soon as possible. We've got more to deal with." Enso turned his head and saw the other workers finally show up, each with a gun of some sort.

"One moment." Enso suddenly scooped Mount Lady in his arms and picked her up bridal style.

"EH!?" Mount Lady's face flushed in red by the sudden action.

"Snipe Style-" He crouched as yellow aura and eyes burst up. "-Ricocheting Bullet."

Enso blasted off in a yellow trail as dozens of bullets rained down at the two, bouncing off one side of a shipping container to another, making his way down rows of them to escape.

When he knew they were out of range, he skid to a stop behind another container and kept his back to it, peeking around the corner to check for anyone close.

"To think it was the workers themselves who were the villains... It was the perfect cover." He muttered.

He felt Mount Lady lightly punched his cheek, making him glance down to the woman in his arms, glaring up at him.

"Can you put me down now?"

"..."

"Not _DROP_ me!" Mount Lady snapped before he could do anything.

"..."

Enso sighed as he gently placed her back on her feet.

_"He god damn thought about it..." _ Mount Lady glared.

Once being put down, Mount Lady reached to her earpiece. "OI! Kamui! Red eyes and I nearly had bullets rained into us! There are over a dozen hostiles armed with guns!

She only heard static on the other side of the communications.

"Oi! Kamui! Could ya hear me!?"

Enso was peeking around the container they were hiding behind.

"Either he's in the middle of his own predicament, or someone is interfering with our communications..."

Mount Lady groaned, "There's _always_ gotta be someone like that, doesn't there!?"

Enso then saw several people coming from different places, carefully aiming their weapons for any sign of them.

Seeing this, Enso turned back to Mount Lady. "I don't believe you're suited for going up against bullets. It may be better for you to stay back while I take care of this."

Mount Lady just scowled.

"As if! I'm supposed the pro here keeping _you_ out of trouble! I could handle them just fine! My quirk can take all of them!" Mount Lady declared while aggressively pointing a thumb at herself.

"Even with your quirk, they have guns, you'll just be a big target." Enso responded.

"It doesn't even matter if they hit me! My skin gets too thick for bullets to get through while I'm huge! And the material for my costume makes sure they don't stay lodge in me when I shrink back down!" Mount Lady snapped back.

"Really? Hm... I didn't think you'd actually be prepared."

Mount Lady grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close so his face was inches from hers, an intense and serious expression on her face.

"Remember kid, I'm a professional hero. I learned everything I was supposed to learn, did what I was supposed to do. So don't look down on me thinking I'm not prepared. I worked hard to be where I was, and right now, _I'm_ the one that's gonna deal with those thugs out there." she said in a stern whisper.

"..." Enso was... oddly impressed.

"So you stay back and go save those kids while they're all focused on me. I can't babysit you while I'm fighting out there, and I know you can take care of yourself, so go. But make sure you avoid _anyone_ you see."

"Weren't you worried that those children would be scared of me?" Enso reminded her.

"At least you'll be there to protect him, only you can go right now." Mount Lady then turned around and ran out from their cover while growing into an enormous size with her quirk.

"There she is! Shoot!"

The men with weapons all started to fire up at the giant woman, unloading all their clips.

Enso waited as he watched Mount Lady start to overwhelm most of them easily, slapping them away or grabbing them before flinging them to others.

When he was sure everyone was absorbed on her, Enso turned and performed a light jog in the other direction, making his way back to the container he had seen before.

But after going through a few rows, he narrowed his eyes to see two men with firearms come out from behind a container, only to stop when they saw Enso.

They aimed at him, "Oi! What are ya-!?"

_"Brute Style- Bulk Up."_ Enso's eyes and aura flared in white as he blasted towards the two.

"Kill em!" They both unloaded their clips, but with Enso's dense aura from Brute Style and the added defense from Bulk Up, all the bullets bounced off him as he approached both men and jumped up.

"Wha-!?" Both of their eyes widened before Enso came down with both fists crashing into their head, slamming them down to the ground and kicking up dust.

_"They won't be getting up anytime soon..."_

He stood up and continued jogging, turning a corner but then stopping as he heard a sniper shot ring out.

Even with his aura hardened, a sniper's powerful force could make his head hurt by the impact, so he tilted it back and narrowly avoided the bullet that pierced the container beside him.

_"Even sniper rifles?"_ He turned with a glare to the shot's source, seeing a man actually lying on top of a container as he reloaded another bullet. "_Two could play at sniping."_

"Snipe Style-" Enso watched as the man loaded up his second bullet, his colors turning yellow once more. "-Piercing Shot."

Enso blasted forward diagonally at the man, and the man fired another round at the same time. He narrowly passed by the large bullet before his fist came all the way into the sniper's face, the cracking of a nose echoing.

The man was instantly knocked out with a grunt, and his sniper dropped onto the container. Enso landed on his feet and glanced down at the blood in his hand from the broken nose he caused.

"*Sigh* Not again..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, cleaning the red while glancing at the scene behind him.

He saw Mount Lady still catching thugs, but by now, everyone else had arrived. Kamui, Death Arms, Jiro, and Mineta were all there, although only two were actually fighting. Kamui used his branches and Mount Lady her size, while Jiro stayed back with her earlobes plugged into the ground, giving off everyone's positions while Death Arms guarded her. As for Mineta, he frantically ran around, panicking as he threw balls of his quirk everywhere. Conveniently, many men ended up stepping on these balls, getting them stuck.

_"I guess I'm on my own to get those kids..."_ Enso hopped off the container and went through two more rows of containers before making it to his destination. However, two men guarded the container now, no doubt since he and Mount Lady had been close to it earlier.

He leaped high into the air, becoming a silhouette under the evening sun with his aura turning white yet again.

"Eh? Oi, what's tha-?" The man didn't finish as Enso came down and once again smashed his fists on both men at the same time, knocking them out instantly as their heads hit the ground.

_"Kamui might get mad at me for giving them concussions, but... meh."_

He stood up and adjusted his red tie, which had become slightly undone throughout the endeavor, and then approached the container's doors.

He was still in his Brute Style as he reached his hand under an opening and grabbed the lock, managing to use the enhanced force of his style to snap it off.

He then stepped back as his white eyes and aura faded away, grabbing the door's handles and pulling it open with a rather loud screech of grinding metal.

It was dark inside, only getting slightly brighter as Enso opened the door fully to let the light in. He saw many small figures in the back of the rusty container, some crouching on the ground and others leaning against the wall. But they all instantly stood up in fear when they saw the door open with Enso being there.

As Kamui had said, several of them were inside, all of them appearing to be from 5-7 years of age. Each one had unique features, from claws, to even one with green, rough skin.

_"No doubt they focused on finding children with appearances of combat suited quirks..."_

Enso stared at the young ones for a brief moment with his usual cold gaze, while the kids stared back, nervously shaking.

The hero-in-making sighed before taking a step forward.

"Do you all want to go home?"

Hearing that, the children's eyes widened with looks of hope, but still contained the same fear as before.

_"Hm... This might be difficult."_

"MISTER!" Someone cried out from the back of nearly the dozen children.

"Hm?" Enso raised an eyebrow as someone politely pushed through the other children and headed towards him. He came out and wrapped his arms around Enso while his head was placed on his stomach in a hug.

Enso's eye twitched, and he nearly knocked the kid out on instinct but managed to keep his hands still as he simply glanced down at who this person was.

He then recognized the child on him, his brown hair, the same black shirt and blue shorts from the first day of his internship, and the familiar sneakers. However, his attire was dirty, and he had some bruises on him, no doubt from struggling sometime before.

"You're...Mijitsu Kibo, correct?" Enso asked.

The child looked up, and sure enough, he had the same amber eyes Enso had recognized days before. They had tears tricking down, but a happy smile on his face.

"Y-You're here! You're here to save us!"

Enso narrowed his eyes. "What happened to you?"

Kibo kept his hold on Enso as he sniffled, "I-I was walking with mama u-u-u-until... h-h-he..."

"Never mind, don't try to speak. It'd be better if you didn't try to explain right now." Enso cut him off.

He then glanced forward at the other children, who were now beginning to shuffle closer to Enso, seeing that one of their fellow captives seemed to know him.

Enso sighed, closing his eyes.

"I'll ask again..."

He opened them and reached his hand out.

"Do you all want to go home?"

**~{A Few Minutes Later}~**

The worker thugs were all now lying on the ground with their hands stuck behind them in various ways. Mineta used his balls of hair to stick their hands behind their back, Kamui used his branches to keep several villains held down, and Death Arms used capture tape with Jiro to tie them up.

Mount Lady didn't help with this, instead, shrinking down and running off back to where she remembered the green container being. She had a stern look on his face as a few thoughts went through her mind.

_"How scared must those kids be right now? There's no way Ureshi would be gentle or caring with them..." _She turned a corner and continued going down the rows of containers. _"He wouldn't actually try to comfort them... The best he'll do is just wait with them for me to come. Hopefully, they aren't too shaken up-!"_

Mount Lady had turned another corner before her eyes widened, and she skid her feet to a stop, her mouth opening up in shock.

She actually couldn't believe what she saw.

"Mount Lady... Assistance, please?"

Enso was there in front of her, with Kibo happily sitting on his shoulders and arms around his forehead. Two other children had their arms and legs wrapped around Enso's taller legs, two nervous children were holding his hands, and two more were wrapped around his arms while the rest stood around him. All of them were smiling without that much fear to Enso himself; they were just relieved that they were free and laughed a little, finding the boy 'weird.'

Enso had a blank gaze with a straight line across his mouth.

"I can't feel my arms... Or my legs... Or my mental stability."

Mount Lady blinked a few times, stunned by what she saw from the boy she thought to be one of the most suspicious-looking heroes ever.

However, soon that shock turned into a burst of full-blown laughter as she pointed at Enso.

"HAHAHA! Since when did you become such a child magnet!?"

"Don't say it like that, please... Just get these gremlins off me..."

"What's a gremlin?" One of the small girls asked him.

"Something I don't want on me..." Enso responded.

Kamui came running in, "We've got all the villains down! Now all that's left is to-!"

He paused as he saw Enso, watching the children all around him laughing while poking him or pulling at his hair curiously. He blinked several times, truly not expecting what he saw.

"Um... Are you sure you never interacted with kids?"

"Please shut up and get them off me... They don't listen, and I'd rather throw them as a last resort..."

"Don't say that so casually!" Kamui shouted.

Enso sighed before glancing down at all the children.

"Can you all _please _get off? Didn't you all want to go home?"

The children stopped what they were doing when they heard

home', slowly but nervously letting go of him.

"Finally... The heroes will get you home safely."

The children back up off him, but Kibo remained on top of Enso's shoulders, feeling his hair.

"Off." Enso commanded.

"Mister, aren't you a hero too? Does that mean you'll take us home?" Kibo asked, completely ignoring his command.

"Nope. I'd rather not." Enso responded with no hesitation.

"Awwww! Come on!" Kibo pouted.

"Hey! Mister! Can I do your hair!?" One of the girls around him asked with sparkles around her.

"Hell no."

"What's your name!" Another asked.

"Enso Ureshi."

"What about your hero name!?"

"Reaper, if you know what it means, then you should be scared."

"COOL!" The kids shouted instead.

"If you children know what that means and think it's cool, then there really is something wrong with this generation..."

Mount Lady and Kamui stared in wonder at the scene in front of him. No matter how Enso snapped back at the children around him, they seemed somewhat glued to him.

Kamui crossed his arms and smiled, although you couldn't tell because of his wooden face.

"Heh, would you look at that?"

Mount Lady curiously tilted her head as Enso tried to walk away, yet the children just kept surrounding him.

"Huh..." She smiled. "He really could be a nicer person if he tried."

"He could, but it's clear that not only doesn't he understand the world around him, but he makes interacting with others harder on himself by how he acts..." Kamui sighed.

Mount Lady turned to him as her smile faded, wondering what he meant. But then she recalled what she had said out loud because of her frustration towards the boy.

_"Pushing... everyone away..." _She thought with a frown.

**~{Police Arrival}~**

The authorities arrived at the scene momentarily afterward, helping to take the children back to their homes, much to their disappointment that they didn't get to leave with Enso. As for Kibo himself... he was the last one left with an officer waiting for him, but wanted to talk to his hero.

"What is it?" Enso looked down at the child in an unamused tone.

"Mister Reaper?" Kibo looked up at him with a small smile. "Do you think I can be a hero?"

"Of course, with your cannon quirk and enough training, you'd be a decent one." Enso responded.

"But... can I be a hero like you?"

Enso raised an eyebrow as the child below closed his eyes and showed a white grin, "I want to be just like you."

"Don't."

"E-Eh?" Kibo blinked in confusion as he actually saw a small glare from Enso.

"Listen, kid, you know _nothing_ about me besides that I'm strong, so don't bother trying to be me. You'll _never_ be like me, understand?"

Kibo looked down with a sad look as if he knew he did something wrong.

"Sorry..."

"..."

There was a moment of silence between the two, before Kibo slowly started to turn as if going to leave.

Enso sighed and closed his eyes.

"Be your own person."

Kibo stopped and glanced up at Enso with a look of confusion.

Enso opened his eyes, "Never try to be like someone else. Don't try to change yourself to match someone else's image. I know an idiot who's been trying to do that for a long time. What makes heroes great isn't that they try to be like each other, but they to be what they think is the best hero, heroes that think for the people."

Kibo's eyes widened and a big smile formed on his face.

"Do you think I can be one of the greatest heroes too?"

"If you put the effort in it, then you can." Enso turned around and started walking back to Kamui and the rest of his group. "See ya, kid."

Kiba smiled before sticking both hands in the air. "I'll be a great hero just like you, mister! But in my own way!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Enso sighed as he approached Kamui and the others, only to see him and Mount Lady smiling side by side. Again, you couldn't tell on the wooden hero, but you could feel his happiness.

"Awww, you do care." Mount Lady said with a smug grin.

"Good job, kid." Kamui added.

Enso just glared at both of them, then turning and proceeding to walk. "I'll wait outside."

Jiro stood beside Death Arms, staring rather perplexed at Enso. She never did get the chance to ask him anything about what she heard from his call, but she knew it might've been for the best. It was probably better to just bring it up with Izuku later.

But she still stared at him now, not from her suspicion, but from curiosity from the interactions she caught glimpses of between Enso and the captive children.

_"Man... He really is... weird."_

Meanwhile, Mount Lady pouted yet again when she saw the glare from Enso, not liking how cold he was to just leave them to be by himself.

"I'll be back!" She ran after him, leaving the group behind.

"M-Mount Lady!?" Mineta shouted, comedically crying to see her going after Enso.

Death Arm and Kamui chuckled.

"You think she'd help him?" Death Arms asked his wooden friend.

"I honestly think he'll help her, too." Kamui nodded.

Hearing them claim this, Jiro rubbed her earlobe while in thought.

_"I wonder what's up with both of them?"_

Enso stepped outside the port entrance where several police cars currently were, their red and blazing blue lights igniting the now dark sky. Throughout that entire event, the sun had been slowly lowering on the horizon, and it wasn't until everything was over when darkness came.

"Oi! Enso!"

The mentioned male turned around with his eyes still narrowed to see Mount Lady approach him, then stopping with a stern look in front of the boy.

_"Hm, she actually said my first name for once."_

"What is it?" Enso asked.

Mount Lady crossed her arms.

"I don't get it."

"What?"

She got even closer and stared into Enso's red eyes.

"I don't get why you're purposely acting as if you don't need anyone, like you don't care about anyone. What gives?"

"I don't care because I choose not to care. I act like I don't need anyone because I already have the people I need. Any more would be more unnecessary problems."

"Hah!? What kind of thinking is that!? You really think having some more friends would bring problems to you!?"

_"No... It would bring problems to them..."_ Enso thought as he narrowed his eyes more, thinking about Lynch and his situation.

Mount Lady sighed and put a hand on her hip. "For someone like you to be this completely sassy, sarcastic, smart ass person who just gives no fucks-"

"Language."

"-there must be a reason, right? One that makes it feel like you have to push everyone away?" Mount Lady finished rather than acknowledging what he pointed out.

"That's just your assumption."

"But I'm not wrong... am I?"

Enso didn't miss a beat, "And if I said you weren't? You'd understand to just stay away then."

Mount Lady frowned before putting a hand on her chin and thinking for a moment.

"You know what?" She smirked. "I'm not gonna."

Enso tilted his head, "What?"

"Even though you act like an ass, you're not really a bad person. And I kinda find you a bit charming."

"You must be an idiot with the worst taste in men to think that."

Cross-veins emerged on Mount Lady's head, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"You know what? Fine..."

She opened them again, with another smile.

"Then I guess I'm an idiot."

"..." Enso found himself silent now, as it was clear anything else he said wouldn't get to her.

The older pro nudged him on the arm, "Hey, you got a phone?"

"Nope."

"Oh, come on! You really expect me to believe that? Come on, don't be stingy!"

"I actually don't have a phone." Enso responded.

Mount Lady paused, raising an eyebrow. "Then... What do you call people with?"

Enso was quiet for a moment before reluctantly raising his arm to reveal his watch.

Mount Lady's eyes brightened, "Oo! Is it like one of those smartwatches!?"

"Suuuuuuuuure..." Enso sarcastically remarked.

Mount Lady didn't notice his tone as she was curiously examining his device.

"Wow, it looks pretty nice."

"I suppose it is..."

Mount Lady grabbed his wrist and glanced back at him.

"Let me put in my number."

Enso had a completely deadpanned gaze.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, come on now." Mount Lady continued to smile.

"I'd rather refuse."

"You don't get to."

"..."

"..."

"You're not gonna leave me alone, are you?" Enso facepalmed with a sigh.

"Nope~."

Enso reluctantly raised his wrist and tapped a few things, then holding it out for Mount Lady.

The pro took his arm and carefully tapped her number in, then backing up with a satisfied grin.

"There! Not so hard, was it?"

"It was excruciating..." Enso didn't hesitate.

He glanced down at the screen and saw her contact as **Yu**.

"I don't get why you're so persistent to involve yourself with me..." He grumbled.

Mount Lady shrugged, still smiling. "Who knows? Maybe it's just been a long time since I've chased after a boy?" She joked.

"Oh..." Enso's eye twitched as he eyed the woman all over. "Goody..."

"I know I was joking, and all, but the way you're looking at me annoys the hell out of me..." The woman responded with a blank stare.

"..." Enso glanced down at his watch again. "So... Your real name is Yu?"

Mount Lady smiled again as she placed both hands on her hips.

"Yup! Yu Takeyama! You should be glad you got such a cute girl's number!"

"Cute... Uh-huh..."

"Okay, I was asking for that one." Mount Lady laughed, not offended at all.

Enso stared blankly at her before shutting off his watch, lowering his wrist.

"I'm not going to text you anytime soon, you know that, right?"

"Oh, you'd better. You could be a man and invite me out sometime, you know?"

"So you could leech of me? Not a chance."

"I'm not gonna leech off you! I'm not a gold digger, alright!?" Mount Lady abruptly shouted, she then took another deep breath before turning her back to Enso. "Look... Just call me, alright? There doesn't even have to be a reason... At least _try _to talk to people... One of the most important things for heroes is the connection and cooperation we have with each other... So... try to be friendlier and listen to everything Kamui says. He's a hardass, but he knows what he's saying. He helped me out when I first came out as a rookie hero."

"..."

Mount Lady glanced back one last time with a smile, "See ya, kid."

With that, Mount Lady ran off back in the port to sort out some last business with the police and to take Mineta back, leaving Enso by himself. His long hair flowed back from the nighttime winds, and stars brightly twinkled in the sky, but Enso just stared forward at where the woman just was, then turning around and continuing to move away.

"Women are... confusing."

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~  
****Heh, it seems Enso has gone through a few things that even he never expect he would. Just how are things gonna change for him over time? To make connections in a world you're uncomfortable with, in a place where you know everyone you talk to will be in danger... It's hard, you know? But anyway, NOW it'll probably a bit of time before I post another chapter of this. It always depends on my workload. But I hope you guys continue to read and love everything I write! Until next time, heroes!**


	53. The Return

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**Alright, we're back, here at the end of the internships and heading back to school just like how I went back to school. So now we come to the conclusion of the internship arc, although I'm not sure if the exams are considered to be the conclusion or the students going back to school is. *_shrug* _But I can't wait to head back and show everyone best boi's new abilities! Although, it won't be in this chapter. But for now, let's see how our favorite class is doing as arrives back to the place that everyone (almost) loves him!**

Answered Comments (Oldest to Most Recent):

_Triton0501: _**I mean... Yeah, I guess so.**

_JustaNobody86: _**Ah yes, Nejire. Heh heh... I mean, what kind of females is Izuku getting? And what kind of females is Enso getting? That should give you your answer just fine.**

_PRemington900: _**Ah yes, Enso is the best thot slayer around. Heheh, and as for Midnight, she never really had the chance to try anything with internships coming up. But now that he's baaaaack... Heh.**

_PasiveNox, blue grimmoire, fpinheiro96: _**Thank you for reading!**

_Vidkid: _**I mean, between Izuku and Bakugo, I think how they turned out recently is pretty good. It's kinda how I'm going along with my fic, in which Bakugo isn't just completely shit on despite being exposed, and can still have development out of his whole self-centered phase. And as for my graduation speech? Well, in my senior year, I was a valedictorian, but I basically winged my entire speech. It was the most stupid but funniest thing I've done with what I've said.**

_SpiceR4:_ **I'm not gonna change his suit, I personally like it. It's pretty unique and I really don't see a need to change it just because it may look 'odd.' I like how odd it is.**

_Nick4Speed: _**Yeah, those things are just obvious. You don't really send your hand into a blade, just as Ikari shouldn't send tendrils at blades either. And the reason Izuku doesn't take damage from using Ikari as a blade or shield is that the increased density of his weapons prevents him from taking any actually damage. But yeah, more training than before when he gets back.**

_Mike3000jr:_ **I don't actually remember hinting things like that. So I can't really say much about that.**

_Guest: _**Heh, yeah. I've indeed watched that episode of deathbattle. It's funny how I can picture Ikari as both Ragnarok and Venom together in a way, with being another entity and also being able to change shape into many things.**

_TQ679:_ **When isn't Enso up to something? Heh.**

_RavenKiller901: _**Well, thanks for those sources anyway.**

_Guest: _**Heh, yeah. Izuku and Enso are literally the two types of most common harem protagonists. One is a timid, dense, maybe wimpy kid that always pulls through in the end, while the other is powerful and an ass that people somehow like.**

_Guest: _**Enso is the audience when we notice things clearly wrong with what's**** going on and has to point out their stupidity, heh.**

_Atomic11: _**Hm, I think you're right about that. I think I actually do need to get my own cover story for the fic. I'll ask someone I know to see if he can draw something. **

_Guest123: _**I mean... Yeah, I guess it is just Enso being Enso. But he's pretty much a douche in general because he doesn't really care about getting close to people unless absolutely necessary. And as for his emotions, he does _feel_ things, but just not the good things. Cooking is probably the closest thing to happiness he'll ever have, as it actually interests him on a personal level. But yeah, basically he's just been kinda painted black on his emotions.**

_Guest: __***Sigh* **_**Me too buddy, me too.**

_Guest: _**Heh, he ain't actually trying to 'hunt' for them. He's actually more of a slayer, even better.**

_5AT05H1L1NK:_ **Really glad you're enjoying this oc ship. I know that most of the time, people wouldn't really be interested in that kind of stuff. And it'll be really hard for me to give up on the fics, as it's one of the only things I actually enjoy working on with my life. Life's pretty hard and I have to do so many things when I just want an easygoing life... This feels like an escape from that.**

* * *

**~{Gran Torino's Residence}~**

After wasting enough time in the Hosu Hospital, Izuku was back in Gran Torino's apartment, training away with the elder once more. However, _this_ time, he was standing in the middle of the room with a black aura around him, tendrils from Ikari trying to chase after the flying hero.

"Ha! Your quirk's reactions may be quick like yours, but you guys still haven't got the hang of each other yet!" Gran Torino laughed as he flew behind Izuku's head and kicked him.

"Gah!" Izuku stumbled forward but managed to keep to his feet, the multiple black tendrils around him shooting up after Gran Torino.

The elder did a quick right with his quirk, the tendril splattering against the wall before quickly retracting back.

_"Okay, Ikari, we need a better game plan..."_

**_"Hey, I'm just doing everything you're thinking."_**

_"Alright, then let's try this..."_

Izuku listened to his surroundings and heard the elder blasting behind him.

_"Shoot!"_

His back suddenly projected a blast of a black web from his aura, sending it to the flying elder.

"What in the-!?" Gran Torino used his quirk to quickly blast out of the way of the web, watching it splatter onto the wall before disintegrating out of existence.

He then landed on top of the front door frame once more, pointing at the spot on the wall the web hit while looking annoying.

"Oi! Even if that hit me, it wouldn't have kept me stuck to the wall!"

"Eh?" Izuku turned around and saw the web he blasted to have already evaporated away.

"Once that black stuff of ya quirk splits from your body, do you still have _any_ control of it?" Gran Torino asked from above.

Izuku waited for Ikari to answer this, as he knew his quirk would be able to feel whether or not he could still use the pieces he sends away. The entity emerged from Izuku, his red eyes gazing up at Gran Torino.

**"Nope, doesn't seem like I can... Whenever I shoot it, I don't feel it anymore."**

"In that case, don't rely on blasting part of yourself to try and catch an opponent! In fact, maybe don't blast parts of yourself in general!" Gran Torino snapped.

"We'll keep that in mind." Izuku grinned as Ikari retracted back to him.

"Good." The old man then grinned as he suddenly blasted all over the room again, moving as a yellow blur. "Now, let's see if you can actually get a scratch on me!"

**_"Get this man!" _**

Izuku smiled with red eyes as his black aura swirled around him, keeping track of his surroundings attentively.

_"Gladly."_

Their training was relatively smooth for the rest of their limited time. Repeatedly having Ikari be in sync with Izuku, which wasn't too hard since their thoughts were connected anyway. But what they did was continue to try out how Ikari could change shape and move. From tendrils to projectiles Izuku could bring up.

And this went all the way until it had to end.

At the end of what remained in the week, Izuku now stood in front of the cement steps outside Gran Torino's apartment. He had a proud, straight stance as he held the suitcase containing his now fixed hero costume.

At the top of the steps was Gran Torino and his walking cane, with the elder smiling down at the boy.

"We didn't get as much time together as I hoped, but thank you, Gran Torino!" Izuku bowed.

The elder scoffed and twisted a finger into his ear, "We didn't really do too much. We basically just sparred the entire time since the Hero Killer cut our hero stuff short. You ended up in the hospital for a few days, your costume got torn up, and you went through a bad time. Not much to thank me for."

"But it was thanks to your sparing that I managed to practice a little bit with Ikari!"

As Izuku said that, the black body of his quirk emerged and stretched to be in front of the elder.

**"It was nice meeting you, old-timer!"** Ikari's red eyes visibly brightened in a happy expression.

Gran Torino whacked his head with his cane.

"Ow! **"Ow!"** Both Izuku and Ikari clutched their heads.

"Don't address someone in a way referring to their age. That's rude, ya know?" Gran Torino glared.

**"S-Sorry..."** Ikari then retreated back into his partner while Izuku rubbed the bump on his head that appeared.

"You deserve that too!" Gran Torino told Izuku, making the boy wince. "You ran out instead of sticking on the train! And look at what happened! You fought the Hero Killer and ended up running into a bloody monster!"

"B-But... I managed to save both Iida and Native so..." Izuku looked up, a look of seriousness on his face. "I don't regret it... I knew I had to go find Iida, and if I stayed on that train while he got killed... I wouldn't be able to live with myself..."

Gran Torino sighed as he shook his head, "I swear... It's that kind of thinking you and All Might have that ends up crippling ya both... But I can't fault ya for that..."

He rubbed the back of his head.

"Just be careful, kid. As of now, every day going forward will be more dangerous than ever before."

Izuku instinctively clenched his hands into fists as he looked down, knowing who he was talking about.

"Yeah, I know... But with Ikari, we'll make sure we never get captured again."

"I'll hold ya to that." The elder said with the corner of his mouth going up. "It was nice working with ya, kid. Good luck in school, say hi to All Might for me, would ya?"

"Yes, sir!" Izuku bowed once more.

"See ya." With that, Gran Torino turned around to head back into his apartment.

"W-Wait!" Izuku called to him.

"What is it!?" Gran Torino turned around with cross-veins popping out on his head.

"Can I ask you one last thing?" Izuku started. "I thought it was rude, so I never got a chance to ask… Nor could I never find a good time to ask for it…"

"Well, hurry up! I want to eat Taiyaki!" Gran Torino said to him in an irritated manner.

Hearing that, Izuku asked away.

"Even though you trained with All Might and clearly have so much experience in the field of heroes... the name 'Gran Torino' is almost unknown in the media. Is... Is there a reason for that?"

Gran Torino's irritation was gone now, being replaced with a look of contemplation.

"Well, I was never really that interested in working as a hero..."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked in confusion.

Gran Torino sighed, "I had a goal in the past that required me to be able to use my quirk freely. That was the reason I got my hero license. I won't say too much about it, but just know that I just didn't really want attention and all that."

_"Huh... I wonder why he needed a license?"_

"Now if that's it, then off with ya. Ya don't wanna miss the train." The elder snapped him out of his thoughts.

Izuku flinched, "R-Right! Thank you very much!" With that, the boy adjusted his backpack and picked his metal suitcase, starting to head down the sidewalk.

_"You really found a great successor, Toshinori... You're completely different in appearance and personality, but he thinks like you in so many ways..."_

Thinking that, the elder smiled.

"Kid!"

"Hm?" Izuku was walking down the sidewalk before stopping and tilting his head back.

The elder had on a comical blank expression.

"Who are you?"

"You're asking now!?" Izuku shouted with bulging eyes. He facepalmed with a sigh, then looking back to the elder. "I'm Izuku Midor-"

"That's not it, is it?" Gran Torino interrupted with a grin.

Izuku blinked in confusion for a brief second, wondering what he meant. But the look he saw in the old man's eyes, it just told him exactly what he was referring to.

The rookie hero put on a determined smile with serious eyes.

"I'm Deku!"

The two remained in silence for a few seconds before Gran Torino let out a chuckle.

"That'd better have intentional irony, or I'm bashing your head for such a terrible name."

Izuku flinched, "W-Well... It's not really meant to be ironic. It's more like... it means differently to me..." He said, looking down with a heartfelt smile.

Hearing him say that, the elder turned around.

"Then be sure to always own up to that name. Don't let anyone else tell you it means different than what _you_ see it as."

Izuku raised his head, his eyes widening.

He immediately thought to Lynch and Bakugo, how both address him by a different meaning. He couldn't help but frown as he thought about them, then shaking his head and bringing out another smile.

"I will."

Gran Torino then opened the door of his apartment, grinning.

_"Let's watch over him together, Toshinori. Until the name you pass in history, until the day the name 'Deku,' is celebrated as the Symbol of Peace…"_

* * *

**~{Meanwhile-Kamui's Agency}~**

Enso sat on the edge of Kamui's agency building, the same building he first landed on when arriving in Izuku's world. His hair flowed back as he stared at the large view of the city, waiting without too much care.

He heard the door for the roof open behind him, to which Enso glanced back and saw Kamui walking towards him.

"Do you like the view?" The wooden hero asked.

"To a degree. It reminds me of the time I threw you into the ocean." Enso remarked as he turned his head ahead.

"Oi, we don't talk about that..." Kamui sweatdropped.

"..." Enso remained silent as he stared out at the city, contemplating a few things before deciding to address something. "Kamui... I don't really think too much about people."

"Eh?" The hero blinked.

"I don't tend to think about the public. I usually make my choices based on what would be the most beneficial for me."

"..." The older hero walked next to Enso and sat down beside him, also staring out at the city and people he swore to protect. "Was going to U.A also one of those choices?"

"Yes and no." Enso answered, not keeping his eyes off the city. "I chose to attend U.A because Nezu offered it to me so I could help keep an eye on someone. But at the same time, keeping an eye on that person benefits me."

Kamui turned his head to him.

"Is that person Midoriya?"

"..." Enso turned his head to meet Kamui's eyes.

"Yeah, I figured it was." The wooden hero knew. "But why are you fixated on him?"

"Personal matters."

Kamui shrugged. "Well, Nezu clearly knows something for having his eye on you, so I guess I should expect some unique circumstances. But back to what you were saying before, you brought up your choices?"

Enso became silent for a few seconds before continuing.

"Logically, I shouldn't be a hero, correct? I don't act the way you and other heroes would normally act, and I don't particularly agree with some of the reasoning the quirk laws have, even if they make sense. Shutting away potential heroes because they acted the way a true hero would, it's foolish... And so, because I don't agree with these laws and even chose to act in a way against them, that'd make me a villain, wouldn't it?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Getting a little ahead of yourself there!" Kamui frantically waved his hands. "You're not a villain, Enso, I know it."

"What makes you so sure? I threw you into-"

"We _don't_ talk about that." Kamui shushed him with a twitching eye. He then looked down with a sigh. "Enso... You're not the villain I thought you were when I first met you. Despite your cold, and sometimes even hostile nature, it's clear you're just misled on what direction to take with your life."

_"Don't... Don't I already have a direction I'm going? To figure out my previous identity? Wouldn't that give me a direction for my life...?" _Enso wondered as he looked down.

Kamui noticed his look of thought and patted him on his back, "Well, it was really great having you, Enso. Even if you drove me pretty crazy. If you ever need some sort of help, then you can contact me anytime using the number I gave you yesterday."

"I still don't understand why it never occurred to you to give it to me during my internship rather than when it was finishing..." Enso told him.

"I was stressed, alright!?" Kamui suddenly snapped, eye twitching.

"Hm..." The boy raised himself off the edge, brushing himself off. "Well, you're gonna have a load of it thrown off. I should be heading back."

"Hold on, I just gotta ask something." The older hero stated as he stood up as well.

"And that is?" Enso asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Kamui scooted close and nudged the boy, "Weeeeeeell... It's about you and Mount Lady."

"Hm?" Enso rose an eyebrow.

"She really needs someone, you know? You have a good chance if you'd just act nicer."

"No, thank you, you can have her." Enso deadpanned with a hand raised as if to halt him.

"I don't want her!" Kamui suddenly shouted in visible stress. "I need to get her out!"

Enso blinked, "Out of where?"

Kamui flinched, "Er..." He turned away and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "She kinda... um..."

"..." Enso squinted at him.

"She... kinda lives with me."

Enso stared at him with a completely blank expression.

"How... professional..."

"DON'Tyou get the wrong idea, alright!?" Kamui shouted, poking Enso on the chest. "She's basically freeloading off me!"

"You know... you can just kick her out, right? I'm sure she's made enough money from being a hero to buy her own place." Enso told him.

"I probably would've if she didn't take her work seriously, but she's actually a great hero, and we work pretty well together. Plus, we've known each other for a decent amount of time. I was the one to take her under my wing when she graduated. I don't want to risk souring the relationship that me, her, and Death Arms have built." Kamui explained.

"Okay... And just what do you think _I_ can do about her?" Enso sighed.

"I don't know, just... 'Woo' her or something! Do you live alone?"

"Yes, but I'm not bringing a freeloading woman in for you. I'm already... taking 'care' of someone there."

"You shouldn't do it for _me_. You should do it for yourself." Kamui said, looking more serious now. "You don't ever smile, you always have the same moody gaze, but maybe... just maybe... having someone that you care for and who equally cares for you back can help you find some happiness?"

"Nope."

_"NO HESITATION!?"_

"I'm a high school student in U.A, and she's a much older professional hero. There's no way."

"..." Kamui let out a defeated sigh and looked down. "Well... Then I guess all that's left to do is say goodbye."

He lifted his head back up and stuck out his hand.

"I hope you sort out your feelings about the hero world, Enso. I'd love to have you as a sidekick one day."

"..."

Enso reached forward and grabbed his hand, shaking it.

"No, thank you, being around you was annoying enough as it is."

Cross-veins emerged on Kamui's head.

* * *

**~{Best Jeanist's Agency}~**

_"To think he didn't share anything else for the rest of his internship... Bakugo's stubbornness is unlike anything I've ever seen before..."_

Best Jeanist stood in front of the boy within his own office, the high schooler in his school uniform, holding his metal suitcase, and keeping a scowl on his face towards the pro hero.

"Bakugo... It seems that I've failed you..."

The teen scoffed, "What? I didn't change into the perfect princess you wanted me to be?"

"No... I wasn't able to have you see the error of your thinking..." Best Jeanist sighed from his desk, fingers entwined. "That, or you see it, but refuse to change it from your own stubbornness... You really are one of a kind."

"Hmph." Bakugo looked away from him, narrowing his eyes. "Well, I'm finally gonna be out of this hell hole... But at least I got a few rounds with you."

"..." Best Jeanist stared at Bakugo for a few seconds, thinking about the boy and everything they've talked about while they were fighting.

He closed his eyes and unraveled his fingers, resting his hands on his desk.

"Bakugo..."

"What?" The blonde turned back with a glare.

"You must understand that Midoriya doesn't intend to insult you, nor look down at you. I hope you can realize this one day and patch things up with him. Until then... This is goodbye. I wish you luck in finding happiness. Because as you are now, I know you're not happy..."

"..." Bakugo turned his head away, looking down. "No shit..."

He then started walking off, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Best Jeanist looked down at his desk as he thought about the hotheaded boy.

_"He has to change at his own pace... But I hope he has someone to at least help lead him on a better path... There has to be a least one person in his class besides Midoriya that would talk to him..."_

* * *

**~{Edgeshot's Agency}~**

"I'd say you've grown quite well."

Edgeshot stood within his dojo-like room, darkness filling most of the area while the hero walked around with his hands behind his back.

"You weren't here too long, yet you've learned how to quiet your steps, both with shoes and without. And you've sufficiently improved your balance while moving quickly."

He walked around a dark hall lit up by candles.

"And..."

He heard a woosh, to which Edgeshot turned around and raised an arm, blocking a swift kick that connected to it. "You've learned to strike quite effectively."

The candles were all put out, then all the lights of the room turned on, revealing Shinso with a leg high from his kick.

"Heh, thanks for stating the obvious." The boy grinned, then pulling his leg back and standing straight.

Edgeshot chuckled before politely bowing.

"Tell me, Shinso, are you planning on doing any other sort of training exercises when you leave?"

"Well, I just started to hang out with this guy who'd teach me a few things, but so far, he's just helped to build up my body. But when I get back, that's when I think he'll teach me the good stuff." Shinso responded.

"Hm... I see. I hope he teaches you efficiently, so you fight the way you wish to fight."

"Heh, yeah. Fighting with stealth ain't so bad, but I like moving around and bashing people in their face." Shinso grinned.

Edgeshot stared at Shinso's grin for a moment, then chuckling once more.

"So that's it..."

"Huh? What?" The boy closed his mouth and tilted his head.

"That smile, I remember what it reminds me of..."

Shinso raised an eyebrow.

"Aizawa has that same funny grin... And those same tired eyes, and-"

The pro paused, blinking with a look of realization.

"Wait, are you and Aizawa rela-?"

"Nope." Shinso deadpanned.

"But are you sure-?"

"Yup."

"..."

Edgeshot smiled behind his mask, reaching a hand out for Shinso.

"Well... perhaps you should train with him sometime. I'm sure you'll find that you're both similar in more than just looks."

Shinso rolled his eyes at that remark but kept a smile as he took Edgeshot's hand with his own.

"Depends, does he like cats?"

* * *

**~{U.A High School-9:23AM}~**

_"Well... We're back."_

Izuku stared in front of his school gate, smiling as he appreciated the sight of the large main building ahead. After quite an eventful week at his internship with Gran Torino, he was back in his school, back with new abilities he can use.

**_"I was never able to tell you this before, but I like this place."_**

Izuku chuckled, _"I do too, Ikari... I do too."_

**_"When should I poke out in front of your friends?"_**

Izuku looked down. _"Hm... I don't know if we'll have a training exercise today, so... Just wait a while."_

Izuku then got to marching into the U.A building, checking his phone as he walked to discover that he still had plenty of time before classes would start. It wasn't gonna be a normal day since students would be coming back from internships. They would actually be starting off halfway throughout the school day. But Izuku had taken an early train to get to U.A quicker, now leaving him with some extra time.

He walked up the stairs and decided to might as well head to his class early, even if he'd be one of the only people there. After all, he knew the only ones who'd arrive even earlier are both Iida and Enso, so maybe he could talk to them for a bit.

Or at least that was the plan when he got to his class floor, as he was surprised by a familiar ginger-haired girl walking in his direction, the girl's eyes lighting up when she saw him.

"Hey, Midoriya!" Kendo waved with a big smile as she started walking towards him.

"Itsuka? You're already back too?" Izuku asked as he stopped at the top of the stairs. He noticed the girl didn't have her hero suitcase on her, hinting that she already put her costume away within her class.

The big-sister of Class B stopped in front of him with a small blush but big smile to hear him casually call her by her first name once again.

"Yeah, Uwabami had to go somewhere early, so we had to leave with her so she could drop us off at the station. I just walked Yaoyorozu back to her class." Kendo pointed behind her.

"Oh, how was being with Uwabami?" Izuku asked her.

Kendo awkwardly twirled her hair with a finger while seeming to pout.

"You pretty much already know how that went..."

"Was it _all_ just photo shoots, commercials, and other things like that?" Izuku sighed.

"Yup... Uwabami's a nice person and all, but I really regret interning with her... I'm sure your internship was much better than mine..."

"Er..." Izuku looked down as he recalled his... 'troubling' experience. "I-I wouldn't say that..."

Kendo's eyes widened in realization.

"Ah, wait! I didn't mean to say that fighting the Hero Killer was good! It's just... at least you got some experience to help you in the long run, even if it must've been a terrifying one..."

_"You have no idea..." _Izuku couldn't help but shiver. Not from the experience of fighting the Hero Killer, but rather, who he ran into _afterward._

"I-I'm just glad we all made it out alright..." He weakly said.

Kendo noticed how downed he seemed just thinking about it, prompting her to pat the boy's shoulder with a sympathetic look.

"Hey, you're alright now."

Izuku nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

_"I can't tell her that we beat him... or anything after that... I don't want to hold even more secrets, I really don't, but... I have to."_

While he went through his thoughts, someone silently landed behind him.

"Hello there."

"GYAH!" Izuku turned around with his eyes bulging, scared out of his wits with Kendo's eyes widening as well.

Enso was the one who had snuck up on him, his suit now back in the colors of the U.A uniform.

He tilted his head. "What?"

Izuku panted hard with a hand on his chest, "E-Enso!? Wh-Where'd you come from!?"

"There." Enso pointed left, to which Izuku and Kendo turned to...

The open window.

Now both had blank gazes as they turned back to him.

"Enso..." Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath, putting his hands together in front of his face. "Why do you do these things?"

"..." A question mark appeared on Enso's head.

_"He GENUINELY doesn't know what I mean!?" _Izuku deadpanned.

"Pfft!" Kendo put a hand over her mouth as she saw their interactions.

_"You know...? I think Midoriya will be just fine with Enso." _She giggled.

"Oh, good morning, Kendo." Enso politely bowed.

"Good morning Ureshi." Kendo smiled, removing her hand from her mouth and waving to him.

"Enso, please."

"Eh?" She blinked in confusion.

"He _always _insists on his first name..." Izuku sighed.

"Oh, Yaoyorozu really wasn't kidding about that." Kendo realized with interest.

"Are you two heading to class now?" Enso moved on.

"Huh? Oh, um..."

Before Izuku could even answer, another person called out.

"Enso-kuuuuuuuun! Midoriya-kuuuuuun!"

"Eh?"

Lunch Rush came blazing through the halls with flowers blooming around him, the chef suddenly putting an arm around both boy's shoulders.

"It's good to see you two again!" He laughed.

"L-Lunch Rush?" Izuku uttered.

Enso stared blankly at the pro.

"Oh... You..."

"What kind of reaction was that!? I'm hurt!" Lunch Rush fell to the ground with comical tears coming from... wait, does he even have a face?

"We've been separated for so long, only to be reunited today... I thought you'd be emotionally overwhelmed like me, *sniff*." The pro hero cried.

"We've been gone for only a week..." Enso sighed.

The chef then suddenly shot back up to his feet, his tears completely gone as if they never came out in the first place.

"And now that you're back! We can spend more time together! Cooking away and teaching Midoriya how to make the most _delicate _of cuisines!" Lunch Rush declared as he gave a thumbs up.

"Eh? Even with exams coming up?" Izuku blinked.

"Of course! If you're as durable as Enso-kun mentioned, then you'll have no problem balancing your exams with other things!"

_"Hold up, did he say 'durable'?" _Kendo blinked, processing that word.

"Hm? Oh! One of Midoriya's blooming roses is here!" Lunch Rush suddenly squealed with comedic hearts flying from him as he gazed at Kendo.

"E-Eh? Blooming rose?" Kendo uttered in confusion, taken about from his declaration.

"Hold on, you mentioned that before! What did you mean by that!?" Izuku suddenly pointed out.

"Oh, for the love of..." Enso sighed before jumping with a spin and swinging his leg, slamming it right into Lunch Rush's stomach.

"OOF!" The chef doubled over and shivered in place, holding his abdomen while shaking.

_"He just kicked him!" _Izuku and Kendo both shouted to themselves as comedic lightning struck behind him.

Enso then walked forward and grabbed Izuku by the back of his shirt, dragging him away.

"We're leaving."

"Wha-HUH!? B-But you just kicked-!"

"He'll be fine. He's very long-lasting." Enso rolled his eyes.

"Again, that doesn't make it okay!" Izuku shouted as Enso continued to drag him away.

"Goodbye, Kendo." Enso turned around and gave her a nod.

"See you... later?" The girl uttered, completely bewildered by what just happened.

"Heh... heh... Oh, Enso-kun... You really... pack a punch..." Lunch Rush groaned.

"Er... Are you okay?" Kendo asked as she went by Lunch Rush's side, concerned for him.

"I'm fine. It's nothing compared to my early years as a hero. *sigh* So many missiles..."

_"What the hell did you go through?"_ Kendo sweatdropped.

She helped him back up and stepped back, then wishing to address something.

"Um... Lunch Rush? What did you mean by... 'blooming rose?'"

"Hm? Oh, just ignore what I said! I have to learn to keep quiet better, but I enjoy seeing youth bloom so marvelously!" He laughed.

_"What does that even mean?" _Kendo wondered.

Meanwhile, Enso dragged Izuku back to their classroom, the boy keeping a blank expression as they stopped in front of their room door.

"You're gonna apologize to Lunch Rush for kicking him." Izuku declared.

"Maybe." Enso slid open the door, finding only Momo and Iida within the classroom.

Iida was sitting at his desk, looking like he was just being comforted by Momo about his experience with the Hero Killer. Both heads turned to the two walking in, with Iida forming a small smile.

"Enso... Midoriya... Good morning."

"Hm, I prefer this kind of welcome rather than your usual yelling." Enso bluntly responded.

"Just say good morning back!" Izuku snapped as he pulled the back of his shirt from Enso.

"Izuku!" Momo came rushing over, suddenly slamming into him while embracing him in a tight hug, even placing her head on his shoulder.

_"EH!?"_ Izuku's face turned from zero to blazing red in no time, his eyes becoming the size of pie plates.

"I was so worried..." The girl's gentle voice whispered in his ear.

"S-S-S-Sorry..." Izuku stammered slowly, managing to return the hug despite his shock.

Enso rolled his eyes as he walked passed the two, stopping in front of Iida.

"Training starts tomorrow after school. You and Todoroki come with me to my place. Don't tell anyone I'm training you two." He said in a low tone so Momo wouldn't hear.

Iida's smile turned into a serious look, the teen nodding in understanding.

At the same time, Momo dispersed the hug and placed both her hands on Izuku's shoulder, frowning now.

"Why do you keep putting yourself in danger!?"

"E-Erm... I..." Izuku started sweating nervously.

"It was my fault, Yaoyorozu..." Iida stood up in his seat as Momo glanced back at him. "I went after the Hero Killer by myself, thinking that I could stop him... But I was utterly defeated by him. If it wasn't for Midoriya coming in to save me, I wouldn't be here..."

Momo fully turned her body with another frown, putting her hands on her hips. "You're a U.A student! You have to be more responsible than that! "

Iida looked down in some shame. "Yes… You're right…"

There was then a moment of eerie silence within the room, with Izuku looking at everyone nervously.

"I-I mean..."

Everyone turned to him.

He nervously smiled while raising an arm. "A-At least... I didn't break my arms this time... right?"

"..."

Everyone maintained a blank expression for a few moments.

But then, surprisingly, Momo covered her mouth.

"Pfft!"

_"She laughed!" _Everyone else thought in shock.

"I-I shouldn't find that funny... I really shouldn't..." Momo muffled her voice.

Izuku blinked in surprise, not expecting that to somehow lighten the mood.

"Ahem..." Momo coughed into her hand and cleared her through, returning her composure as she turned back to Izuku with a small smile. "Yes... At least you managed to break that pattern..."

"And not his arms." Enso once again remarked.

Izuku sweatdropped.

Then someone else arrived, a boy with familiar indigo hair.

"Yo." From the doorway, Shinso had a smile on his face as he walked in. "You're all already back, too?"

"Shinso." Izuku smiled upon seeing him, getting visibly excited. "You came back from Edgeshot, right!? How was it!?"

The tired-looking boy showed his Aizawa-like grin.

"I became a mother-fucking sorcerer."

_"Eh?" _The room deadpanned.

Even Iida became so shocked that he didn't even point out Shinso's language.

"Nah, just kidding." Shinso immediately added with a chuckle. "He taught me a few things about being a ninja."

_"That will be interesting to go over in training..." _Enso thought as he rubbed his chin in curiosity.

As Izuku asked Shinso about his time with Edgeshot, Momo started thinking about her time at her internship. Not really about the time she spent with Uwabami, but rather, she remembered the call she had with Jiro early one morning. The call which the earphone-jacked girl said she heard something she most likely wasn't supposed to hear.

_"Sorry... My heads been kinda out of it with everything going on. I really don't know who the hell Enso and All Might were talking about, I never heard about anyone like 'Lynch' before in my life. It sounds so... weird." _She recalled the girl saying.

Momo then looked down as she recalled her decision on the matter.

_"I don't think we should say anything to anyone. It'll just make them even more worried. Nor do I think we should ask Izuku or Enso about it... yet. We're all busy with internships, and Izuku seems to be fine, so I think we shouldn't bring this up with either of them until we get back to school."_

She knew she couldn't ask anything about it right now. She'd have to wait for Jiro to come back and then wait for an opportunity to speak with Izuku alone.

A new sudden voice cut her out of her thoughts.

"Midoriiiiiii!"

A girl of pink dropped her hero case on the floor and dove from the open door right to Izuku with her arms open.

"Gah!" The boy was caught off guard as he managed to catch Mina in his arms, nearly falling back as he did so. "M-Mina!?"

The girl nuzzled her cheek against Izuku's, much to Momo's emotionless stare.

"It's so good to see you again! You made me so scared when you sent that text, but I knew you wouldn't lose to a villain!" The girl held him close, pushing her breasts pushed against Izuku's chest.

"M-M-Mina! Th-Th-They're... p-pressing..." Izuku stammered, eyes avoiding to look as his face turned crimson red.

"Hm? What is it, Mi~do~ri?" Mina teasingly asked, a smug smile forming on her face as she purposely pressed herself more.

"Ashido, it's way too early in the morning for this!" Iida abruptly shouted with a karate-chopping gesture.

_"Oh look, he's back to normal." _Enso thought as he noticed Iida no longer sulking.

"M-Mina, please get off!" Izuku stammered, trying to gently pry her off.

"Mina! Midori!" Then came in a floating set of clothes that jumped and wrapped her arms around both her friends.

"Wah!" Due to Toru's weight being added with Mina, Izuku fell over and landed on his back. "O-Ow..."

"Toru! It's good to have you back!" Mina smiled at her friend.

"Yeah! I had so much fun at my internship! But I really missed you guys!" Toru giggled. "It's great to see you're okay, Midori!"

"Th-Thanks..." Izuku uttered as he stared straight up at the ceiling.

**_"Partner... Should I help you out?"_**

_"No, Ikari... I want to introduce you when we have everyone around..."_

**_"If you say so, just let me know when it's poking them."_**

_"Eh?"_

Mina and Toru were suddenly yanked off Izuku by a shocking feat of strength by Momo, the girl's eye twitching as she held both girls up in each of her hands.

"I think that's _enough_ of welcomes..." The girl said, making both Mina and Toru shivered.

"Wh-What!? But I just got here!" Toru stated.

Izuku got up from the ground and dusted himself off.

_"I really have to set some boundaries..."_

**_"Again, I can help so you don't get cooties."_**

Izuku maintained a blank expression.

**_"Heh."_**

"Oh, Midoriya!"

Izuku turned to the door once more and saw the familiar jagged grin of Kirishima.

"Eiji-Er, Kirishima?" Izuku quickly corrected himself.

"Eijiro is fine too, bro!" The red-head grinned as he approached him. "Did you really fight the Hero Killer with Iida and Todoroki!? Man, that must've been scary!"

"Y-Yeah... we did." Izuku nervously responded.

"Deku!"

From behind Kirishima, a familiar gravity girl rushed to Izuku, wrapping her arms around him in yet another hug, but not pouncing him like Mina and Toru had done.

"I'm so glad you're okay..."

The boy turned red once more, steam poofing up from his head.

"I-I am too... I-It's good to see you again... O-Ochako." Izuku stammered, barely able to wrap his arms back.

"He didn't return _my_ hug..." Mina pouted.

"Did you suddenly tackle him...?" Toru asked.

"..."

"I think I know why then."

One by one, the rest of Class 1A started showing back up to their class, every one of them taking a moment to speak to Izuku and Iida, and Todorroki as well when he arrived.

When Tsu walked in, she immediately made her way calmly to Izuku, who was sitting at his desk.

"H-Hi Tsu." Izuku said, forming a smile for her.

"Good morning, Midoriya-chan, kero."

There was a moment of silence between the two, with Izuku sweating nervously from Tsu's normal and composed stare, feeling as if she was waiting for something.

He looked down and slightly turned red.

"S-Sorry... I-I'll be more careful..."

Tsu then smiled as she reached her hand and gently felt Izuku's hair with a happy, 'Kero.'

_"She didn't even have to say anything..."_ Everyone stared.

A few moments later, Jiro came in looking somewhat serious, the girl stopping by her desk and turning to Izuku, whose own desk was near.

"Hey... You guys alright?" She asked, glancing from Izuku, Todoroki, and Iida.

"I'm alright..." Iida smiled.

"Well, I feel dead inside." Todoroki responded.

"I think that's just a mood." Shinso chuckled.

"Maybe. Kaminari mentioned the same thing, so it probably is. I don't really get it, though." Todoroki shrugged.

"O...kay?" Jiro raised an eyebrow, then turning to Izuku, "How about you, Greeny?"

Izuku chuckled at the mention of his new nickname from the girl.

"I'm fine, Jiro."

"..." The girl stared at him in silence, before then walking to his desk and lowering her head near his ear.

"During lunch, meet me on the roof. Make sure you're alone." She whispered.

_"Huh?"_ Izuku repeatedly blinked as Jiro pulled away and walked over to Momo's desk, looking confused and a little worried. _"A... Alone?"_

Enso narrowed his eyes from his desk, seeing the worried expression Izuku had.

_"Something's off..."_

Jiro got to Momo's desk, the taller girl already knowing why she came to her.

"I told Greeny to meet us on the rooftop during lunch." The punk girl stated.

Momo nodded. "Thank you... We'll talk to him there..."

At the same time, Toru was near her own desk, actually having listened to Jiro tell Izuku to meet her later.

_"Eh? Wait... Hold up... She wants to meet him alone... on the roof...?"_

She internally gasped at the first thought that came into mind.

_"I-Is she gonna confess!?"_

Alarms went through the invisible girl's head at that thought, her gaze glancing over at the smiling expression of Mina.

_"I have to find out."_

Nearly everyone was back in class, leaving only a few people out. But soon... 'he' came in.

Bakugo stepped into the room with his usual glare, causing everyone to instantly quiet down and instinctively stare at him. Some looks appeared unsure, as if they didn't know what to make of him back, others looked like they wanted to say something, but a few people, most notably Ochako, had glares on their faces.

Bakugo's eyes narrowed on everyone, most notably to Izuku, who nervously shivered once he saw him.

"H-Hi... Kacchan." Izuku managed to utter out, lifting an arm with a small wave.

The blonde didn't even seem to acknowledge the boy's words. He just lowered his head and started heading back to his seat.

Surprisingly though, someone got in the way.

"Hey, Bakugo!" Kirishima weakly smiled as he got in between the desks that led to Bakugo's own. "Um... How ya doing?"

Bakugo rose his head but narrowed his eyes.

"The hell do you want, Kirishima?"

_"He actually remembered his name? Wait. That's illegal."_ Kaminari stared blankly.

"I just... wanted to know, how was your internship?" Kirishima asked, trying to keep a bright look on his face.

Bakugo kept a glare at him. "It doesn't matter, move." He ordered.

Kirishima nervously moved of the way but still kept talking.

"Oh, come on, Bakugo! Who'd you go to?"

Izuku watched as Kirishima seemed to continue pestering the boy, even when Bakugo snapped at him. He couldn't help but form a sad smile before turning his head away and closing his eyes.

_"Kirishima... I hope you can be the friend I couldn't be for Kacchan..."_

From there, the rest of Izuku's classmates came in and started sharing their experiences from their internships. However, they avoided asking Iida, Todoroki, and Izuku about their experience, already knowing what they went through.

One of the classes' conversations was between Sero, Mineta, and Kaminari, with the two taller boys staring with large eyes at the shortest boy crying comedic tears.

"It's not fair! Why does even _he_ get a girl!?"

"Hold up, Mineta. Are you actually saying that Enso got to feel up on Mount Lady!?" Kaminari asked in complete disbelief.

"And what, he says he didn't even try!?" Sero added.

In the next second, the three boys were right beside Enso's desk.

"Enso, don't tell me Midoriya has been teaching you some secret techniques to _woo_ the ladies!?" Kaminari pointed at him.

Enso stared blankly at them.

"I... _Excuse_ me?"

"How did you manage to land a babe like Mount Lady!? Has Midoriya been teaching you in return for you teaching him!?" Sero asked him.

"..."

Enso had a deadpanned look at the group before saying;

"Have you ever heard the sound of three people getting knocked out simultaneously?"

"No." The three answered in confusion.

"Would you like to?" Enso asked, his eyes flashing comedically red.

"Enso, I heard that!" Izuku called to him.

Hearing Izuku, the three boys rushed from Enso to the broccoli-headed boy, arriving at his desk at ninety-degree angles.

"Midoriya-sensei! Please teach us your ways!"

"Wha-!? What ways!?" Izuku stammered, baffled by their actions.

"That's enough out of you guys." Jiro had a glare as her earphone jacks punctured both Kaminari and Mineta.

"GYAH!" Their bodies visibly vibrated before they fell to the ground, twitching.

Jiro then turned her glare to Sero, the boy flinching and raising his hands up in surrender.

"I get it, I get it! I'll just... back off." He scooted away.

Despite being just stabbed in the head, Kaminari weakly pulled himself back up on a desk as he held the spot he was punctured.

"O-Okay... Forgetting that... We've all had some unique experiences..." He managed to stand up. "But... the one's who went through the most... were you guys, right?" He asked, turning his head to Izuku, Iida, and Todoroki.

"Right, the Hero Killer..." Sato said, looking concerned.

"It took all you three to survive? Endeavor saved you guys, right?" Ojiro asked them.

Todoroki looked down, remembering Izuku and how he held his own.

"Yeah... 'He' saved us..."

Iida could hear in Todoroki's voice to who he was referring to, making the boy smile.

"Yeah..."

"The League Of Villains are connected to the Hero Killer, right? Do you think they sent him after you guys?" Shoji asked curiously.

"I don't really know... We just fought him to survive." Iida muttered.

"But did you guys all see the video of him!? He was _super_ scary!" Toru exclaimed.

"Yeah, but you can see how he's really single-minded. You can actually _feel_ just how much he believes he's right and would keep fighting for it. Doesn't that make him actually seem pretty cool?" Kaminari added.

"Kaminari, you shouldn't say something like that!" Ochako warned him, knowing how Iida must feel towards the villain.

"But his beliefs make sense... don't they?"

"Huh?" Everyone suddenly turned to the back of the room.

Enso's hair blew back from the open window as his red eyes stared outside. He thought back on his entire experience in his internships, from Kamui's speeches, to that _one_ speech Stain personally gave to him. He connected everything together as well as he can, separating what was logical and what was foolish, knowing what would make sense to agree or refute, and thought about the messages behind heroes and Stain's thinking overall.

As he contemplated to himself, there was an uncomfortable silence among everyone else. But it Tokoyami who spoke up from his own curiosity.

"What do you mean by that? Could you be agreeing with the Hero Killer's actions?"

Enso closed his eyes and sighed. "Of course not. I wouldn't condone murder if there are several flaws in the logic behind it... Killing heroes because they don't act for only the public is a waste of life. Not all of them are completely selfish. There are surely better ways to get rid of them from their hero careers, like causing permanent damage to force them to retire, as the case with Iida's brother."

_"Wouldn't... condone if there are flaws?"_ Ochako didn't like the sound of that.

"Hold up, _don't_ use Iida's brother as an example!" Mina suddenly snapped, glaring at him.

Enso ignored her, "The idea that I think I understand about Stain, is that the world needs' true' heroes. Do all of you know what it means to be one?"

"...what _does _it mean?" Mineta piped up, raising an eyebrow.

Enso turned away from the window, the sunlight shadowing his face, but with his red eyes emitting light on it as he gazed at all his classmates.

"If you can't even figure that out yourself, then doesn't that show how unfit you'd be as a hero?" Enso responded.

This response gave chills to Mineta and a few others in the class, causing some of them to think deeper into themselves.

"Are you saying _you're_ any better?" Jiro suddenly growled, surprising some of her classmates. Truth be told, she could somewhat understand what Enso was explaining, but with what she overheard on his call, the way he always acted so cold and uncaring, and the overall sense of secrecy he always had, the girl couldn't help but feel hostile towards him. "What do _you _think is an actual hero?"

_"Jiro!?" _Izuku thought in shock.

Enso narrowed his eyes. "People that don't abuse their power to benefit themselves, people always fight for the public and do whatever they can to calm them down, people that won't hesitate to run in when they see someone in danger... People that always care about everyone else."

"And are you claiming that _you're_ actually someone like that?" Jiro asked, almost as if daring him to answer.

She got an immediate one.

"Not particularly."

That made eyes widen throughout the room, with Momo getting on the aggressive.

"Wait... So you're criticizing others for not having those factors, yet you're admitting that you don't have them, nor even _act_ like you care to have them? Shouldn't that mean you shouldn't become a hero?" She glared.

"Oh?" Enso rose his head with an unamused look, red eyes zoning in on her. "Are you implying I should be on the other side of the coin then?"

Hearing that just seemed to make the entire room turn cold. Normally hearing that from someone straight out in a hero class, you'd assume they were joking. But... just hearing that sentence from Enso, it hit differently. Almost as if... he could just make that decision on the spot anytime he wants.

"Enso... _Don't_ say something like that."

Izuku had his eyes on his friend. They were clearly warning him to be more considerate and _never_ think about making that choice.

Enso closed his eyes and sighed.

"The reactions you have are suitable, as you wouldn't want someone as dangerous as I to be a villain. This brings up a flaw I see in Stain's thinking. Killing heroes or stopping people from becoming them because of his own judgment towards them. If the dream of 'his' hero world was successful, many people would be rejected from being heroes due to any personal reason that person may have for becoming one. Society, the government, they're basically the ones who decide who can be heroes or not. They hold power to be selective in choosing. But if they just reject a majority of everyone from becoming heroes from the start, what would happen to those with powerful abilities but were rejected due to factors such as attitude, personal goals, or selfishness? Things a considered 'true' hero shouldn't have?"

He turned his head left to the blonde glaring at him.

"What would happen, Bakugo?"

Hearing him address him directly, the teen scowled.

"Huh? You want to die?"

"No, but with your abilities, you're capable of granting that fate to so many people."

Enso moved his hand along his desk, looking down at it.

"If, after the sports festival, the school had ended up expelling you, I wonder what would've happened? The resentment, the anger, all that negativity stored in you... it could've caused you to easily choose to act in retaliation. And the clearest way to do that would be becoming the one thing you're in this school to fight against."

He started twirling a pencil in his hand, everyone's eyes glued uncomfortably at him.

"To have someone like Bakugo be a villain... It would be devastating."

"Are you saying... that even if some people may not think like... well, 'heroes,' it would be better to have them in the profession anyways rather than just straight out reject them?" Todoroki was the one to ask, paying close attention to Enso's words.

"So it seems... Especially since there _can_ be a change in those types of 'heroes' over time. Take a look at Iida."

The engine-quirked user was surprised.

"M-Me?"

Enso nodded, "You're someone that Stain opposed as a hero, as you've acted out selfishly for revenge, something a true hero wouldn't do."

"Would you stop bringing that up-!?" Mina started to snap.

"This is important. Let me finish." Enso cut her off. "Although Iida indeed did act out selfishly, what changed by the end of that whole encounter? What did, Iida?" Enso stared, waiting for an answer.

"Well..." Iida glanced down at his desk, a solemn expression on his face. "I... realized that because of my actions, I put others in danger... Because I acted for myself, I didn't save anyone... Well, maybe Native, but that was only out of a coincidence of him being there... I didn't do anything, just cause trouble..."

"Exactly. And do you know what's the important part of that?"

Iida raised his head, "What... is it?"

Enso pointed at him, "You learned."

Iida's eyes widened as Enso continued.

"You learned that your actions were 'wrong.' Learned that your actions weren't fit for what this society would consider a true hero. It just comes to show that heroes learn like anyone else, and everyone can learn to right their wrongs, to change their thinking."

He glanced over at Bakugo.

"Even if... it might not be likely sometimes."

Cross-veins emerged on the explosive teen's head.

"I swear, I'm going to _fucking_ blast you one of these days."

"When you do, I may actually be impressed." Enso remarked, turning back to his class. "So when all of you ask me whether or not I agree with the Hero Killer... There are parts I do and parts I don't. But in this... 'superhuman' society, there is no inherently completely right or wrong when it comes to using quirks. Those are decided by positions of authority. Then citizens and heroes must follow these guidelines to fit in this society, to act how apparently they expect you to act if you want something. Otherwise, you'll be seen as something else... most likely a villain."

He placed his pencil down and rested his head into his hand.

"In the end, to me, what matters the most is to simply understand... To understand how the world works and to make a choice on where to function in it. I'm sorry if I offended some of you, but it's clear that Stain's motives were for a cause that at least made sense. But... it needs some work, on both ideas, and execution."

Izuku was completely baffled by everything he heard his mentor saying. Sure, Enso would mention his dislike of the current society here and there, but to get this... deep into it, it was shocking. He saw the look of contemplation, could hear an abstained tone as he spoke, only declaring what he believed to be true.

_"Enso... What happened to you?"_

At that moment, Aizawa walked into the classroom, looking tired as usual.

"Everyone sit down and shut..." The teacher raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the class was already silent, but with an eerie atmosphere.

He glanced over at who Enso, as everyone seemed to have their attention on him.

"Ureshi, don't say bad things."

"I prefer 'Enso.'"

"And I'd prefer you'd shut your mouth." Aizawa glared.

"Ouch."

**_"Oooooooookay... So that happened."_** Ikari said within Izuku.

_"Yeah... I wonder if being with Kamui had anything to do with it?"_

**_"We can ask him later, but right now... how are ya gonna deal with heading to the roof with punk-girl?"_**

_"She has a name, Ikari."_

**_"And I have a preference. Nicknames are fun. But seriously, what do you think she wants to talk about?"_**

_"I... don't really know..." _Izuku thought, looking down in worry.

"So, I hope all of you learned something valuable during your internships. Even the little things can mean a lot in the long run. Right now, we'll just be having a late homeroom. You'll then have a class before heading to lunch. Then you'll be having hero training."

"Immediately after getting back?" Sero asked in surprise.

"This is the perfect time for it, as you'll be able to present everything you've learned from the time you've been gone. For now, let's take attendance."

_"To show what we learned, huh?"_ Izuku formed a confident smile.

**_"Ooo! I wonder what we'll be doing!? I wanna blow some things up!"_**

_"No, Ikari... Don't be a Kacchan..." _Izuku sweatdropped.

From there, the rest of 'homeroom' went on and then transitioned into the next class with Present Mic. But throughout their class, there was a moody atmosphere, as it appeared that some students were still thinking about what Enso said. Some thought about the ideas he spat out, while others wondered if he was actually insulting them, and others just tried not to bother remembering and just focus on their work.

Their class went on as usual despite the feeling of the room. But because of the atmosphere, it felt like hours before they heard the school bell ring.

Izuku put away his notebook and sighed, knowing where he had to go.

He glanced up and saw Jiro already at the door, the girl looking back at him before leaving, with Momo going after her.

_"Wait, is Momo following her?"_

**_"Maybe she's heading to the lady's room?"_**

Izuku didn't acknowledge what Ikari and, instead, started packing his things away.

At the same time, Toru had put away her things as fast as she could, much to Mina's disbelief from her own seat.

"Hey, Toru! What's the hurry?" Mina called to her friend.

Toru froze for a second as she had just made her way to the door.

"Uhhhh... I remember I have to do something really quick! I'll meet you in the cafeteria in a few!" She then bolted out of the room and heading for the girl's restroom.

"She's in a hurry..." Izuku muttered as he saw Toru blast away, leaving a dust image of herself. He closed his desk and stood up, then heading for the door.

At the same time, Toru locked herself in a restroom stall and immediately removed all her clothes, showing nothing on her. When she finished removing her clothes, she placed them on the metal railing in the stall and placed her shoes on the floor to make it seem like the stall was occupied.

_"Alright, time to see what's going on!"_

With that, she managed to crawl under the stall door and make her way out, catching sight of Izuku turning the corner down the hall to make his way to the stairs. The sneaky invisible girl then started to follow him at a distance, being sure her steps were silent.

_"Now, I just gotta be really quiet and follow him until- GAH!"_

Toru nearly shouted as a blazing blur of yellow zoomed past her, which Izuku heard and turned around with his eyes widening.

"What the-!?" He got into a fighting stance before the blur stopped in front of him, revealing it to be Enso.

"Yo." The boy said, raising a hand.

"E-Enso!? What the heck!? Don't use your quirk in school!" Izuku snapped.

_"He scared the living crap out of me..." _Toru thought as she frantically panted, catching her breath to make sure she wasn't heard.

"What are you doing here?" Izuku asked, calming down.

"I was actually going to ask you that." Enso responded.

"Eh?"

"Why are you heading here by yourself rather than lunch?" He clarified.

"E-Erm... Well..." Izuku nervously scratched his chin while looking down. "I-I got told to come to the roof during lunch..."

"..." Enso narrowed his eyes. "Izuku, I suggest telling her that you respect her feelings, but you're focused on becoming a hero."

Izuku blinked with a blank expression.

"Eh? EH!? The hell do you mean!?"

"Actually, I should ask first, do you know this girl?" Enso asked, ignoring Izuku's question.

"I-It's only Jiro...?"

"Oh, then it should be fine. Carry on." Enso answered without much care, then turning around. "I'll see you back at the cafeteria."

Multiple question marks appeared around Izuku's head as he maintained his blank expression.

"Wha-? Bu-? You know what? Nevermind..." Izuku sighed, placing his thumb and finger on the bridge of his nose. He then turned around and continued down the hall.

Enso walked in the opposite direction, shoving his hands into his pockets. He was curious as to what Jiro called Izuku alone for, but he couldn't just go with him. He doubted it was a confession based on the timing, as that wouldn't seem right.

Enso suddenly stopped walking, hearing the tiniest faint of breathing next to him.

He turned his head to the right, making an indivisible girl flinch.

_"W-Wait, don't tell me he knows-!?"_

Enso narrowed his eyes.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

_"EEP!"_ Toru found herself shivering but managed not to utter a sound.

"What was that?" Izuku turned around with an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing... Just wondering why some kinds of people are unnecessarily nosy." Enso remarked, then continuing to walk.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked in confusion.

Toru shivered as she watched Enso walk off.

_"He knew I was here, he knew I was here!"_

Izuku shrugged before turning around and getting to the staircase.

Toru hesitated for a moment, wondering if Enso was technically threatening her based on that phrase, but she continued to follow Izuku.

Izuku himself walked without too much thought, making his way around until he finally made it to the roof door, with Toru close behind.

He opened it up and walked under the bright light of the sun, covering his eyes for a moment from the brightness. He did see two figures ahead, confusing him as he blinked several times to let his eyes adjust.

When his vision cleared up, his eyes widened to see not only Jiro, but Momo standing beside her.

"M-Momo!? Did Jiro asked you to come to?" He asked, surprised to see her.

"No... Not exactly. Jiro called you here so _both _of us can talk to you."

Izuku could see how serious the two looked, with Jiro almost looking like she was glaring.

_"A-Are they angry with me!?" _He started sweating nervously as he stood up straight.

"U-Um..." He said the first thing that popped up. "I-If this about the Hero Killer... I-I'm really-"

"It's not about that." Jiro interrupted. "I... _We_ want to ask you something..."

"O...kay?" Izuku responded, not sure what to make of this. "What is it?"

Both girls glanced at each other, almost as if asking the other for approval to commence, then turning back to the young hero.

"Izuku..." Momo started.

"Greeny..." Jiro added.

Izuku tilted his head.

"Who's Lynch?"

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~**

**Ahhhhhhhhhh shit biscuits. Welp, things were pretty great with everyone coming back and welcoming our best boy, but it looks like we've got a problem. I doubt Izuku would tell them everything, he definitely won't. But I wonder how he's going to handle this situation? Anyways, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter during these troubling times, I could only help they brighten you day. Until next time heroes! Plus Ultra!**


	54. What Progress Looks Like

**~{Author's Pre-Notes}~**

**This chapter... was surprisingly really annoying to finish. I don't know what it was exactly, but this chapter took much longer to finish than it should've. I ended up rewriting scenes so many times at the point where it started to just really annoy me. I swear it feels like it's taking longer and longer to put out chapters. Meh, oh well. Enjoy reading!**

Answered Comments (Oldest to Most Recent):

_Bonkey1996: _**Well, too bad. I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait until next chapter, heh.**

_blue grimmoire: _**Thanks for the luck. I think I really need it more than ever with classes and the stressful times we're in. Thanks for always leaving a small comment.**

_5AT05H1L1NK: _**I like your detailed analysis. And believe me, even I get really lazy writing chapters sometimes if I don't get too excited about them. But I try to do my best bring out chapters even with all other obstacles of life!**

_PasiveNox: _***Tips Fedora***

_MBS41: _**I have _not _made Enso's true age clear. Not even he knows what his actual age is, since he woke up without any memory of his previous life.**

_Guest: _**If you mean if my friends and I did anything for Halloween, I'm sorry to say that we didn't. I simply remained at home and did absolutely nothing.**

_fpinheiro96: _**Well now you don't have to wait! Well, for this chapter that is. Time to wait for the next one. Heh.**

_TQ679:_ **Excellent points! I do find the hero society interesting, but that's because of my general interest in what's 'right' and 'wrong' and why they're portrayed that way in any world. Love writing about, yet it's also hard to write about sometimes.**

_Atomic11: _**The sad reality is that usually people who write good fics (If I do say so myself) tend to have busier or more stressful lives, mine included. And I see so this many times in all the discontinued fics I've loved but never seen updated again... It sucks. And yeah, I should have more time to work on the fics through thanksgiving/winter breaks, but I don't think it'll necessarily mean that the fics will come out faster. I've come to the point of the story where I really gotta retype and change so many things and hope it's good.**

_SpiceR4: _**Can't say I've ever seen to much of either character, nor can I say I ever really played too much Tekken.**

_PRemington900:_ **Yeah. When I first wrote Enso in the first versions of my chapters, he was a lot more of an asshole that just kinda criticized people. But now I actually had him go through a better learning process. Glad you enjoyed it.**

_Extra: _**Well... No ones perfect. I still have a lot of things to work on to make this fic better. I was so good at writing characters like they would actually sound. Hm...**

_Guest: _**Heh, surprisingly, I don't get as good results in my essays as I do here in the fic.**

_RavenKiller911: _**Interesting. I may be curious enough to check it out.**

_Guest:_ **Hold up, I really don't think he's gotta stop being kind. He still knows what's**** right and wrong. I don't think he should be the type to be more brutal or meaner towards people.**

_Guest: _**Favorite version of Izuku? I don't even know too many 'versions' of him. So then I guess the cannon one.**

_Nick4Speed: _**I honestly just don't care too much about opinions like that. No character development? It just sounds unreasonable.**

_Vidkid: _**If it's what I think about Mr hot man, then I kinda saw it coming.**

* * *

"Who's Lynch?"

The moment Izuku heard these words, his heart rate skyrocketed, his pupils shrunk in shock, and he started shaking on the spot. For a moment, he wondered if he actually heard that right. Did he hear the name of the one that gave him the scar on his back?

Izuku's eyes lost color as many other questions came into mind. Questions that made him more panicked by the second. Why did Momo and Jiro know his name? Why were they talking to him alone about it? Did they actually meet him? Did they learn that Enso came from another world? Did they know Enso's connection to Lynch? Did they-?

"Izuku!" Momo suddenly yelled as she frantically shook the boy by his shoulders.

"H-Huh!?" Izuku blinked several times, his eyes regaining their bright green color as he felt sweat trailing down the side of his head. He realized he must've been in a daze if Momo had suddenly shaken him. This appeared to be the case as both Momo and Jiro both looked rather distraught.

"Your heart rate just spiked! What the hell happened to you!?" Jiro asked, her earphone jacks detecting intense thumping from the boy.

"Something happened during the internships, didn't it!?" Momo asked, her hold on Izuku's shoulders getting even tighter.

With so many questions going through his head, he found himself asking one back rather than answering.

"H-How... How do you know that name?"

Momo froze when she saw the returned look in Izuku's eyes. The distress, the fear, it was clear she wasn't supposed to know anything about that name, or even the name itself.

"I heard it." Jiro answered Izuku, staring right at him with serious eyes. "I was at my internship with Death Arms. We ended up meeting up with Enso and Kamui Woods when the pros wanted to meet together. Enso and I talked, but then... he got a call."

Izuku could feel his blood turn cold as Jiro continued.

"It was from All Might... He told him that a guy called 'Lynch' has been around since the Sports Festival. That's all I heard."

There was then a dreadful silence in the air around the three, with Izuku glancing down at the ground, attempting to calm his breathing.

_"O-Okay... Sh-She doesn't know... They don't know who he is... They don't know everything..."_

"Izuku..." Momo started, a pained look on her face as she placed her heart on her chest. "Please... Just tell us what's going on... Let us help you."

Izuku's eyes shadowed as he turned his head away.

"I can't..."

That shocked both females.

"What!? Why not!?" Jiro stepped forward, her disbelief clearly visible on her face.

"Because... I... I can't." Izuku muttered.

"Is... Is it because of Enso?" Momo asked.

Izuku didn't seem to react to her words, but the lack of response seemed to be his answer.

"Even though you're clearly going through something, Enso is telling you to just keep it yourself?" Momo asked, appearing to seem angry that Izuku's mentor was letting him suffer by himself. "You can't let him tell you to keep something to yourself when it's hurting you..."

"No... It's not my secret to tell in the first place... It has nothing to do with you guys." Izuku responded, his voice lowered in volume.

"Like hell it's got nothing to do with us!?" Jiro snapped. "We're your friends, aren't we!?"

"It's because you're my friends that I can't tell you!" Izuku suddenly yelled, raising his head to reveal crimson red seeping into his green eyes.

Momo and Jiro suddenly became cautious, even backing up a bit to see the familiar red.

Surprisingly though, the flash of red faded as quickly as it came, with Izuku looking down with a sigh.

"Look... Everything I've been through... From the hellish training to running into the Hero Killer, it was all my choice. And I was able to get through all of it because of Enso's training. What happened wasn't about me. It was about Enso. I'm so grateful to him for helping me be here in the first place... So..."

He looked back up at his two friends, trying not to cry right there.

"S-So... I can't tell you what happened. I can't... It's not something _I_ should tell you."

Momo saw the look in his eyes that his decision was final. As much as he wanted to tell them what was going on, he couldn't. Nor did it seem like he wanted to tell them.

"So... You're not going to say anything then?" Momo asked, almost seeming hurt.

"No... I'm sorry..."

"..." Jiro looked down for a moment, thinking aloud. "So... If we wanna find out what's going on... then we gotta ask Mr. Grim Reaper himself?"

"I..." Izuku looked down, not seeming so sure himself. "You shouldn't...

Then all three remained silent, with Izuku hoping they wouldn't ask any more out of fear that he wouldn't be able to hold himself together if they kept pressuring him.

"Fine..."

"Eh?" Jiro and Izuku turned to Momo, who was also looking down with a hurt frown.

"If you don't wish to say anything... Then I won't force you. But... just know that it hurts... It really hurts to know you're going through something but refuse to tell us..."

Izuku could feel the guilt piercing his heart, but he remained silent as Momo turned her back to him and went for the door.

"Just remember... We're students that want to be heroes too, Izuku... So whatever it is you and Enso are going through... I wish that you'd let us help you."

Izuku said nothing as shivered in place.

"Let's go, Jiro." Momo finished as she opened the door.

"I'll be there, just... give me a minute." The purple-haired student told her.

Momo nodded before leaving the rooftop with the door gently closing behind her, leaving Jiro and Izuku alone.

The rock girl turned her gaze to Izuku, who looked away in shame.

"Hey, Greeny. Just how... 'alright' are you? That's... That's all I want to know."

"..."

Izuku slightly turned his head.

"I-I... I'm fine, Jiro... Really, I am. I-I know I worry all of you a lot, but compared to before..." He fully put his gaze on Jiro, giving a weak smile that still held his genuine feelings. "I feel much more confident than before. I feel like I can do so much more."

**_"Because you got me now, ayyyyyyy!" _**

_"Ikari... Please..."_

**_"Oh, right. Bad time. My bad."_**

Thankfully, that small reassurance from Ikari had Izuku's smile grow bigger, knowing that he could work with his powerful companion.

Jiro could see some of the brightness return in Izuku's eyes, at least giving her some relief that he was mentally fine.

"Alright, Greeny. But... remember what I said to you that time you and Kendo were heading to lunch?"

"Eh?" Izuku stared at her as he recalled the day.

"I said... you could talk to me again whenever you needed to. I really mean it... I _want_ you to talk to me, Greeny."

She stepped forward to him, making Izuku feel nervous as to what she was going to do.

Surprisingly, though, Jiro wrapped her arms around him, even placing her head on his shoulder. Izuku flinched and turned slightly red as he felt the warmth of the girl on him, not seeing Jiro also turn red against him.

"I-I know that... you can be a real idiot. I know you get too worried about everyone else and feel like you have to deal with a lot of things yourself... But like Yaoyorozu said, we're your friends, and we're training to be heroes to help too. So... You can rely on us to help you out. Don't forget that..."

With that, the punk-girl let go and quickly rushed away, not wanting Izuku to see her embarrassed blush.

After she left, Izuku remained motionless and alone on the rooftop, eyes completely open with his blush gone after hearing what she said.

**_"Hey... You okay, partner?" _**Ikari asked, not feeling any aggression from Izuku but feeling depressing negatively instead.

_"I'm... I'm good. I just..."_

His legs suddenly felt like putty as he fell on his behind, finding himself breathing harder as he put a hand to his head.

_"It hurts... To keep secrets from everyone... It really does..."_

**_"There's not much you can do about that... We can't tell them about Mr. overgrown corpse just like we can't tell them about One for All..."_**

A single tear went down Izuku's right eye as he let out a sniffle, brought his legs close, and then rubbed his eyes with his arm.

_"I don't want them to be mad at me... And I know it's unfair... To expect them to trust me and tell me anything when I'm keeping secrets. But they're not mine..."_

**_"But... Is One For All really not 'your' secret now?"_**

Izuku rose his head with his eyes widened, immediately getting what Ikari was saying about his quirk. _His _quirk. He thought about receiving One For All from All Might, the training he did with it, the handling he managed to gain.

But despite this, Izuku closed his eyes and shook his head.

_"No... It isn't... Not yet."_

**_"Eh?"_**

_"Even with the power I hold right now, I still haven't brought out even half of its potential yet..."_

Izuku managed to stumble up to his feet, wiping away more developing tears.

_"I haven't made this quirk my own, yet... Just like what I told Bakugo, I have to make this power my own. Then..."_

He took a deep breath.

_"That's when I'll tell them..."_

**_"Why did you tell Bakugo already then?"_**

"..."

Izuku took a deep breath as he calmed himself.

_"I... I don't really know myself... It just felt right to tell him...To let him know that 'I' didn't beat him, but I will one day..."_

**_"That's... understandable? But it still sounds pretty stupid if you ask me."_**

Izuku flinched.

_"Dang it, Ikari."_

Izuku managed to form a small smile and chuckle, trying not to let his guilt overtake him. Even though he would have to keep secrets, even he knows that he'll most likely not be able to keep them forever, especially with Enso's situation and Lynch, Izuku knew he had to do for now.

So it was lucky that the internal conversation with Ikari was in his head. Otherwise, the invisible girl a few feet away would've heard him.

_"This… This looks serious… I've… I've got to tell Mina…"_

* * *

**~{Musutafu Police Center-12:25PM}~**

Detective Tsukauchi was sitting at his desk within his personal room of the police center, comparing his notes of the brutal Cafe massacre with Izuku's testimony on Lynch himself. He was disappointed to learn that Izuku didn't really have any good leads on where Lynch could've taken him. But he should've expected it from a villain, even if he thought he was someone who sounded psychotic enough to leave clues out in the open.

He tapped his pen against his head as he read what Izuku had seen in his surroundings, the lab-like room with several computers around.

"_*Sigh*_ Can't even give a vague area on where he could be... From what Midoriya said, he was no doubt held in a lab of some sort, but those types of areas are places you just can't locate, especially when they're made so they aren't ever found..."

He checked his other list that contained notable labs nearby conducting research studies of some kind, but those were mostly the kind you knew most villains couldn't be in. From student labs to professionals, there was no possibility of someone likeLynch being in any of those areas.

"Are you still investigating the same case, woof?"

Tsukauchi raised his head to the door, finding the Chief of Police, Tsuragamae, entering the room. The beagle-headed man approached the detective's desk before pausing and taking a few licks from his dalmatian-style cup of coffee. In his other hand was a file of some sort, no doubt for him.

"Of course... With this kind of case with no motives besides inducing chaos, and added to it the apparent dangerous power this 'Lynch' has, he's one of the most dangerous kind of villain. The kind that only wants to add numbers to his blood-stained list... He'll just kill, and kill, and keep killing..."

Tsuragamae sighed, "You've been at the same thing for so many days... Knowing you, you've looked into _every_ possibility. But with this kind of perpetrator with an apparent teleporting quirk, it's the same issue we have with the League Of Villains. We can't find them, as they can be literally anywhere. The only difference this apparent Lynch has from the league is that he doesn't have a goal like Shigaraki... It's as you said. He simply wants bloodshed."

_"Except he actually has a goal... Or at least a focus..." _Tsukauchi thought to himself, recalling the apparent fact that Lynch, for some reason, has an interest in Midoriya and Enso. _"But if Midoriya knew where he was, I know he would've said so."_

Tsuragamae took another lick of his coffee before speaking again.

"I think you need to focus on something else for a change. Take a break from this circle you've gotten yourself into, woof."

Tsukauchi looked up and raised an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind?"

Tsugamae placed his mug down and handed Tsukauchi the file. "Well, throughout a list of missing person reports we've looked through, I discovered something. Two of these cases involve people heading to the same area just outside the city. Apparently, they went into the forest at the end of the highway a little outside Musutafu, but none reported coming back to their homes."

"How many people are missing that connect?" Tsukauchi asked, opening the file and looking through it.

"One case involved a college boy taking a dare, while the other was a couple going to hike in the same forest the male entered. These cases aren't that old either, so there's a search party being formed from people who knew at least one of these missing people. I want you to lead it, get some fresh air while still doing something, get me? Woof?"

Tsukauchi was silent for a moment as he thought about it, then sighing as he closed the file, placed it on the table, and stretched his arms up.

"Alright, I guess I need it. So when is this search party happening?"

"Tomorrow in the morning, they'll be meeting up around ten, to be precise. I hope that isn't too sudden? Woof."

"No, it's alright. I wasn't gonna do anything but continue with this case anyway. Are you coming with us, chief?" Tsukauchi chuckled.

Tsuragamae shook his head, "No. I have a meeting to attend with the board. But there'll be a few officers and heroes on the scene with you and the group."

"Ah, so basically, since you had something to do, you just pushed it onto me?" Tsukauchi joking chuckled.

"Heh, sorry. But to be fair, I usually leave you to yourself anyway." Tsuragamae chuckled back.

"Fair enough. I'll head over there early tomorrow, but for now, I'm gonna continue looking through these a bit more." Tsukauchi said, motioning to his desk full of notes.

"Alrighty then. Good luck, woof." The chief of police took his mug, politely bowed, and turned around to take his leave, gently shutting the door behind him.

Once he left, Tsukauchi leaned back on his chair, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples with his hands as he thought about his current situation.

"The chief is right. I probably won't find too much as of now... whether about Lynch or the League of Villains... But from what All Might mentioned to me, he knows that Lynch isn't connected to the league. The only way he would know that for sure would be if he knew just who Lynch is... on a deeper level, at least. Whether he knows him personally or has been told about him."

He leaned forward on his desk and stared down at his papers.

"I think All Might does know so much more about Lynch... But if he didn't tell me everything, then there must be a reason. Hm..."

He checked the name of the other individual apparently involved with the villain's interest.

"I haven't spoken to that other fellow yet... Ureshi... All I've seen from him was from the sport's festival."

Tsukauchi pushed his chair back and stood up, stretching his legs as he formed a plan.

"Tomorrow, I have that search party to attend to, so the next day I'll go see if I can speak to him and maybe Midoriya again."

Having his plan of action, Tsukauchi smiled before walking over to his coat rack and pulling both his trench coat and hat from it, putting them on.

_"But for now, I've gotta get something to eat."_

* * *

**~{U.A High School- 2:01PM}~**

It was the last period.

Izuku gulped nervously as he headed with his class towards the locker rooms, knowing that it would be finally time for not just him but also everyone else to present any new skills they've learned over their internships.

And for Izuku, this was a lot.

Just being able to _talk_ to Ikari finally fixed the problem the two of them were having. The miscommunication, the lack of control on both sides, and the scale of destruction they can bring. Luckily, now the two of them were able to work together as they wanted.

However, Izuku couldn't help but feel nervous about introducing Ikari to his class. After all, from what his classmates knew, Ikari had been a somewhat 'negative' influence on him with how violent he made him.

Izuku glanced back at his class, watching them talking excitedly to each other, but flinched when he saw the gazes of both Momo and Jiro on him. Their looks weren't anything angry or hostile, but the sadness he could see in their eyes pained his heart once more.

And it didn't help that the two of them avoided his gaze when he looked, making him feel worse.

"Something happen?"

Izuku turned his head to Enso, who was walking right beside him with an eyebrow raised.

"Well..."

Izuku sighed and rubbed the back of his head as he looked down.

"I'll tell you later. It isn't good to talk right now..."

"Understood." Enso simply nodded.

The class then started splitting off to the locker rooms of their respective gender, heading to change into their hero costumes. Enso, however, simply kept on going while tapping his black watch, to which his U.A themed suit changed into his usual black colors.

"I still don't get how he does that!" Kaminari exclaimed as he pointed over at Enso walking away.

"I think it's magic, heh." Shinso grinned as he walked past him.

Izuku watched as Enso headed away, then glancing at Jiro and Momo, who were heading with the rest of the females.

**_"Er... You okay, partner?"_**

Izuku weakly nodded as he turned to head in with the rest of the males.

_"Yeah... I'm fine..."_

**_"Okay, because I just wanna warn you, you still got... 'that' on your back."_**

Izuku froze as he realized that he would have to take off his uniform to put on his hero costume.

And in turn, would have the scar on his back exposed.

_"Shoot! How am I-!? What do I-!?"_

**_"Don't worry! I got this!" _**Ikari exclaimed, surprisingly calm and confident.

Izuku then felt a chill as he felt a warm substance starting to cover his chest and back, continuing to spread until stopping its movement.

He blinked a few times to process what happened before using a finger to pull his collar and look under his uniform.

_"You... Formed a tank top?"_

**_"Sure did! Changing my shape sure is useful! Nyeheheh!"_**

"Midoriya? Are you coming?"

Izuku flinched before looking forward to see Iida waiting by the locker room entrance, the only one waiting for him as everyone was inside.

"Y-Yeah, Iida!" Izuku put on a smile as he hurried forward.

But before he could get inside, Iida put a hand on his shoulder with a considerate look.

"Midoriya... Do you need Todoroki and I to help... hide your back?"

"No... I've got it." Izuku said with a reassuring smile.

Iida saw his smile, and his worry dropped as Izuku walked past.

At the same time, Shinso was talking to Todoroki around the corner of the locker room as they changed.

"So... You and Mr. gotta-go-fast are gonna be joining us?" The indigo teen asked in curiosity.

Todoroki was somewhat surprised but immediately knew what he meant.

"So, you're being taught by Enso as well?" Todoroki returned.

"Heh, yup. Edgelord gave me a heads up about you guys." Shinso said as he put on his U.A gym uniform rather than a hero costume.

"So you know about Enso's secret too?" Todoroki whispered.

"Hm?" Shinso paused as he raised an eyebrow. "What secrets?"

"...I get the feeling you may want to speak with him later if we're going to be joining you."

Shinso titled his head with a question mark appearing over it.

* * *

**~{Ground Gamma-A Few Minutes Later}~**

Ground Gamma.

An industrial site that consisted of many different structures of pipelines, factories, and heavy machinery, including cranes, to form a large labyrinth. This was where all of Class A stood on their first hero class back from their internships. Everyone stood in their hero costumes aside from Shinso, who only had the U.A uniform. However, most of the class was surprised to see that the indigo haired teen was looking more robust than the day he had joined their class.

"Is it just me, or is Shinso looking pretty buff?" Kaminari whispered to Sero.

"He must've been working out a lot." Sero shrugged.

Shinso just had a dead gazed looking down as he recalled how he got the results on his body.

_"A hundred... A hundred each team... It was too much... And whenever I was sore, he just somehow fixed it..."_

**"I Am Here!" **

Everyone looked up as they saw a shadow eclipse the sun for a brief second, the figure falling all the way down and landed gracefully onto the roof the class was on.

"All Might!" Izuku exclaimed happily.

"Why does it _always_ sound like you're surprised to see him? You have class with him nearly _every_ day..." Enso facepalmed.

**"Welcome back, you zygotes! I hope you've all gained valuable experience at your internships!" **All Might shouted with a thumbs up.

Momo couldn't help but look ashamed as she recalled her experience as many others cheered.

**"Then we'll put that experience to the test today! It's basic hero training once again! So how have you all been?"**

As everyone was focused on All Might, Toru scooted close to Mina and began whispering to her.

"Eh? What do you mean by something bad might've happened to Midori? He faced the Hero Killer! Wasn't that what was bad?!" Mina whispered back.

"Not that! I think something else happened..."

"Eh? Wh-What?" Mina uttered, actually feeling nervous when he heard just how worried and even scared Toru seemed.

"I... I think it might take a bit to explain, so... I'll tell you after school."

At the same time, Ochako was asking her own question to Tsu.

"Hey... Is it just me, or are Yaoyorozu and Jiro staring at Deku?"

Tsu turned over to what Ochako meant, noticing both girls' stares towards the green bulb of light in their class. Seeing their looks, Tsu felt... confused. Their looks weren't what she expected, as they were full of sadness and worry.

"Perhaps... They're both worried about Midoriya-chan after what happened with the Hero Killer, kero?"

"Well, he did get hospitalized... Even I'm still worried about him." Ochako admitted as she placed a hand over her heart.

"..." Tsu stared at Ochako as she saw her gaze towards Izuku.

She suddenly found herself thinking... Ochako was who she considered to be her closest friend besides Izuku. Even then, she didn't necessarily talk to Izuku as much as she did to Ochako, but the boy still made such an impact on her. Especially since he was the one who saved her at the expense of himself.

Not just that event, but everything the boy ever did was just so eye-catching. With his selflessness, his strong sense of justice, his kindness, and his adorable timid nature, it wasn't a surprise to Tsu when she found herself developing stronger feelings. In fact, it didn't even surprise her when _everyone_ else appeared to have the same kinds of thoughts.

But... As she stared at her closest female friend, she couldn't help but feel guilt building up for having the same interest as her.

Before she got any deeper into her thoughts, All Might's booming voice snapped her out of them.

**"Alright! So for today's basic hero training, we'll be having a rescue training race!"**

"Ew." Enso remarked without a change in expression.

Iida raised his hand. "If we are doing rescue training, then shouldn't we do it at USJ?"

All Might waved a hand to present the area behind him.

**"That area is training for natural disasters! Do you remember what I said? I said this will be a 'race!' Behind me is Ground Gamma! A dense area filled to the brim with all sorts of obstacles to form a labyrinth!"**

He then pointed back to the class.

**"I will break you all up into 5-6 person groups, and then all go through the training area one group at a time! When I send out a distress signal from somewhere inside, you'll all start at once from the outskirts of this city!"**

He clenched his hand into a tight fist.

**"It's a race to see who will rescue me first! Of course, you have to keep damage to buildings to a minimum! And you can't sabotage or attack your peers either!"**

"That means you, Bakugo." Enso bluntly remarked.

"You wanna die!?" Bakugo shouted.

"Enso, please don't just call out Bakugo like that..." Kirishima awkwardly smiled.

**"All right, the groups are on the board here! First group, get in place!" **All Might shouted.

As he said this, a holographic screen projected to show the list of students of the class.

Izuku saw that he was part of the first group, and it took him a few minutes to get to his assigned starting point for the race. He then closed his eyes and took deep breaths, stretching his arms to prepare for what would be the first demonstration of his new controlled abilities with Ikari.

**_"Alrighty, is it time, partner? Am I coming out?"_**

_"Sort of... You're gonna help me here. But I don't want to show 'you' yet."_

**_"Huh? Wait, so do I come out or not?"_**

_"Er, you 'do,' to help with your power, but just don't take your actual shape yet. I wanna show you to everyone formally right after this. Th-Think of using this moment to show I'm perfectly fine with you."_

**_"Ooooooh, okay. OOO! I'm so excited!"_**

Izuku smiled as he heard his anticipation.

**_"Oh, can I ask something, though?"_**

_"Yeah, of course."_

**_"Er... About those 'needles' in your costume..."_**

Izuku blinked as he was reminded of the additions to his costume before having gone to his internship. He realized that neither the vest nor upper arm braces had actually returned from the support department after he had sent his costume in for repairs.

_"R-Right! I don't have them back! A-Actually... Th-Those weren't officially part of my costume in the first place! The department may have chosen to get rid of those... Oh, great..."_

**_"But... You don't need them anymore, do you?"_**

Izuku paused for a moment as he looked down at his arm and held it, recalling the experience of getting pierced by so many small needles.

**_"And Poker Face did say that they would only be for you until you could actually talk to me... And here we are."_**

Izuku actually formed a small smile.

_"Yeah... I... I don't actually need them..._ _They were barely needed..."_

Simultaneously, the rest of his classmates were around the large holographic screen and discussing who they believed would be the one to win the race among the first group of students, which consisted of Izuku, Iida, Mina, Ojiro, and Sero.

"Iida hasn't completely recovered yet, right? Shouldn't he just watch?" Kaminari asked.

"He told me he'd be fine." Todoroki answered.

"This group has plenty of people with good mobility in the class." Kirishima smiled. He turned to the left to who he was surprisingly sitting next to. "Who do you think is gonna win, Bakugo? I think it'll be either Sero or Midoriya!"

"..." Bakugo remained silent as he glared at Izuku on the screen, his mind trying to ignore the lingering speeches he's heard while at his internship.

"I think it'll be Ashido! She's really athletic!" Mineta declared.

"You're only saying that because she's the girl in the group..." Enso deadpanned.

"Shut up! Don't get cocky just because you got to feel Mount Lady's boobs!" Mineta snapped back.

A cross-vein of irritation popped on Enso's head before he raised a hand and karate chopped the boy on the back of his neck.

"ACK!" Mineta fell to the floor and twitched in pain, his neck steaming from being struck.

"Idiot..." Enso sighed.

**"Okay! Here we go!" **All Might shouted all the way from his location far from the students. He raised his hand up and pressed a button, which then sent out a distress signal to everyone.

**"Start!"**

Immediately after All Might pressed the button, a black aura burst around Izuku's body. His eyes then slowly seeped red into green as he grinned, green electricity sparking around him and body glowing orange.

Sero had gotten an immediate head start with his tape quirk, swinging himself from pipe to pipe like a certain web-slinging hero.

"This place was built for me!" He laughed as he swung.

Izuku caught a glimpse of the swinging hero fly, giving him his own idea as he used One For All to leap to a few pipes above before jumping up as his as he could.

**_"Alright! Let's do this!"_**

From both sides of Izuku's waist, two black tendrils shot out, managing to stretch all the way to some pipes which they wrapped themselves into.

Then instead of Izuku pulling back, Ikari reeled Izuku in, causing him to jerk forward at blazing speeds.

_"SO FAST!" _Izuku thought as the wind rampaged his face and caused it to stretch back.

Timing his speed to the pipe, Izuku managed to point his flailing arms downward to point his palms behind.

_"Sorry about this Kacchan, I gotta copy your quirk for a moment!" _

Izuku suddenly unleashed two simultaneous explosions under his palms, causing him to be sent upward. However, since Ikari's tendrils were still wrapped around the pipeline and connected to Izuku, the boy was yanked and flung in a medieval catapult-like way. Ikari's tendrils let go at the peak of the swing, resulting in Izuku being flung upward even higher into the air, to which opened his eyes and started laughing.

"WAAAAAHOOOOO!"

"Holy shit! Look at Midoriya!" Kaminari shouted with a point.

"H-He's flying!?" Mineta shouted in awe.

"He has that dark matter around him again..." Tokoyami muttered as his eyes narrowed in on the boy.

"But... He's smiling?" Ochako exclaimed as she stared in a captivated gaze.

Still in the air, Izuku pointed both of his palms behind him once again before mimicking the explosive quirk once again to shoot himself forward.

Momo stared in a mixture of shock and relief to see Izuku using his quirk. Watching as the boy didn't simply lash out at anything, but was using his own thinking to use his quirk effectively.

"He... He's controlling it?"

"About time!" Toru jumped up and down in a cheer, waving her arms and happily laughing.

"Whoa..." Jiro muttered as she stared at Izuku, her eyes engrossed on his crimson ones. Despite their color, she could still see the same kind boy she knew, one who was now choosing his actions with his quirk as he kept the biggest smile on his face.

"It looks like Midoriya-chan has learned a lot during his internships, kero." Tsu happily smiled up at the screen.

"Heh, those explosions..." Shinso chuckled. "They kind of remind me of-"

Two small explosions cut him off, making several people flinched and turn their heads to see Bakugo with both his palms shaking and smoking.

The explosive teen's red eyes narrowed in on Izuku as his hands then clenched into tight fists.

_"My moves... Not just that, MY QUIRK!" _He shook in anger. _"While I was getting pointless lectures... this fucking nerd got ahead!?"_

His pupil's dilated.

_"And I'm supposed to believe he isn't looking down on me... When he's copying MY quirk like it's his own!?" _

He clenched his teeth.

_"Again…" _He thought as he saw Izuku stretch a tendril from his right arm, using it to reel himself forward with additional explosions increasing his speed.

_"Again!..." _Bakugo shouted in his head as he saw Izuku land on a long pipe and run forward as a flash of green.

_"Showing me up... I'll kill him..."_

Enso could see the rage all over Bakugo's face, making him sigh.

_"So obvious..."_

"Hey, Bakugo... You alright?" Kirishima asked, looking concerned

"Like hell I am..." Bakugo growled.

At this time, Izuku pulled himself more in the air, then looking behind him to see Sero somewhat catching up to him.

_"Uh oh, I guess I was having a little too much fun with my movement..."_

**_"Hey, I think I could do something cool with you! Wanna try it!?_" **Ikari asked Izuku excitingly.

_"Huh? I mean… we're in a race right now…"_ Izuku said as he landed on a long pipe and ran along it using One For All, making some distance between himself and Sero.

**_"It'll help you go even faster!"_ **Ikari reassured him.

_"I... guess it wouldn't hurt."_ Izuku replied to him.

**_"Yay! Just leave it to me, partner!"_**

Izuku didn't know what he was planning until he leaped into the air once again. The aura behind him suddenly started to build up into two large, black, and dragon-shaped wings that stretched out.

"E-Eh!?" Izuku's eyes were bulging when he glanced back to see the forming wings.

**_"Here we go!"_**

With Ikari controlling the wings, he performed a powerful flap that pushed Izuku upward into the air, creating powerful winds in the process.

"WHOA!"

"He's flying!?" Sero shouted behind Izuku as he saw him flying up, even feeling the gusts of wind pushing him back.

**_"Okay... This is actually pretty hard to control..." _**Ikari groaned within Izuku as they reached the peak of their flight, only to suddenly dive striaght down.

"WAIT! WAIT! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!?" Izuku shouted in fear.

**_"I actually don't know too much about using these to fly... I guess gliding it is!"_**

Izuku's wings opened up, and his descent down became notably slower. However, his movement forward became faster and more direct. He realized that he was indeed gliding rather than flying, but his heart threatened to burst from his chest from the sudden scare.

_"I'm not gonna die... Oh, thank god... Wait-AH!" _Izuku's eyes panicked once again as he saw himself flying towards several metal pipes.

**_"Hang on!"_**

"TO WHAT!?" Izuku shouted.

Thankfully, Ikari shifted the wings and Izuku's body so that he managed to shift left and right to avoid hitting any pipelines, even folding his wings for a moment to squeeze between several obstacles.

**_"We're there!"_**

Izuku was panting heavily in panic before he heard Ikari say this, then looking up to see All Might standing on the edge of a higher building ahead.

Both of Izuku's wings then folding down and vanished, allowing Izuku to land on another pipe before leaping upward to his hero.

"All Might!" Izuku laughed as his black aura faded away when landing in front of him.

He saw All Might giving him a grin bigger than his usual smile, showing that he was both proud and amazed at what he just saw, then letting out a booming laugh.

**"Young Midoriya, that was outstanding!" **The pro proudly shouted.

Sero landed behind Izuku, looking somewhat annoyed. "Aw, man... I was sure I'd have it!"

**"You nearly did, young Sero, but we have a winner!" **All Might said, handing Izuku a small banner that read, 'Thank you for saving me.' **"And now we wait for the rest of the group before going over results!"**

Izuku walked back and leaned against the railing while catching his breath.

_"Well... That was something..."_

**_"Er... Sorry about that... It turns out we can't actually fly..."_**

_"Wait, I don't get that... What happened?"_

**_"Well, it felt really heavy to handle those wings, and I couldn't really lift them up to flap them... That one flap took a lot to do, so I could only glide after that. It turns out I don't know about wings too much."_**

Izuku sighed and rubbed his eyes.

_"Well... At least we learned that."_

After a few more minutes, the rest of the racing students came in, from Iida, Ojiro, and Mina.

Izuku was actually surprised to see Mina actually climb up using her acid quirk to make places to grip.

_"Oh yeah, she did tell me she could do that!" _Izuku recalled from the first time they met.

Once climbing up, Mina immediately rushed to Izuku with a large smile and open arms.

"Midori! You did it!"

"Eh-AH!" Once again, Izuku caught Mina as she flung herself at him, the girl wrapping herself around him and pressing her body against him.

"You can control it! You got your quirk down!" Mina laughed as her breasts pressed against his chest.

_"Boundaries! Boundaries! I've gotta make them!"_ Izuku thought as he turned red.

**_"*Sigh...*."_**

A black tendril suddenly wrapped around Mina's waist, making the girl's eyes widen.

"Huh? What's tha-AAH!" Mina was shocked as she was yanked off of Izuku and sent spinning away.

"She became a ballerina!?" Sero pointed in amazement.

Mina's spinning slowed after a few seconds, but she then started stumbling around with swirling eyes. "Wwwwhaaaaa... Wha-wazat?"

_"Ikari!" _Izuku panicked, watching as Mina fell over to the ground.

**_"I did you a favor..." _**Ikari sighed.

All Might spoke once more.

**"Young Midoriya came in first, but compared to the beginning of the year, you've all gotten a lot better at using your quirks!"**

Iida smiled as he turned his head to Izuku, who sheepishly smiled back as he rubbed the back of his head.

**"Keep going like this and start preparing for your final exam! They'll be coming up soon! But if you're all making this much progress, then I know you'll be fine!"**

"Yes, sir!" The group shouted, with Mina dizzily getting to her feet.

**"Group one, you can leave the field. Next group, get ready!" **All Might addressed with a wave to the camera watching him.

The first group started to walk off, with Izuku smiling as he started following them. However, before he could get far, he felt All Might tap his shoulder, prompting him to turn around.

"Y-Yes All Might?"

**_"Oooo! Do I say hi!? Do I!? I wanna say hi!"_**

_"N-Not yet, Ikari! He has something to say!"_

All Might's grin was large as he proudly placed his hands on his hips.

**"Young Midoriya, you really surpassed my expectations. I couldn't believe my eyes! I want you to see me after class. Be sure to bring Young Enso with you. We have..." **All Might's grin slightly faltered, but he tried keeping it up. **"...a lot to talk about."**

Izuku could sense that All Might referred to something serious, already having an idea and nodding to him.

"Yes, sir..."

**_"It must be about... well, 'everything' that happened."_**

_"Yeah..."_

Izuku wondered what All Might would address to him as he made it back to his classmates, who all immediately rushed to him in excitement.

"Midoriya! You got wings!?" Kirishima smiled with sparkling eyes.

"You're using your quirk!" Ochako cheered.

"Yes, that's how that works." Shinso chuckled.

"You copied Sero's quirk to swing!?" Kaminari smiled.

"You even copied Bakugo's quirk!" Mineta added as he jumped up and down.

"U-Um..." Izuku was caught off-guard by his classmates' sudden grouping around him, including those who were supposed to be part of the next group. "I-I said this before, but I don't actually 'copy' quirks... Ikari and I just mimic them the best we can... Kacchan uses nitroglycerin sweat from his explosions, but I use Ikari's energy."

"Wait... So about you and Ikari...?" Momo started to say.

**_"It's time!"_**

_"Huh!? Wait! We don't want to scare-!"_

It was too late, as black suddenly burst from behind Izuku, stretching upward and slowly taking shape.

Everyone's eyes widened, and some people instinctively took a step back, with many of them feeling chills just from the natural aura of danger forming.

They watched as two black arms emerged and formed two claw-like hands that opened up to reveal their sharp fingers. They saw his torso form with a head growing upon it, growing an outline of rugged but spikier hair that resembled Izuku's. Then the most intimidating parts of him formed, as, near the bottom of his face, a jagged, open smile filled with burning red energy emerged. Then finally, two red, burning, and slanted eyes formed with intense crimson light, which narrowed in on all of Izuku's classmates.

Bakugo's pupils suddenly dilated as the entity's gaze came upon him. He could see the air start to vibrate around Ikari's presence and could sense danger. His mind flashed back to the festival, recalling when he had encountered Izuku after one of his own battles, recalling when he saw his hand gone for a second, and recalling how it was this... 'thing' that threatened him. And with this feeling of danger, it prompted an instinctive fight or flight response.

And of course, with Bakugo...

"SHI-NE!" He exploded forward with his eyes burning to Ikari.

"Kacchan!?" Izuku saw him coming, and his eyes widened.

Ikari's own eyes narrowed as they visibly started burning back. He opened his arms and shot a series of tendrils rushing towards the explosive boy.

Bakugo's mind once again went back to another experience he had. Day after day of threads, day after day of Best Jeanist tying him up and restricting his movement. His pupils dilated at the oncoming threat of familiarity.

He immediately spun like a top in the air and sent rapid explosions as the tendrils got close, blasting them back as they attempted to wrap around him.

Ikari let out a hiss as he immediately retracted his tendrils and hugged himself in pain.

_"Nngh!" _Izuku felt his arms start burning, hoping they wouldn't have any marks on them.

Bakugo came out of his spinning and landed on the ground, glaring ahead as he prepared to explode yet again.

**"Can, you, NOT!?" **Ikari suddenly shouted with his eyes blazing red in irritation.

Hearing his voice made everyone freeze, including Bakugo himself, their shock evident on their faces.

"What the hell!?" Kaminari uttered.

"D-Did that thing just speak!?" Mineta comedically cried in fear.

"Wait! Wait!" Izuku held his arms up in surrender to make sure everyone wouldn't overreact. "It's Ikari!"

Momo eye's widened. "Wait... _This_ is your quirk Izuku!?"

"The thing that made you go ballistic at the festival!?" Mina added, visibly getting scared at the thought of it occurring to Izuku again.

"No! Well, I mean, yeah, he did, but that was before!"

He moved his hands to present his floating companion.

"E-Everyone, this is Ikari."

He then moved his hands to present class A.

"I-Ikari, these are my classmates. Although... I guess you already know them."

Ikari floated close to Izuku, hiding behind him as his gaze was just focused on Bakugo's steaming palms.

"..."

**"..."**

"U-Um..." Izuku nervously stepped between him and Bakugo. "K-Kacchan... Can you just... back up a bit?"

"Hah?" Bakugo growled.

Kirishima quickly picked up on Ikari's problem and stepped beside the explosive teen.

"Hey, Bakugo, let's just move over here." He said with a small smile.

"Why should I!?" Bakugo snapped as Kirishima somehow managed to slowly bring him back.

With him now farther away, Ikari slowly turned his head towards Izuku's other classmates, who all got chills just from his gaze and overwhelming aura. It wasn't on purpose, but with how Ikari was currently feeling, it somewhat caused him to have an aura similar to hostility. But in reality...

He was just really nervous.

And if you would stare closely, you'd see his hands shake as he held them on Izuku's shoulder.

"Erm..." Izuku could feel his own nervousness start to grow as sweat dripped from his head. "H-He's really nice, a-and you don't have to worry about him doing... 'anything' bad."

Izuku classmates didn't seem so convinced, as most of them shivered from the pressure Ikari gave off.

_"Ikari, why don't you say something?"_

**_"I don't know! I was so excited to pop up and surprise everyone, but now that I did, I have no idea what to say! They're all scared of me! And I don't exactly feel calm about them... I think I've got your anxiety..."_**

_"How do you even get that!?"_

Luckily, Iida, Todoroki, and Enso all stepped forward to stand beside Izuku, reassuring the two.

"Midoriya is correct... In fact, Ikari helped us against the Hero Killer." Iida said with a smile.

"Yeah." Todoroki agreed.

"Don't just sit there like an idiot. Say something." Enso sighed as he spoke to Ikari without any sign of worry.

**"..."**

Ikari turned from the ones around his partner to the rest of the class, then floating slightly upward.

**"Ahem..."**

Izuku's classmates flinched when they heard his somewhat demonic voice again.

But all that nervousness disappeared with his next words.

**"What's up?"**

* * *

**~{Author's Post-Notes}~**

**And now the moment we've been waiting for! Or, in the next chapter at least. Ikari is finally introduced to the small family of students that is Class A! Not gonna lie, I don't think this chapter turned out as great as I wanted it. However, I couldn't really pinpoint too much of what was wrong with it, even with the help of a few others proofreading it for me. Like, I feel like the beginning conversation could've ended better, but I don't know how. *Shrugs* Oh well. I tried working on this chapter for a while, maybe took a bit long on it. Next chapter will be in a while, (as what appears to be the case for each chapter coming up.) and I hope to keep writing decent ones with all the time I'm taking on them. Until next time heroes!**


End file.
